Moniker.com calls itself a domain asset management business. It also buys and sells names and runs a domain registrar operation for customers who want to register their own domain names.

Domain-name auctions appear to be a growing marketplace, with established competition from Portland, Ore.-based SnapNames.com and online auction seller eBay Inc. Other domain-name vendors are also getting into the act. Apopka, Fla.-based Afternic.com features a Web site where buyers can make offers on domain names for sale, while Sedo.com LLC, a Cambridge, Mass.-based domain name business, just launched its online auction marketplace earlier this week (http://www.sedo.com/links/showhtml.php3?Id=1328&tracked=&partnerid=&language=us). Another vendor, BuyDomains.com in Waltham, Mass., will launch its online auction services next month, according to Pete Lamson, senior vice president and general manager.

BuyDomains.com targets the small to midsize business market and sells domain names that it already owns in its inventory.

"A business needs to have a name that resonates from a search to get attention" from prospective buyers, Lamson said. "The market for existing domain names is similar to the real estate market -- people do have to have the right address [to be successful]."