There’s a domain name that someone’s already registered that I’d like to buy. I inquired about it six months ago, and the owner of the low-fi site that hasn’t been updated in years never replied to any e-mails. I then contacted the firm that designed the site which said that the deadbeat owner hadn’t paid them for the work, and since they were the ones who’d registered the URL, they’d be willing to sell it to me. I had a GoDaddy Certified (non-automated, human) Appraisal of the value of the name, and was told it was probably worth between $420 and $1,218. I offered $1,000 and their counter was $30,000. I went back with $1,500 but never heard back from them.
The domain name consists of two words that aren’t typically used together, e.g.: purplelemur.com, so the odds of another buyer appearing are remote. The URL is in no way related to the business that owns it, “Visit purplelemur.com for all your travel needs!” And finally, both words are English, but the company using the site is in France and their current site is in French. The last item made the process especially difficult, because I had to hire a translator to send e-mails and make calls—though he was posing as a French-speaking friend so it wouldn’t appear that I had gobs of money to throw at them.
Anyway, I still want the URL. I’m not willing to pay $30,000 for it, but $3,000 would be worth it. I don’t think that using the automated “Certified Offer” route would yield any results because any e-mails would probably go unread. Are there more proactive services out there I could use? Does anyone specialize in having real people do whatever it takes to buy a domain name?
My advice is to find another domain name. Unless you have an existing business or product with a well known name, I think it’s hard to justify paying more than a few hundred dollars.
If it is a dormant site and the owner asked $30,000, they’re just domain squatters. They’re counting on your desperation for that exact name, and they have no incentive to negotiate lower. Bringing in an outside agent just tells them that your interest level is very high, and that will stiffen their resolve. They’re never going to drop their asking price by 90%.
When does the domain expire? If it is soon, within a year you can go to godaddy.com (or several others) and put in a backorder. It will cost you $18.
It costs money to renew a domain especially one that this company may never sell. If they fail to renew, the process starts and takes about 120 days. if nobody else wants it, you get it. If someone else wants it, you may end up in an auction.
I was able to get a domain for a friend this way. It was her name ‘dot com’ and the owner let it expire (the owner had no need to own the domain).
Presumably an outside agent would feign naiveté as a po’ farmer from the sticks but with the familiarity of domain name negations to make a positive outcome more likely.
I have placed a backorder on the domain which expires in August. However, it was renewed last year days before it was set to expire—while the site’s fairly low-fi and hasn’t been updated in years, the owner might still figure he or she’s still getting some use out of it. Perhaps it was automatically renewed and billed to a credit card.
It’s true. My company’s website was set up by a former employee/investor. He later had a falling out with the remaining investors, and we have no contact with him.
The domain was in his name, and all the associated email went to him, so we were unaware that the domain had expired until a squatter bought it up.
We immediately set up a new domain under a similar name, but were eventually able to get the original back due to the grace period.
Repectfully, I’m not sure why you think that would be an effective strategy. An unsophisticated buyer is going to get a discount? If you were the seller, what would be your motivation for reponding that way?
My line of reasoning was focused more on the word “po’” than on “naiveté”. The intent was that an individual with apparently limited financial resources would more likely to be able to negotiate a lower price than someone who might be perceived as a high-priced representative for a company with deep pockets.