How it works
ShortDomains is a peer-to-peer marketplace. No hidden fees, no brokers. Sellers list their own domains; buyers contact them directly.
Tell us the domain name you want to sell. We accept all TLDs — .co.uk, .com, .io, and more.
Name your asking price in GBP and write a short description. You can edit both at any time from your dashboard.
We generate a unique TXT record value. Add it to your domain's DNS, then hit 'Check now'. We query the authoritative nameservers in real time — no waiting on propagation estimates.
Once the TXT record is found, your domain is published in the marketplace instantly. Remove the record whenever you like — it won't delist you.
Filter by TLD, character length, and price. Every domain listed has been verified as owned by the seller — no squatters.
Send an inquiry directly. Your email and the seller's email are masked — replies go through our proxy so neither party exposes their inbox.
Negotiate freely. ShortDomains doesn't take a cut of peer-to-peer agreements. We earn a flat facilitation fee only if you use our escrow service.
For .co.uk domains, transfer is instant via Nominet IPS Tag change. For global domains, we provide a WHOIS witness certificate confirming the hand-off.
DNS ownership verification
When you create a listing, we generate a cryptographically random 32-character hex token and ask you to publish it as a TXT record at the root of your domain (@). The value looks like:
When you click Check now, our server queries the authoritative nameservers for your domain using Node's dns/promises module — not a cached resolver. If the record matches, your listing is verified immediately. The token is single-use per listing and stored server-side; it is never reused.
DNS propagation from major registrars is typically instant (Cloudflare) to 30 minutes (Namecheap, GoDaddy). If your check fails, wait a few minutes and try again.
Escrow & safe transfer
For .co.uk domains, transfer happens via a Nominet IPS Tag change — an instantaneous, registry-level transfer. Our escrow flow holds payment in a protected account, initiates the tag change, and releases funds once the buyer confirms receipt. The whole process takes under 10 minutes.
- — Flat fee: £49
- — Buyer and seller both confirm
- — Nominet registry record is the receipt
For .com, .io, .net, and other TLDs, we act as a transfer witness. We take WHOIS snapshots before and after the transfer and generate a signed PDF certificate proving the hand-off occurred. Payment is released to the seller once both snapshots match and the buyer confirms.
- — Flat fee: £79
- — PDF certificate emailed to both parties
- — Signed with timestamp authority
Redirect your domain's traffic
If your domain already gets direct-type traffic, you can point it at your ShortDomains listing so visitors land on your sale page instead of a blank screen. There are two ways to do this:
In your registrar's DNS settings, add an A record pointing to our redirect servers. Any visitor hitting the domain will be 301-redirected to your listing at shortdomains.co.uk/buy/yourdomain.com. This is the best option for SEO and direct-type traffic.
Some registrars offer built-in URL forwarding. Set the forward destination to your ShortDomains listing URL. This works without changing nameservers but may show a "forwarded" label in some browsers.
Traffic routing is optional and does not affect your verification status.