The Domain King

The Domain King is the business of Rick Schwartz, who the about page says has bought, built, leased and sold premium domains since December 26, 1995. The site sells, leases and partners on category-defining names. Its adult names sit in a separate portfolio of 426 names, which the inventory page presents as the founder's full adult-category portfolio, gated to visitors aged 21 and over. For a site operator the vendor is a source of names rather than a host. It sells a name, leases one on a monthly basis, or offers a joint build in which the vendor supplies the domain and the builder supplies the business.

What it sells an operator

The deals page sets out 3 routes. In October 2026 it listed an outright acquisition at $500K to $35M for a category-defining .com, with the transfer on funding and held and released by Escrow.com. The page says a typical close takes 1 to 2 weeks. Acquisition prices are not published per name, and the inquiry route asks the buyer to request a price.

In October 2026 the lease route was priced from $500 to $50K a month. The page says the domain is held in escrow for the term, that the lessee can point DNS wherever it builds, and that the lessee can convert to a purchase later or walk away. It also says equity can stand in place of rent, case by case.

The Beanstalk route is a joint build. The deals page says the vendor provides a seven- or eight-figure domain at no acquisition cost, in exchange for building a company on it as equal partners, and describes the stakes as a 5-year build. The home page widens that to a range running from 50/50 partnerships to builder-controlled deals, built on sweat equity, with no debt and no payroll on the builder's side. The page shows 77+ startups and 57 builders against that route, and the home page lists businesses already live on the founder's names alongside others still in build.

The 8-year formula is a payment plan. As of October 2026 the page presented $2,000 a month for 96 payments toward a million-dollar name, with Escrow.com taking custody of the name in month 1 and the name passing to the buyer after the final payment. The page says the buyer may pay off early at any time, or walk away, no questions asked, and keep what was built.

The adult inventory lists 426 names, almost all of them .com, with a handful of .net, .org, .tv and .co endings, and the mainstream inventory lists 1,128 names. The adult list can be filtered by ending and by length, and each listing carries an inquiry button. The contact form also offers a request for the full adult list, marked as needing the 21+ confirmation. The site buys domains from owners too, who are invited to send a name and a price.

The terms that decide the choice

The adult gate on the inventory page is a self-declaration. Visitors certify that they are at least 21 years old and that viewing adult-oriented material is allowed where they live, and they confirm with a button. The inventory page says the list contains adult-oriented domain names, and it describes every name as available to buy, lease or build on. The pages publish no acceptable use policy and no content rules for a site built on a leased or bought name.

The pages describe no DMCA procedure, no record-keeping rules for adult content and no abuse policy for the names the vendor sells or leases.

Escrow is the central term. The pages say every structure runs through Escrow.com, that the escrow service holds a leased domain for the term, and that a purchase transfers on funding. The contact page states "No card details ever by email." Escrow fees and who pays them are not stated.

Equity is a recurring term. The pages say equity options are negotiable on any deal, that equity can replace rent on a lease, and that a Beanstalk build runs as an equal partnership. The track record shows the founder has taken equity on past sales: one sale is listed as cash plus a stake retained in the buyer, others as cash plus stock or cash plus equity. No equity percentage is offered in advance for a new lease or purchase.

Payment runs through escrow rather than a card processor, and the pages describe no merchant product. On the walk-away term, the pages say a buyer on the 8-year plan may leave at any point and keep the business built on the name, without saying whether payments already made are returned.

Getting started and support

The contact route is an inquiry form with fields for the domain, name, e-mail, company, budget or offer in US dollars and message, plus an e-mail address for direct contact; the form opens in the visitor's mail app. A drop-down sorts the inquiry into acquisition, lease, the 8-year formula, a Beanstalk partnership, a sale to the founder, or a request for one of the lists. The pages say serious inquiries only, and they describe the steps as telling the vendor the name and the number, a reply from the founder within days, agreed terms, and a close through Escrow.com. The pages give no phone line, no support hours and no ticket system. A Beanstalk applicant is asked to pitch a build, and the home page says a panel of 5 domain-industry figures reviews every build, with the founder as creator.

Company and track record

The about page says the founder has been in the domain business since December 26, 1995, co-founded the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conferences and was voted Greatest Domain Investor of All Time in 2021. The page counts 28 conventions on 4 continents and 1,325 blog posts. The site also says he is in the Domain Hall of Fame and was named Domainer of the Year in 2005. These are the site's own statements about its record.

The track record section gives sales the site describes as public and documented, several of them still paying out through equity. As of October 2026 the page said a name bought in 1997 for $42,000 earned roughly $15 million while held and was sold in 2015 for $8,880,000 in cash. Other entries include a sale to a news network and several cash-plus-equity deals. The site also states its own totals for earnings and portfolio value; those are the vendor's own figures, and no independent valuation is given.

Who it suits

The Domain King fits a business that has the capital for a premium name and wants an escrow-held transfer, a builder with no capital who would accept a partnership build, and an operator who wants a leased name with a route to purchase. Its adult inventory suits an operator who wants an established adult-category .com and is comfortable with a self-declared age gate on the list.

It fits less well for an operator who needs hosting, a written adult content policy, a DMCA process, record-keeping or age-verification support, or a published price for each name. Acquisition prices are by request, and the equity terms are described only as negotiable.

Before a deal, a buyer has to set against this a self-declared age gate, escrow fees that are not stated, and award and earnings figures that come from the vendor itself. The strongest point is the escrow structure: every transaction, whether a purchase, lease or build, closes through a third party named on the pages, and a leased name stays with that escrow for the term.