Need help on how to approach this domain investor

[macciato]

Hi everyone,


I come here for a little advice, not really sure what to do.


Context:

I am currently building (well, I've been for 4 years but things are not fully 'ready' yet) a business. The .com is registered by one Chinese person (he owns the domain since 2001).

Throughout the years I acquired multiple extensions of that domain and 'secured' (It's not secured, I plan to use all these domains for different purposes) the name in 7 other extensions (.org, ..., ccTLDs). Currently (seeing my business plan), the .ORG fits well because it's supposed to be a non-profit organisation (ccTLD's too). So even if I had the .com I would redirect it to my .ORG anyway.

The thing is this guy owns it since 2001, BUT he dropped it twice (meaning that he did not auto renew and re bought a few weeks/months later). I know it's 'he' because I have his name.

He has strictly no 'power' on me because if he refuses to sell it then what? I have all the 'better' extensions (by better I mean extensions that fit my business model well eg: .org).

If I calculate well, that's 13$ of renewal fees + eventual whois privacy costs throughout the years which is around 200+ $ (without index) of pure waste (as of right now).

The domain was never registered in any other extension, doesn't mean anything in English, is not related to anything, no trademark no nothing. It’s not even related to a business, so it’s all about having someone fall for that name which is again gambling on potentially ‘nothing’. If it'd be on the appraisal section here everyone would say "drop it".

So my question is:

Should I wait until the guy just abandons and realises it's a complete waste of time and money, but risking (kind of small risk here) that someone just comes up with the .COM and pressures me by developing it and making SEO confusing (eg: their name popping first on search engines by typing the domain name without the tld).

Or should I approach the owner and propose him to buy it for < 1000$ (again I can 'pressure' (which means not pay more than 1000$) the price since I do not need it, it's just for "security", for 17 years this domain has been parked). The domain expires in a few months.

What are your opinions?


Thank you in advance!

 

[wayne wooldridge]

I would wait the couple months out and see if he drops it again. Being that you don't "need" it, a little waiting seems trivial to me.

If you show interest now, you may prompt him to renew it for 5+ years and jack up the price to way more than you'd ever care to pay.

 

[bee]

Check up the domain registrar, and you may to see it price in the registrar market.
Make it clear before making decision.

 

[macciato]

Check up the domain registrar, and you may to see the marketplace price.
Make it clear before making decision.

Well that's tricky, the domain is on sedo, but the traffic is hidden, no pricing at all (offer). The commenter above made me open my eyes to a reality. If I (or anyone) approach him, the guy would probably check all the WHOIS and see the other domains and see the developped .ORG and reg/secure for 5+ years and expect a huge payment where in fact I can't afford, then hold it just for fun (already 17 years of holding onto something that doesn't seem to have interested anyone other than me haha).

 

[bee]

Well that's tricky, the domain is on sedo, but the traffic is hidden, no pricing at all (offer). The commenter above made me open my eyes to a reality. If I (or anyone) approach him, the guy would probably check all the WHOIS and see the other domains and see the developped .ORG and reg/secure for 5+ years and expect a huge payment where in fact I can't afford, then hold it just for fun (already 17 years of holding onto something that doesn't seem to have interested anyone other than me haha).

look over
ename.com
4.cn
22.cn
west.xyz
alibabacloud.com

 

[macciato]

look over
ename.com
4.cn
22.cn
west.xyz
alibabacloud.com

Thank you very much for the insight. I found it on 4.cn, again, offer and not BIN. It says it has 100 views over the last month so I don't know if it's much since I don't know the website (4.cn).
One guy is selling the domain name + one letter in .com for 4500$ which is being completely delusional since the name doesn't mean anything. I hope the glitters in his eyes will wash off.

 

[bee]

Thank you very much for the insight. I found it on 4.cn, again, offer and not BIN. It says it has 100 views over the last month so I don't know if it's much since I don't know the website (4.cn).
One guy is selling the domain name + one letter in .com for 4500$ which is being completely delusional since the name doesn't mean anything. I hope the glitters in his eyes will wash off.

 

[wayne wooldridge]

Thank you very much for the insight. I found it on 4.cn, again, offer and not BIN. It says it has 100 views over the last month so I don't know if it's much since I don't know the website (4.cn).
One guy is selling the domain name + one letter in .com for 4500$ which is being completely delusional since the name doesn't mean anything. I hope the glitters in his eyes will wash off.

Ouch. That's unfortunate.

 

[creataweb]

Wait til it drops.

 

[branding]

Since he already dropped it before I reckon he's not sure about the domain. Don't contact him but monitor the domain closely upon expiracy and catch it on the drop. If you want to be safe use a backordering service when the time's there.

I've been there in the past. As soon as I showed interest negotiations were hard. Did some fair research, and actually offered way over marketprice as I had the funds available anyway but he kept asking a ridiculous amount. No keywords, no search volume, no other companies using the name and no other tld developed. Nothing, just a reg fee value. Anyway, took me a couple of years but eventually I handregged it

I don't mind paying good money for a valuable domain but if a counteroffer is way out of line I just move on and put it on my watchlist.