Domain cut throat business

[john_karr]

If a owner forget to re-register his domain name and you backorder it and you get the domain name, and the owner send you a email saying he want it back. What do you do in this cast? do you guys have sympathy for a individual that forgot to re register his domain name and give it back or your mentality is you snooze you lose? You want the name you buy it back. Now im not talking about a trademark name a regular domain name like goat.com for example. Domaining is a cut throat business from what i see in the last 2 yrs in the biz whats your take?

 

[VURG]

Make sure that you are really dealing with the previous owner and not some domainer.

 

[gazzip]

It probably happens far more often than we realise regarding dropped names, so far I have had it happen twice and I only have about 200 names.

Buydomains owns about 800,000 ! - I wonder how they handle it ?

The first time it was for a domain I really wanted to use and after alot of discussion and low offers I sold it for about 1/4 of what I beleived it to be worth, it could have been far worse for them if it ended up with someone who does not sell at all, I must admit I did'nt enjoy the whole experience at all.

The second time I got an email from the companies legal department demanding I transfer it to them, a real snotty letter that I basically ignored !
I never heard from them again. I think it was just a chancer trying to flex their corparate muscles :o

Both times were generic domains with no TM issues and I had no proof that they ever actually owned it in the first place.

I spend alot of hours hand searching through piles and piles of crap to find a decent name to backorder in the drops and even then I don't manage to get 95% of them, so to a certain extent business is business - Its not my fault they are not aware of the domaining business.

If it was a charity, school, forum or something similar I would just give it back at the price I paid for it. (assuming they had recently been using it)

i will agree with $100-$200 "meaningful" profit about it

Some registers charge that for them to renew at the last stage !

.

I don't really like the idea of backordering and snagging their names and trying to sell it back for a profit...i just dont do it

I only buy because I think the name is nice and I never contact the previous owner to "sell it back for a profit" as you put it.

...Nice names drop ever day.


.

 

[Kate]

It's not like the domain is cutoff without warning. Even if the owner somehow fails to notice to two or three warnings sent by the registrar before expiration, any website on that domain goes down the day the name expires. If it goes 30 more day it moves to the RGP period. So the original owner has at least 60 days to notice there is a problem.

Exactly. It's not like a few years back when redemption did not exist and domains would expire overnight. There have been countless horror stories of registrants losing their names in the past, usually because of lack of oversight or incorrect contact details so they would not get the reminders...
Actually microsoft has a shameful history of letting domains like hotmail.com, passport.com etc expire :yell:

I would deal with this on a case by case basis.

Sometimes registrants are naive and think they just have to wait for the domain to expire to grab it back
Besides, if previous registrant lets a domain expire it's a good bet he has not been using it actively. Does he really need it more than you do ?
If he is threatening me or trying to pull my legs then I will definitely not be in an indulging frame of mind.

If you forget to pay your mortgage, you go bye bye....

Same analogy for domains in my opinion.

IMO there is no excuse for negligence.
Almost anybody should be able to fork $8 (or even $35 at netsol...) to maintain a domain that is important to them.
I can understand that people lose their job and are no longer able to keep up witht their mortgage but we are talking about a few $$/y here.

I don't like the way we are depicted in the news sometimes, like unscrupulous individuals thriving on failed businesses. Truth is, the banks are doing far worse every time they repossess a house from a family.

Make sure that you are really dealing with the previous owner and not some domainer.

Definitely
It could be a reverse hijacking attempt.

 

[Jasonn]

I am in this business for money, not to make others feel good.

 

[john_karr]

I am in this business for money, not to make others feel good.

I hear you man

 

[ehoez.com]

he can sue u for it.

 

[Kenny]

A similar thread...
http://www.namepros.com/the-break-room/352049-morals.html

Cy

 

[ji]

I am in this business for money, not to make others feel good.

This is a terrible attitude. This is why domainers get a bad-rap.

 

[Dutch]

This has also happened to me a couple of times. I would suggest - see if you can find out if he/she really is the former owner, and then just listen to what your heart says.

 

[estibot.com]

im telling u this cuz id like that would be done to me if i forgot to renew my name (actually i never -> auto renew :hehe: ) and i think would like too if it had happened w u
but ur conscious will tell what to do and i really think u wont be wrong if u keep it w u or sell him/her for $x - $xxx,xxx (expensive if it is a co)

OK I must be getting old :sigh: can somebody translate that for me?

Anyway, there is a group of website owners who may not even know they need to renew and have not read their email so frequently....say a 50+ history teacher, registered (or was given) a domain long ago, when good domains where available: say historyteachers.com. She is updating the site every once in a while, a non-profit site about teaching history to kids. For one reason or another, the domain drops without her knowing what to do about it.

OK, extreme example. But if the previous owner was indeed using the domain for a website, and something just happened that she did not renew it, and just later realized what had happened....

In this case (if proven) I would probably just give it back. Maybe charge $100 if it makes you feel better - and a fair charge it is for your troubles and expenses and time consumed.

This happened to me with smartprofile.net. The previous owner wanted it back (not in any friendly way), and I checked and determined he was indeed the previous webmaster, and I offered to sell him the domain for $60 bucks (it's got >250 uniques/mo organic traffic when parked). I told him that was the price for me registering the domain for him so he did not have to pay the $100 or so to the registrar when it was just about to be dropped... also for my efforts, and registration fee.

He did not accept that, so I kept the domain....

On the other hand, there are sharks in the water so make sure everything checks out.

I also sometimes give discount to buyers if they tell me what they will use it for, and if it pleases me and they can prove it (nonprofit, educational etc...), the price will be right.

