I am involved in the business of selling domain names on various websites. Despite fierce competition, I occasionally make a profit. However, the most frustrating thing about this business is that for every domain name I successfully sell, there are about five instances of theft.

Under the guise of being customers, thieves register for competitions and end up "winning" domain names that they had actually stolen from someone else's account. This results in my own domain names being registered under different names within a few days. In December 2021, I had five domain names stolen from me in this manner. As a result, I have decided to register one of my domain names for myself and am now contemplating how to go about selling it.
If anyone has any advice, I would be grateful to hear it.

What do you think about creating a name and submitting it to a competition without registering it yourself?

The only way is to register the domain for yourself and then resell it. If the name is truly valuable, someone will purchase it (not necessarily a customer, but someone else). If it doesn't sell, then you may have overestimated its worth.

I know that most often the theft of domains occurs in the .com zone, since it is a simple registration and transfer of rights to domains here. To exclude the possibility of domain theft, you can immediately make settings with your registrar so that the domain cannot be transferred automatically. Also, you should not open access to your personal data with the registrar, it is better to hide information from public viewing. Having all the documents on hand that you are the owner of the domain, you can sue the scammers and get yours back.

These are some of the most expensive domain names ever sold:

1. Lasvegas.com was sold for $90 million in 2019 to Vegas.com by Stephens Media.

2. Carinsurance.com was sold for $49.7 million in 2010 to QuinStreet.

3. Insurance.com was also sold to QuinStreet for $35.6 million.

4. Privatejet.com was purchased by Nations Luxury Transportation from Don't Look Media.com for $30.2 million in 2012.

5. Voice.com was sold to Block.one in 2019 for $30 million by MicroStrategy Incorporated.

6. Internet.com was acquired by QuinStreet in 2009 along with other domains from the WebMediaBrands news agency.

7. 360.com was sold for $17 million in 2015 to Qihoo 360 Technology by Vodafone.

Other notable domain sales include NFTS.com, which was bought for $15 million in 2022, and Tesla.com, which Elon Musk purchased for over $11 million in 2016 after more than 10 years of effort.