--- id: "portfolio" kind: "glossary-term" title: "portfolio" language: "en" category: "Aftermarket and investing" updated: "2026-10-10T10:28:55Z" canonical: "https://tldlog.com/glossary/portfolio/" translations: es: "https://tldlog.com/es/glosario/cartera-dominios/" de: "https://tldlog.com/de/glossar/domainportfolio/" fr: "https://tldlog.com/fr/glossaire/portefeuille-noms-domaine/" it: "https://tldlog.com/it/glossario/portafoglio-domini/" pt-BR: "https://tldlog.com/pt/glossario/portfolio-dominios/" ru: "https://tldlog.com/ru/glossariy/portfel-domenov/" zh-Hans: "https://tldlog.com/zh/cihui/yuming-zuhe/" --- # portfolio A collection of domains owned by one person or company. Investors hold portfolios to sell or earn from, and brands hold them to protect trademarks and run websites. Managing one means tracking renewals, costs and security. A domain portfolio is a set of domain names held by one owner. Investors hold portfolios to sell names; companies hold them for their websites and to protect their brands. ## What a domain portfolio is A portfolio is made up of several registrations held by the same registrant, but ICANN has no rule for portfolios as such: each name keeps its own expiry date, renewal and transfer history. ICANN reminds registrants that they assume "sole responsibility for the registration and use" of their names, must keep contact data accurate, answer their registrar within 15 days and keep payment details current if renewal is automatic. ## Domain investing in plain words Domain investing means registering or buying names, paying to keep them and selling some to buyers who want to use them. Under the UDRP, holding names for resale is not illegitimate in itself. WIPO panels deciding UDRP cases accept that holding names made of dictionary words, acronyms or catchy terms "can be bona fide" when the purpose was not to target a trademark. Registering a name to resell it, even at a profit, is not bad faith by itself. Which names to buy and how to price them are matters of practice and opinion, not rules. ## Holding costs and renewals Holding cost is mainly renewal fees. A registration typically runs for one to ten years, and renewal fees, including for expired names, vary by registrar. For gTLDs, registrars must make their renewal and restore fees reasonably available at registration. With many names, a missed renewal is the main risk. ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy requires gTLD registrars to send at least two reminders before expiry (about one month and one week before) and one more within five days after. Except in sponsored gTLDs, a deleted name enters a 30-day RGP. It then spends 5 days pending delete and is released for anyone to register. Prices can rise. As of October 2026, the base Registry Agreement for new gTLDs requires at least 180 calendar days' notice to registrars of a renewal price rise, and lets registrars renew at the current price for one to ten years before it. The notice goes to registrars, not registrants, and there is no cap. Legacy TLDs such as .com have their own agreements. Letting names expire on purpose, called pruning, is the investor's main lever on holding cost. ## Sell-through rate and pricing strategy The STR is the share of a portfolio sold in a period, usually a year. As an illustration only: an investor who holds 1,000 names and sells 15 in a year has a rate of 1.5 percent. No reliable source sets a typical rate. A portfolio's yearly result is sales income, minus the renewal cost of every name held, minus the cost of selling. Choosing between asking prices, make-offer listings, brokers and marketplaces is a commercial decision. ## Who buys domains: end users and upgrades An end user buys a name to use it and usually pays more than an investor would. Investors call the lower prices they trade at among themselves "wholesale" prices, which are not the registry's wholesale price. A domain upgrade is a company moving to a shorter or better name, often the .com matching its brand. Deals and news from NamesCon, a conference focused on investors, are widely reported. Outbound sales means contacting possible buyers rather than waiting for inquiries. It must respect anti-spam rules and trademark rights. The UDRP lists as evidence of bad faith registering or acquiring a name mainly to sell it to the trademark owner or a competitor for more than documented out-of-pocket costs. Under ICANN's Transfer Policy, as of October 2026: - A sale is a change of registrant. Both parties confirm, and the registrar processes it within one day. - The registrar then blocks transfers to another registrar for 60 days, unless the seller opted out beforehand. If the buyer wants another registrar, the policy advises the seller to request that transfer before the change of registrant. - A registrar may refuse a transfer within 60 days of creation or of a previous transfer. A completed transfer adds one year, up to ten years in total. - There is no bulk transfer for registrants: the bulk procedure moves all of one registrar's names after an acquisition or a loss of accreditation (free up to 50,000 names, US$ 50,000 above). On 7 June 2026 the ICANN Board adopted changes, including mandatory locks, new notices to registrants and a separate Change of Registrant Data policy. As of October 2026 they are not yet in force and have no effective date; when they take effect, the 60-day lock after a change of registrant is removed. ## Risks: trademarks, renewals and illiquid names By registering or renewing a name, the registrant states under the UDRP that, to its knowledge, the name infringes no one's rights. WIPO panels expect domainers making bulk or automated registrations to screen names against trademark databases; those who deliberately do not can be held responsible under "willful blindness". A dictionary word alone guarantees no defence. During a UDRP case, and for 15 business days after it, the name cannot move to a new holder. Buying a portfolio does not inherit the seller's dates: panels look at when the current owner acquired each name, for single names and whole portfolios alike. Merely renewing a name already held is not treated as a new registration when panels assess bad faith. Other risks are price rises and names that never sell while renewals keep costing. Tax and accounting treatment depends on the country and on whether names are held for resale or for use: that is a question for an adviser, as any specific case is for the registrar, the registry or a lawyer. ## Sources - [Transfer Policy](https://www.icann.org/en/contracted-parties/accredited-registrars/resources/domain-name-transfers/policy) - [Final Report on the Transfer Policy Review Policy Development Process](https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/policy/2025/correspondence/tpr-team-to-gnso-council-04feb25-en.pdf) - [Expired Registration Recovery Policy](https://www.icann.org/en/contracted-parties/consensus-policies/expired-registration-recovery-policy/expired-registration-recovery-policy-21-02-2024-en) - [Base Registry Agreement - Approved 21 January 2024](https://itp.cdn.icann.org/en/files/registry-agreements/base-registry-agreement-21-01-2024-en.pdf) - [Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/policy-2024-02-21-en) - [WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Select UDRP Questions](https://www.wipo.int/en/web/amc/domain-name-disputes/overview/index) ## related terms - [domainer](https://tldlog.com/glossary/domainer/) - [monetization](https://tldlog.com/glossary/monetization/) - [auto-renew](https://tldlog.com/glossary/auto-renew/)