Of course, you are legally entitled to keep the domain so as someone above said, do what your intestines...no, I mean heart, tells you.

Cheers!
Josh

 

[Devil_Dog]

This is a terrible attitude. This is why domainers get a bad-rap.

So wait a minute, we're all here on the premise of charitible organzations?

 

[john_karr]

So wait a minute, we're all here on the premise of charitible organzations?[/QUOT


A education site or charitible site I dont deal with, any thing else is up for grabs

 

[kwan]

OK I must be getting old :sigh: can somebody translate that for me?

u r not the only 1. i gave up after the 1st line

This happened to me just yesterday. I got an email from someone that wrote

Did you take the registration???

From the wording I could tell he wasn't used to registering domains and explained what had happened. I thought about it for 10 seconds before I wrote back telling him he could have it back for regfee. The excited answer I got

Great you,ve got it!!!

and continuing to explain what his website is about gave me a better feeling than a few $$ could have. Of course it isn't a billion dollar name but being kind sometimes has its rewards too.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

I don't think there is one easy answer. I listen to each situation separately. I also VERIFY everything they claim. I don't intentionally register TM names, so I've only had it come up a few times on generic ones. Their initial attitude also determines my attitude in working with them. I will at least want my costs plus a small and reasonable profit for my time. Sometimes this might be less than a redemption fee with the registrar would have been. Other times it may be more significant. However, it would always be reasonable based on the circumstances. I wouldn't ask more than the real market value just because I "had them". That is extortion and not good ethics. In most cases fair market value I think is reasonable, and often I would take less if they were reasonable and truthful in their story. I would also consider other choices such as trades, payment in services, or a donation to a charity of my choice or bundling with other domains I have that might be useful to them if that helped them justify the transaction.

Attitude is extremely important in these situations.

 

[gmansky]

I would start by checking domain history. If it looks like it is a personal website or something, I'll 'probably' give them the opportunity for a buyback. There's a lot of consideration here, what if the domain is now worth $$$,$$$. Would you sell it back to him for the reg fee, I don't think so. A lot to consider, backlinks, traffic, appraised value, etc. For most 'domainer', it is not just about the domain name so it will be a judgement call.

I'd say it would be case to case for me.

 

[john_karr]

I would start by checking domain history. If it looks like it is a personal website or something, I'll 'probably' give them the opportunity for a buyback. There's a lot of consideration here, what if the domain is now worth $$$,$$$. Would you sell it back to him for the reg fee, I don't think so. A lot to consider, backlinks, traffic, appraised value, etc. For most 'domainer', it is not just about the domain name so it will be a judgement call.

I'd say it would be case to case for me.

Nobody in there right mind would give it back if its worth $xxx,xxx

 

[Kenny]

Nobody in there right mind would give it back if its worth $xxx,xxx

Right mind? It's always about the money, isn't it?

$xxx,xxx may seem like a lot of money to you or me, but I know domainers that this wouldn't match their Am Ex charges for a decent weekend in Vegas.

So it's all relative, like your cousins.

Lets just hope something like this never happens to you john_karr, because I doubt you would get much sympathy from even the most ethical domainer.

As Adoptable pointed out above... attitude has a lot to do with how we handle these things and this thread will forever be etched in my mind for reference.

"It's not hard to do the right thing, it's just hard to know what the right thing is to do.
Once you know what that right thing is, though, it is very hard not to do it."
-unknown


Peace,
Cyberian

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

Right mind? It's always about the money, isn't it?

$xxx,xxx may seem like a lot of money to you or me, but I know domainers that this wouldn't match their Am Ex charges for a decent weekend in Vegas.

So it's all relative, like your cousins.

Lets just hope something like this never happens to you john_karr, because I doubt you would get much sympathy from even the most ethical domainer.

As Adoptable pointed out above... attitude has a lot to do with how we handle these things and this thread will forever be etched in my mind for reference.

"It's not hard to do the right thing, it's just hard to know what the right thing is to do.
Once you know what that right thing is, though, it is very hard not to do it."
-unknown


Peace,
Cyberian

Amen. In the end, we always pay for our actions, whether they are kind or selfish.

 

[john_karr]

Right mind? It's always about the money, isn't it?

$xxx,xxx may seem like a lot of money to you or me, but I know domainers that this wouldn't match their Am Ex charges for a decent weekend in Vegas.

So it's all relative, like your cousins.

Lets just hope something like this never happens to you john_karr, because I doubt you would get much sympathy from even the most ethical domainer.

As Adoptable pointed out above... attitude has a lot to do with how we handle these things and this thread will forever be etched in my mind for reference.

"It's not hard to do the right thing, it's just hard to know what the right thing is to do.
Once you know what that right thing is, though, it is very hard not to do it."
-unknown


Peace,
Cyberian

your right cyberian if it happen to me the average domainer wouldnt have sympathy if he or she is in this biz to make money. They wouldnt have sympathy for you too cyberian

 

[Spade]

A similar issue is occurring with me right now. I purchased a domain name through SnapNames, and last friday received an email from the original owner.

He sent an email to Netsol Lega, ICANN, and me - advising that he was contesting the ownership of the domain name and If I use it, I face legal action. There are no TMs and the domain was being used as a forward to another site.

I spoke with Network solutions today who assured me the original owner was given every chance to renew, but did not.

I forwarded him their response and have no intention of being nice if he offers to buy it back. He simply could have admitted a mistake on his part and I would have been reasonable about selling it back. I happen to like the name quite a bit and will keep this for a bit.

This guy went down the wrong road. Common sense seems to have gone out the window with this guy - and so did a reasonable price.

Justin