Comment: According to the

In post: Claim: RonPaul.com asking $250,000 for domain, down from $800,000

In reply to comment: Back in early January 2008 I (see in situ)

According to the

Submitted by rpcongress on Fri, 02/01/2013 - 18:49. Permalink

statement on RonPaul.com they bought the domain when it lapsed:

As many Ron Paul supporters and most RonPaulForums/DailyPaul members know, over the past few years we acquired various domain names that were either passed up or allowed to expire by Ron Paul’s staff (including RonPaul.com, RonPaul2008.com, RonPaul2010.com, RonPaul.net, RonPaul.org, RonPaul.info and several others)

When a domain expires you only have to pay registration fees (typically around $10-$20 per year).