How much to buy a domain name from its owner depends on one person: the owner. A registered name has no registry price, no catalogue and no rate card, so the figure is set by what they want, what they paid, whether they use it and how badly you need it. What you can do is anchor your budget in published sale data and add the costs that sit on top of the price. Fees and terms below were checked on 24 October 2026.
What domains bought from owners actually sell for
The useful evidence is venue averages and medians. They describe names that sold, not names whose owners refused, so treat them as a guide to the middle of the market rather than a quote for any one domain.
| Source | Period | Average | Median | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoDaddy Auctions (GoDaddy engineering blog) | 2019 | $170 | Not given | “used mostly by domain investors” |
| Afternic reseller network (same post) | 2019 | over $1,500 | Not given | Resale listings |
| Sedo (2025 Global Domain Report, via DNJournal) | 2024 sales | $2,345 | $549 | 69% sold at Buy It Now |
| Sedo (2026 Global Domain Report, via SIDN and Domain Name Wire) | 2025 sales | about $2,750 | about $800 (DNW: $818); .com $595 | Names sold in 383 TLDs |
The GoDaddy figures are from 2019 and show the split between investor-to-investor trading and resale to end users. The Sedo figures are more recent. SIDN gives the 2025 median as $800, while Domain Name Wire reports $818; either way, half of Sedo’s sales were below that line, and .com alone had a $595 median. The gap between average and median tells you the averages are pulled up by a few large sales.
DNJournal’s write-up of the same 2026 report says the aftermarket “is largely driven by transactions in the lower and mid-price segments”, with most surveyed sellers reporting sales under $10,000. The top end exists, but it is rare: DNJournal’s 2026 chart needs at least $100,000 to make the list.
What decides the price of a particular name
The owner’s position matters more than the name’s quality. An investor holding a name for resale usually wants a sale and often has a price in mind. A business using the name on a live site may not sell at any figure you would accept. A forgotten registration, renewed out of habit, is where the bargains are, and also where owners are hardest to reach.
The name itself sets the ceiling: length, extension, whether it is a real word, and whether other buyers want it. For a structured read of those factors, start with how domain appraisal works, and read how accurate domain appraisals are before treating any automated figure as a price. Short names are their own market; what 3-letter domains sell for shows how far that can go.
The full budget: price plus escrow, broker and transfer
The price you agree is not the cheque you write. Escrow.com, the usual way to pay a stranger for a domain, holds the buyer’s money “in a trust account until the entire transaction is complete”, checks the registrar WHOIS to confirm you are the registrant, then pays the seller. Its domain escrow page sets out the process, and the fee tiers below are the same ones it applies to every item type.
| Agreed price | Escrow.com standard rate | Escrow fee | Total if you pay the whole fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | 2.6%, $50 minimum | $50 (minimum applies) | $550 |
| $5,000 | 2.6% | $130 | $5,130 |
| $50,000 | 2.4% | $1,200 | $51,200 |
| $100,000 | 1.9% | $1,900 | $101,900 |
The fee figures are our arithmetic from Escrow.com’s published tiers; the tier rate applies to the whole amount. Who pays is negotiable, and many deals split it. A buyer outside the US paying by international wire adds $25. Card or PayPal, available only up to $5,000, adds 3.05%, and the Concierge service doubles the rate. More on choosing an escrow route is in domain escrow.
If you use a broker
If you cannot reach the owner, or want to stay anonymous, a broker adds a larger cost. GoDaddy’s Domain Broker Service charges “$99.99 per domain, plus 20% commission”. The $99.99 is non-refundable, and GoDaddy says it “cannot guarantee the acquisition of a domain name”; the broker will spend up to 30 days trying. On a $5,000 deal that makes $1,000 in commission and $6,099.99 in total; on $20,000 it is $24,099.99. If the owner says no, you lose the $99.99.
The transfer
Moving the name to your registrar has its own price, which registrars set themselves, so check yours. Cloudflare’s documentation says “most transfers include a one-year extension from your current expiration date”, and Namecheap says that, “depending on a TLD”, the name is renewed for a year. Some country-code names, such as .uk, work differently. ICANN also notes that a change of registrant name can trigger a 60-day block on moving registrars, though some registrars let you opt out.
Why a listed price is often the cheapest route
Many owners have already named their price. Afternic told sellers in 2019 that domains with a Buy Now price “are three- to four-times as likely to sell compared to unpriced domains”, and recommended one on every name valued at $10,000 or less, because many purchases under that figure “are often impulse buys”. Sedo’s reports point the same way: Buy It Now made up 69% of sales in the 2025 report and 76% in the 2026 report, while negotiated make-offer sales were 8%, according to Domain Name Wire.
A listed price removes the broker and the guessing. It is not always the floor, though. Afternic lets sellers set a hidden floor price that its sales team can accept without approval, so a polite offer below Buy Now can still land. The step-by-step of finding and approaching an unlisted owner is in how to buy a domain that is taken.
When to walk away
Walk away when the total, not the price, is above what the name is worth to your project. Set that number before you contact anyone, and include escrow, any broker and the transfer. Walk away when an owner refuses escrow and asks for a direct payment, because escrow is the protection that the domain actually arrives. And walk away when a broker’s non-refundable fee is a large share of what you expected to pay, since a refusal costs you that fee for nothing.
The limit of this guide is plain: published medians tell you what typical names fetch, not what one owner will accept. A name the owner uses for their business may have no price at all. Alternatives one character away, or in another extension, are often far cheaper than a determined pursuit.
Once you have a budget, domain name negotiation shows how to open and counter without overpaying.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to buy a domain someone owns?
Whatever the owner accepts. Sedo’s 2025 median was about $800 (Domain Name Wire reports $818), with .com at $595, but single names range from a few hundred dollars to over $1 million.
Who pays the Escrow.com fee?
It is negotiable. If the buyer agrees to pay all or part, Escrow.com adds it to the purchase price; if the seller agrees, it comes out of the proceeds.
Is a domain broker worth it?
Only when you cannot reach the owner or need anonymity. GoDaddy’s service costs $99.99, non-refundable, plus 20% of the sale price, and does not guarantee a purchase.
Does the transfer include a renewal?
Often. Cloudflare says most transfers add a year from the current expiry date, and Namecheap says it depends on the TLD. Some country-code names differ.
The takeaway Set your ceiling before you make contact: the Domain Worth Calculator maps a name to a value band, factor by factor. If a fixed price suits you better than a negotiation, browse aged domains on the SERPHeroes marketplace, where you pay the agreed price plus Escrow.com’s fee and SERPHeroes charges buyers no fee.
