“Domain Name Parking Companies Are Very Profitable Domain name parking companies are willing to pay $100s per acquired customer.  Ever wonder why so many domain name parking companies are popping up? It’s because this is a very profitable business. In fact, domain parking companies are willing to pay $100s to acquire customers, if these companies bid prices on Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) are any indication.”

http://domainnamewire.com/2007/10/31/domain-name-parking-companies-are-very-profitable/

***FS*** Parking is a tough business because there is a lot to manage,  but much of that management can be refined, optimized and automated. The parking companies can afford to pay a lot upfront because they are amortizing the liklihood that you’ll leave your visitor stream with them, and not shop it around.  Many will operate on razor thin sub-syndication revshares so they can garner better revshares from Yahoo or Google themselves.  This is a business where size matters, and the goal is to “Get rich big or die trying” [sorry about that 50].  In the final analysis, those in the best position to park names are those who own quality domain portfolios themselves, because those folks understand the challenges of running ‘that’ type of biz and can use their own names/traffic as leverage to get that stronger top side revshare or persuade peers to join them.  I might start a parking co one day..  but not today