For a 'side project' that is at the hobby level it is clearly too expensive, if you plan on eating of it some day you can expect to invest a large multiple of that worth of time and effort anyway, presumably you'll recoup that.

To date I have only bought a single domain ever from someone other than a registrar, usually with a bit of thinking I can come up with one that is not already taken, in your case that might be impossible, hard to judge without more info.

Best of luck with your side project anyway!