Do I need the .COM?

[ETMA]

I have been running a new website now for around 7 weeks. Visitor numbers are good and rising. I have quite a few search engine referals per day and many plans to extend what is on offer.

I am using a rather exotic TLD - partly intentionally to set the site apart and partly because there were squatters on most of the generics. I subsequently bought up the .NET domain because it was free. The .COM domain appears to have been held by some guy in Canada for the past 7 years. He has done nothing with it - not even parked it. I have recently got an email from a company in Canada - not the guy in quesstion - offering to sell me the .COM domain for $200. The orignal registrant appears to have let the name slip. Last week it was registered to someone in Virgina, this week it is held by someone in Ohio.

My lawyer informs me that I shouldn't bother spending too much on acquiring the generics since there are legal measures I can take should the names be misused. That said, I am not clear just how much the generics matter should I want to sell the site or the whole of my business.

I wouldn't mind getting the .COM domain but I smell a rat here. I am quite new to this game so I would much appreciate some advice.

 

[jkt]

if ur site is up and running its well and good.why put the traffic at risk.keep it and njoy the fruits of ur labour

 

[ETMA]

if ur site is up and running its well and good.why put the traffic at risk.keep it and njoy the fruits of ur labour

You mean, just go ahead and buy the .COM? I have already considered that but I am worried that this offer might be a scam. What can I do to check it out before buying?

 

[ssamriga]

I would advise on getting the '.com' it really, really is the best you can have at the end of your doman name...

 

[jido]

If you have the dot net plus another extension, and the site is a success, you don't really need the dot com. Buy it only if it really annoys you that someone else is getting hits just for holding the dot com. Even that should be rather limited if a simple Google search returns the correct URL.

If the owner of the dot com is using it to direct to competitors or show a negative message regarding your site, consult your lawyer again

 

[GreenGambler]

If it were my site, I would want the .com, always. Just try to talk them down a bit and do beware of any scams. As long as the seller is legit, I would say try to do business.

Good Luck

 

[MadAboutDomains]

Get the .COM and use it as a redirect.

I thought about buying the .COM version of my domain for my main site but its owned by Name Admin INC. I already planned previous to this that I would redirect 25% of the people that came to my site to the new domain, then bring it up day by day to get the traffic to flow back to the other one.

See what I mean?

Slowly feed the traffic to the new domain because I was worried that the old site would just keep the hits.

 

[ETMA]

Get the .COM and use it as a redirect.

I thought about buying the .COM version of my domain for my main site but its owned by Name Admin INC. I already planned previous to this that I would redirect 25% of the people that came to my site to the new domain, then bring it up day by day to get the traffic to flow back to the other one.

See what I mean?

Slowly feed the traffic to the new domain because I was worried that the old site would just keep the hits.

I am already redirecting traffic from the .NET domain to the one I use. I doubt that I will switch to using a generic as my active domain name - the exotic TLD I am using is rather neat, a bit like deli.cio.us, and at this early stage I certainly could not complain about visitor numbers or Google hits.

I would still like to buy up the .COM - $200 is bad but I could swallow it. What bothers me is this

• A WhoIs search turns up a US based owner for the domain.

• 
  In fact the WhoIs search results have changed from last week - another US based owner last week.

• The outfit that is offering me the domain for "exclusive sale" is based in Canada. They seem to be a web services provider.

• The domain was previously held by an individual living in Canada.

Just how can I be sure that these guys are not taking me for a ride by offering to sell me something that is not free? As things stand I assume I should trust the results of the WhoIs query and that suggests that the domain is not owned by them.

Ownign the .COM I am happy with. Being ripped off for $200 by a con artist would drive me hopping mad

 

[Earthian]

first of all , when having a business on the net , you definitely need the .com ...

it is by far the best TLD (though there are exceptions for some usages , eg. .org , or some ccTLDs (country code Top Level Domains)

it is more broadly recognized ...

it suggests quality for your business (while by using another TLD , a person might think that you don't even have funds to buy the .com)

and if the business is successful , you gonna need it in the future anyways and possibly need to pay a higher price for it (on the basis that the .com owner does not use the domain in a wrongful way , eg. trying to take advantage of your Trademark) since it would get tons of traffic from people looking for your site or because the .com owner might see from your success that you have the funds to pay a higher price ...

