Ask HN: How much to pay for a domain for a side project?
I'm looking for a domain for a side project and found one that I am particular to. It is being domain squatted, with a sell price of 350$. How much does a domain name matter?
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I would suggest against it. It's almost certainly possible to pick another domain name, and just use that. If you're just starting off, and no-one knows about your brand, then you can just as easily switch to another branding.
The only reason you should pay lots for a domain name is if it's hard or impossible to switch. i.e. you're already invested in that brand.
For example, openstreetmap.org is basically "doing to google maps what wikipedia did to encyclopedias". They have been going for years, and have ~ 200,000 users. openstreetmapS.org (not the S) was squatted. They eventually raised funds and bought it. It made sense for them since they had already a lot of brand awareness of "open street map", and it's so easy to add an 's' to the end.
For a 'side project' that is at the hobby level it is clearly too expensive, if you plan on eating of it some day you can expect to invest a large multiple of that worth of time and effort anyway, presumably you'll recoup that.
To date I have only bought a single domain ever from someone other than a registrar, usually with a bit of thinking I can come up with one that is not already taken, in your case that might be impossible, hard to judge without more info.
Best of luck with your side project anyway!
While I'm generally against supporting the domain squatting industry, if I were you I'd sit down and spend an hour making a list of ten other possible names that don't completely suck and actually are available. If you still think that the $350 domain name is worth $350 after that, then go for it.
The ideal domain name is memorable, easy to spell and pronounceable. I think these 3 factors matter a fair amount.
If that is the exact domain you want, I'd say $350 is a pretty good price as long as you're serious about the project.