FadeAI.com: The $350 Domain That Accidentally Sold for $9K Mid-Launch
Marc Köhlbrugge had bought FadeAI.com a year earlier for $350. It was a speculative purchase—he figured someday he might use it, or sell it for a profit.
Then he started building an iOS app and decided "Fade" was the perfect name. He already owned the domain. The app was built, tested, and approved in the App Store.
Everything was ready for launch.
Then he got an email: "Your domain has been sold."
The Fast Transfer
Köhlbrugge had listed FadeAI.com for sale on several domain marketplaces months before starting the app. When he decided to use it for his project, he removed it from most listings.
But he forgot about Afternic.
Afternic, GoDaddy's marketplace, has a feature called "Fast Transfer" that automatically processes domain sales without requiring seller approval. When a buyer accepts the listed price, the domain transfers immediately.
Someone had bought FadeAI.com for $9,000. The domain was already gone.
This would have been great news—except his iOS app was making API calls to that domain. Losing it would break the app for every user who had already downloaded it.
The Crisis
The app was live in the App Store. Users were actively using it. And the domain it depended on had just been sold out from under him.
Köhlbrugge initially asked Afternic to revert the transfer. They said it wasn't possible.
He quickly registered fade-ai.com as a temporary replacement and pushed an emergency update to change all the API endpoints. He requested an "expedited review" from Apple, expecting it to take days.
To his surprise, Apple processed the request in hours. The updated app with the new domain rolled out to users, averting a complete crisis.
The Decision
Now Köhlbrugge had a choice: fight to get the domain back, or accept the $9,000 and rebrand.
He wasn't that attached to the name anyway. He'd learned that many people mistook "Fade" for "Faith AI" when saying it out loud. A rebrand might actually be an improvement.
His friends agreed: take the money and find a new name.
The Rebrand
Köhlbrugge wanted something short and memorable. He browsed DAN.com for available 3-letter .cam domains and found Yay.cam for $550.
He bought it immediately. He also grabbed Yay.camera as backup (since .cam might be confused with .com).
Why "Yay"? It was short, memorable, and—as he put it—"sounds like a viral app."
He'd turned a $350 domain investment into a $9,000 payout, then spent $550 on a new brand that was arguably better than the original.
The Lesson in Letting Go
What makes this story interesting isn't the accidental sale—it's Köhlbrugge's response.
He could have been devastated. He could have fought to reverse the sale. He could have blamed Afternic's auto-transfer feature.
Instead, he saw the opportunity:
- $9,000 profit on a domain he paid $350 for
- Forced rebrand to something more memorable
- Better product-market fit with a name that "sounds like a viral app"
Sometimes the best outcomes come from accidents. Köhlbrugge bought FadeAI.com for $350 with no plan. Built an app around it. Accidentally sold it for $9K mid-launch. Rebranded to something better for $550.
Net result: +$8,100 and a brand he likes better than the original.
The Afternic Footnote
The story also serves as a cautionary tale about marketplace features. Afternic's Fast Transfer is convenient for sellers who want passive income from domain sales. But it's also unforgiving—once a buyer accepts, the transfer is automatic and irreversible.
Köhlbrugge's advice to other builders: if you're actively using a domain, make sure it's removed from all marketplaces. Otherwise, Fast Transfer might sell it mid-launch.
He learned that lesson the hard way. But he walked away with $8,100 profit and Yay.cam.
Not bad for an accident.