if you have a domain hack (like del.icio.us) it is a good idea to get the .com so as to lose the traffic and for quality promoting purposes (eg.del.icio.us owns delicious.com)










regarding the people offering you to get it for $200 ... it is a company (I have received a couple of emails from them in the past) that search the WHOIS of registered or developed .net or other extensions and when the .com is about to expire they email the .net owner that the can acquire the .com ... what they do is that they try to register themselves when it becomes available (cost to them: $8) or the use one of the dropcatching companies (eg. NameJet , SnapNames , Pool , etc) to acquire the domain (cost to them: $60-70 , if it is not bid up in a dropcatcher's auction)










regarding the changes in whois ... it appears that the name dropped (it was deleted after the redemption cycle which is after expiration) and was available again ... a taster got it (apparently from Virginia) and tasted it for traffic for ~5 days before cancelling it and receiving a refund for the registration ... after that another taster got it (from Ohio) who is tasting it for traffic ... since the first taster dropped it the trafic it receives is probably not high enough to justify the (~$8) cost ...

therefore before the 5th day after the last creation date the second taster might drop the name , in which case you might be able to hand reg it (domains usually drop around 14:00 EST) ... or another taster might get it for another 5 days , etc ... if the domain stays for more than 5 days it probably means that the taster or the person who got it will keep it ...

​

 

[Venture]

Use PayPal with buyer protection or some other payment processor where you can reverse the payment.

Also, if they are legitimate, they have obviously pre-planned to sell you the .com. I imagine with some bartering you could get the price down significantly.

 

[Krossat]

Just how can I be sure that these guys are not taking me for a ride by offering to sell me something that is not free? As things stand I assume I should trust the results of the WhoIs query and that suggests that the domain is not owned by them.

Have u heard about Escrow?

 

[ferraristi]

I think this is a difficult question to answer really. Using your example of deli.cio.us, I'm sure that they would love to own delicious.com but they're probably not going to break the bank to try and acquire it because of the uniqueness of their original domain which makes it easy to remember.

In your case, you're probably not going to gain that much targetted traffic if your original domain is easy to remember and type in.

I would look at it from the practical point of view. Estimate how much type in traffic you are likely to received from the .com and how much of that traffic you could turn into revenue. If you work out that you could get your $200 back in a short period of time then buy it, irrespective of whether or not you think you are being ripped off.

The only other reason to stump up the cash would be to prevent someone copying what your site does and putting it on the .com domain.

 

[Earthian]

just checked through some old emails ... the name of the $200 company (actually $199.95) is webnamesolution.com ... be aware that they usually don't own the name they just try to catch it when it drops ...


another company that sends emails like these is tripodukonline.com ... and another one is askmysite.com ... tripodukonline (about a week ago) sent me an email asking me if I wanted the .net of a .com I have lol ...


I think it might be a better idea to try to hand-reg it yourself ...

​

 

[MadAboutDomains]

Escrow for sure.

 

[acronym007]

$200 is SUPER CHEAP, it's less than an hour with your lawyer buy it now!

 

[Kate]

I have recently got an email from a company in Canada - not the guy in quesstion - offering to sell me the .COM domain for $200.

Let me guess: it's webnamesolutions ? These people are crooks and they sell names that they do not own. Search their name on this forum and google.
DO not deal with them or you can kiss your money good bye

 

[ETMA]

Thank you, all. Much to ponder here. At the end of the day, I doubt that the .COM is going to change my traffic figures much - my site is aimed at a very netliterate audience so they will remember and share the catchy domain name I am using. But then it would be galling if the day comes when the site is worth a great deal less than it would be because someone else is using the .COM...

 

[randomo]

For $200, grab it, using escrow if you are unsure. Small investment, big peace of mind.

 

[ETMA]

Let me guess: it's webnamesolutions ? These people are crooks and they sell names that they do not own. Search their name on this forum and google.
DO not deal with them or you can kiss your money good bye

Yes, the company in question is webnamesolutions. I sent them an email this morning asking for clarification regarding the whois issues and mentioned that it sounded fishy to me. They haven't got back to me yet - kinda shows that it is not all above board.

I am not going to be heartbroken at not owning the .COM. Would have been nice to own but if someone else has it and in any case I have a catchy deli.cio.us type of name it probably doesn't matter too much. In any case where does it all end - I own the .NET but then I would have to get .org etc as well.

 

[MadAboutDomains]

ETMA I would ring them. Most of my recent purchases have been completed over the telephone and its been really good.

I feel alot happier dealing with people after i've talked to them on the phone