advice Approach or wait?

[capiche]

Hey all,

I am just looking for a bit of advice. I registered a domain approximately a year ago that has to do with the app and possibly wearable industry. It's a brandable domain, as in not "purely" generic. There are no trademarks for the term, I made sure of that even before registration and now, a year later.

I was researching related terms the other day and saw that there is a new company that has developed a product and website with the exact match of my domain. I did the normal digging and found out who the owner was and also did a reverse whois to see what other domains they may own. They have gone with the .CO of my domain for their website, and registered longer-tail variations of my .COM. All of their registrations were made several months after mine.

As far as the owner is concerned, he is a former CEO of a very large app based business that is still in use to this day. It was one of the few apps launched on the Apple watch on it's rollout, According to it's website, (which is .COM), it's used by millions and in 100 cities around the world. He sold that company for somewhere between 48-60 million, and to my understanding started this one.

It's obvious from my research that they registered the .CO because my .COM was unavailable.

First off, I've been into domains for 10 years and I'm no stranger to sales or end-user contact. However, the majority of my sales have came from me initiating the sale, and I'm wondering if that's really the best course of action in this case.

I was also wondering what the thoughts were as to how to proceed if I do, or should I just wait it out?

Thanks

 

[Kate]

It's obvious from my research that they registered the .CO because my .COM was unavailable.

As always, there are two possible reasons:

1. they didn't even think they could try to acquire it
2. or they don't want to pay more than regfee

I would just wait.

However, if you use your domain name for E-mail, then there is a chance that from time to time you will receive correspondence that was intended for the .co domain. ie [email protected] iso [email protected].
As a gesture you could just forward the mails to them, then they will start to realize the confusion is resulting in confidential E-mail being diverted to third parties. If they are smart, they will ask to themselves: why don't we own the .com ?

It could be an opportunity to create dialogue without exposing yourself as an "evil cybersquatter" trying to sell them a domain they couldn't register.

If you are really really really naughty, you might be able to capture more E-mails by setting up catchall on your MX but it is unethical if you do that for that sole purpose of tapping into misdirected correspondence.

I have been surprised at the kind of residual mail you get with some dropped domains. When people drop their domains, they seldom unsubscribe and unregister from the myriads of sites that still have their old E-mail address... E-mail is often sensitive.

Very often, domain names are stolen by taking over the admin E-mail account. Sometimes, it is a domain name that expired and has become available again for registration.

 

[capiche]

Thanks for the reply Kate!

That's a very good idea. I think I may go ahead and set up email on it, just to see if I receive any unintended correspondence.

When I registered the domain, it had never been registered before. It just so happened that I had the same idea as someone else... only I had it first.

Upon further research, I found that the person in question is also COO of another really large app based company that has clients like the Four Seasons Hotels, Marriott, and countless others.

Can I send you a private message?

 

[brandnow]

As always, there are two possible reasons:

1. they didn't even think they could try to acquire it
2. or they don't want to pay more than regfee

I would just wait.

However, if you use your domain name for E-mail, then there is a chance that from time to time you will receive correspondence that was intended for the .co domain. ie [email protected] iso [email protected].
As a gesture you could just forward the mails to them, then they will start to realize the confusion is resulting in confidential E-mail being diverted to third parties. If they are smart, they will ask to themselves: why don't we own the .com ?

It could be an opportunity to create dialogue without exposing yourself as an "evil cybersquatter" trying to sell them a domain they couldn't register.

If you are really really really naughty, you might be able to capture more E-mails by setting up catchall on your MX but it is unethical if you do that for that sole purpose of tapping into misdirected correspondence.

I have been surprised at the kind of residual mail you get with some dropped domains. When people drop their domains, they seldom unsubscribe and unregister from the myriads of sites that still have their old E-mail address... E-mail is often sensitive.

Very often, domain names are stolen by taking over the admin E-mail account. Sometimes, it is a domain name that expired and has become available again for registration.

good advice and also good point on ethics. A++

 

[gilescoley]

Nice Kate, good idea....however...I guess this will only work if they have the same prefix to the email ([email protected])

They might just use [email protected] and [email protected] and then obviously you wont receive the emails, unless of course you check what email they are using and create the same one for yourself on the .COM, which is probably unethical as well

Personally, I think if you wait, they will develop the .CO name and the longer you wait and the more time and money invested in the .CO version, the less likely they are to change over at a later stage

As you mentioned, if there are no trademarks and you have owned the name before the business was started, then there is nothing wrong with approaching the owner and letting him know the .COM version is for sale. He might not be that worries about the .COM and is happy to use the .CO, but at least he has the option if he wants to purchase it

Personally, I dont see "squatting" in this at all, the OP registered the name, and then a year later someone develop a product with the same name, nothing wrong with that at all

 

[indiegrind]

I'm with Giles on this one.

 

[capiche]

Thanks for the replies. Honestly, the last thing I want to do is be or seem underhanded.

You both raise valid points. Thank you.

Shooting you a PM Giles, if you don't mind.