Evidence of the new Internet start-up boom  that Time Magazine wrote about last week seems to be popping up everywhere this week. An article Monday in one of our local papers, the 

St. Petersburg Times, was headlined "Palm Harbor DVD Bulk Reseller Finds Boom in Economy's Ditch." The story detailed how Distribution Video and Audio was benefiting from a new wave of customers who have been buying their surplus DVDs to stock Internet retail businesses. 

The story said the company's CEO, Brad Kugler, "is  now presiding over the latest 

growth niche, one nurtured by people out of work and eager to make money off the Internet from home. Individual entrepreneurs buy small batches of the close-out inventory DVDs from Kugler's company and then resell them on the Internet, sometimes doubling their investment. Sales in that business slice, which DVA calls its special units division, are up 60% in the first quarter compared with a year ago."

Another article talked about how people who have been laid off and are unable to find a new job are deciding to turn something they are passionate about into their own business. Many of them are launching those businesses online rather than take on the high cost of a brick and mortar operation when their finances are already stretched thin. 

These new start-ups have helped boost aftermarket domain sales at the low to middle end of the market favored by small business owners while the high end continues to lag. It is likely that trend will continue for some time as most buyers have limited resources and have to make every dollar count. The net effect I have seen on my own domain business is stronger revenue overall as domain sales to small business end users has more than offset the decline in PPC revenue, even though the latter category has fallen by close to 50%.

One other note today, the latest GreatDomains.com premium online auction ends Thursday (April 23) at 1pm U.S. Eastern time. This month's auction includes many one-word and 3-letter .coms (NIB.com, RXI.com and GJR.com to name just a few). There is a full list of featured auctions here.