The business of obtaining and selling internet domain names is flourishing in Vietnam, with some names fetching thousands of dollars.

Thousands of domain names related to industries like fashion, healthcare, property, and tourism are being sold on domain websites.

Speculators, also called domainers, try to acquire names that are similar to those of well-known companies and goods, which they can then sell to the company for a profit.

Their prices range from just 200 USD for small businesses' sites to 8,500 USD for www.nutifood.com, a famous food company. The domain name daidongtiencorp.com is likely to fetch up to 10,000 USD.

Le Phu Huu, a HCM City-based domainer, said the internet explosion together with the rapid development of e-commerce in Vietnam in recent years has created favourable conditions for the business to flourish.

"Domainers now need only around 500,000 VND to get an international domain name and they have to pay a similar amount every year to retain it.

"When conditions are ripe they can get thousands or even dozens of thousands of dollars," Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper quoted him as saying.

Recently several domain-name trading floors have come up – like moigioitenmien.com, chotenmien.vn, shoptenmien.com, and santenmien.vn – creating a domain market in the country, he said.

Bui Hong Diep, a speculator who owns several domain names in Vietnamese, said to make big profits domainers should acquire original, strange, and attractive names.

But to ensure a sustainable business they should focus on names related to things used in practical life – like vehicles, health care, fashion, and property.

Some domainers complain it is not an easy business since keeping many names and being unable to sell them for profits would mean they have to pay significant amounts of money to retain them.

Nguyen Trong Khoa of central Binh Dinh Province owns more than 700 domain names related to various areas like tourism, food and beverages and agricultural products.

They are worth several billions of dong, and Khoa pays around 200 million VND to retain them.To invest effectively, domainers must have a good understanding of the basic principles governing selection, purchase, advertising, and transfer of domain names, they said.

Source: VNA