I Sell Onions on the Internet

(deepsouthventures.com)

116 points | by sogen 1 hour ago

18 comments

  • bencornia
    18 minutes ago
    > The way Faulkner treats his characters, I treat domain name projects. I buy them with an intention to develop. And I let them take the lead. They’re the inspiration for the business itself. They guide me towards what they need to become. I’m just the dude behind the keyboard (sorta).

    I feel the same way about personal projects and blogs. A good idea tends to be self-reinforcing. It just needs someone to uncover it. Selling onions on the internet seems unusual but to the right person that idea is gold.

  • Fiveplus
    0 minutes ago
    The internet was originally promised as a way to disintermediate these kinds of supply chains, yet we often ignore these "boring" businesses for hype trains. The fact that he added a phone number and it sometimes out-sells the website is the cherry on top.
  • glamp
    1 minute ago
    I love this post. I read it a few years ago and tried the same thing. I bought and then built riverreports.com (https://www.riverreports.com/).
  • breadchris
    18 minutes ago
    This feels like a relevant wiki page to mention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_Futures_Act
  • stephenlf
    38 minutes ago
    Absolutely insane way to start a business. “Let me blow 2 grand on a domain name. Not sure what it’s for, yet.”
    • chrneu
      14 minutes ago
      I've been doing some version of this since college. ...holy shit that's almost 20 years.

      It started as a bit of a joke on the "That's a good band name" line. It became "That's a good domain name". Yes, I went to a stem college.

      Anyway, i've started 4 pretty decent businesses based entirely off that bit. My friends and I would be riffing out behind the pizza place/bar we frequented, someone would say something and then "That's a good domain name" comes out. I'd make a quick note and think about it for a few days. I found that if I come back to it after a week or so then it's maybe worth something.

      Business and domain names can make or break a company.

      On top of all that, i've also bought and then sold hundreds of domains for a profit based off this bit. I use various registars when they have sales, buy em up cheap for a few years, then park em.

      After reading the OP, it's kinda funny. I did something similar with a garlic grower back in the early 00's. I had a domain, my brother worked for a garlic farmer, the farmer wanted to export to asia. It worked out well for a few years.

    • odie5533
      30 minutes ago
      I wonder if the sunk cost worked in his favor here. If he'd only spent ten dollars on the domain, he probably would have built nothing.
    • cultofmetatron
      9 minutes ago
      been sitting on fullstackjavascript.com for years. been too busy writing javascript to do anything with it and now I work almost exclusively in elixir.
    • LunaSea
      25 minutes ago
      I wonder how you can then produce onions as a side business.
      • bigstrat2003
        12 minutes ago
        He doesn't. He partnered with a farmer.
    • chiefalchemist
      26 minutes ago
      “ The way Faulkner treats his characters, I treat domain name projects. I buy them with an intention to develop. And I let them take the lead. They’re the inspiration for the business itself. They guide me towards what they need to become. I’m just the dude behind the keyboard (sorta).”

      To me it makes sense. Without a domain name, it’s just an idea. The domain name makes it real, and it’s a foundation the biz can stand on. Too many people try to start a biz without a foundation.

  • ohyoutravel
    7 minutes ago
    Got these many years back after having been posted here. Very happy with the purchase, but wouldn’t order again as my wife hated the smell. Highly recommended everyone order these at least once.
  • tomrod
    48 minutes ago
    What a cool story. Not tech for tech's sake, but tech that grows into something simpler, more efficient, and more world-opening for something as wonderful as the Vidalia onion
  • derektank
    44 minutes ago
    Peter appears to still be at it.[1] Very impressed by his commitment to the bit.

    [1] https://xcancel.com/searchbound/status/1996247844080996549#m

  • Forgeties79
    5 minutes ago
    I love how I came into this thread going “it would be fun if this was actually about onions, but it is probably something about Tor” but was wrong!
  • jrecyclebin
    11 minutes ago
    Great advertising for vidalias. I simply have to try one now.
  • reactordev
    52 minutes ago
    Sometimes you start a business. Sometimes a business starts you. Awesome that the author saw this as an opportunity and not a down side to owning a name he never really wanted to begin with.

    Sometimes the right business just finds you and you’re at the right place at the right time to see it.

  • zkmon
    45 minutes ago
    That's very interesting. My domain purchased in 2015, finally seems to make some meaning due to recent tech advacnes. Time to do something with it.
  • throwaway0x832
    29 minutes ago
  • bell-cot
    24 minutes ago
    233 points and 89 comments back in 2022 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32053044
  • dgrin91
    48 minutes ago
    (2019)
  • Avicebron
    25 minutes ago
    "nature's magic vegetable."
  • tantalor
    6 minutes ago
    It's kind of funny this guy doesn't understand his own business.

    It's not onions. It's lead generation.