Hey everyone. I just found this forum and I'm posting to get some advice. I guess everyone has a sob story. Here's mine:
I've been running a completely online small business since 2010 under a .com domain name. I spent a lot of time and money building the website, advertising on AdWords, designing logos/business cards, etc. It was a mainly a labor of love. Anyway, about a year ago I was diagnosed with a nasty form of cancer. As you can imagine, my mind was elsewhere and while I was undergoing immunotherapy, I forgot to renew the domain. Once I realized my mistake, it was too late. NameCheap (the register) told me to just wait until it was deleted and re-register. To make the story short, it was immediately snapped up by HugeDomains.com and they are asking a price that is nowhere near what I can pay. So, I'm wondering if I have any options.
I was thinking about contacting HugeDomains, but I read on their website that sometimes they will increase the price if they know there is interest. I could say nothing and hope the price decreases and I find myself in a better financial situation down the road. I guess I could also chalk this whole thing up as a learning experience and start over with a new name/domain. I'd hate to start over because I'm having surgery next month and was hoping to make some extra money with the site while recovering at home, but starting over is looking like my only option. I'm not sure who else would want the domain since I have trademark rights, but I'm not sure that's relevant at the moment.
Also, to make matters more confusing, I received an email from another company offering to sell me the name for almost twice the price that HugeDomains is asking. I found that rather strange. I can only guess that they would plan on buying it from HugeDomains and then re-selling it to me for a profit. I never realized how cut-throat this business is. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I've been running a completely online small business since 2010 under a .com domain name. I spent a lot of time and money building the website, advertising on AdWords, designing logos/business cards, etc. It was a mainly a labor of love. Anyway, about a year ago I was diagnosed with a nasty form of cancer. As you can imagine, my mind was elsewhere and while I was undergoing immunotherapy, I forgot to renew the domain. Once I realized my mistake, it was too late. NameCheap (the register) told me to just wait until it was deleted and re-register. To make the story short, it was immediately snapped up by HugeDomains.com and they are asking a price that is nowhere near what I can pay. So, I'm wondering if I have any options.
I was thinking about contacting HugeDomains, but I read on their website that sometimes they will increase the price if they know there is interest. I could say nothing and hope the price decreases and I find myself in a better financial situation down the road. I guess I could also chalk this whole thing up as a learning experience and start over with a new name/domain. I'd hate to start over because I'm having surgery next month and was hoping to make some extra money with the site while recovering at home, but starting over is looking like my only option. I'm not sure who else would want the domain since I have trademark rights, but I'm not sure that's relevant at the moment.
Also, to make matters more confusing, I received an email from another company offering to sell me the name for almost twice the price that HugeDomains is asking. I found that rather strange. I can only guess that they would plan on buying it from HugeDomains and then re-selling it to me for a profit. I never realized how cut-throat this business is. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!