discuss Donating Domain...Do you? Would you?

[BostonDomainer]

Do you donate your domains? Have you? Would you? Should you

This week a guy reached out to me about a VR domain I owned. He reached out on LinkedIN. He was very direct that he would like the name for a startup he was starting with 3 guys and my name was perfect for them. In not so few words... I told him you need to pay to play. Look... I'm not running a charity I spend a lot of time reading and researching to this domain thing right. I knew they didn't have a lot of money but this was the time of name and situation I walk away with ~$2,000 give or take.

You get so many sad stories and at times straight lies in this industry from potential buyers that it's hard to really give a damn and put up the screen. I've had my fair share of stealth buyers yadi yady ya.

But I had a change of heart after I got to review his work. He's been working on a series of passion projects in the arts in VR. I'm heavily invest in virtual reality domains and not just domains but the industry as a whole. I love the tech, I use the tech, and I believe it's a tech with immense social good potential.

So after first round of negotiation... I told them I would give them the name for free with the only caveat being to pay it forward. It felt good being able to contribute to an industry I love and follow and I know their work will actually help people. They also did catch me after I had just closed a very big VR sale too.

The way I see it is that this is a business and we have cost- be it time or money like any other business so FREE is not a business plan. But once in a while if the things align right we are able to do some kind acts. 'Tis the season.

That said....

Do you donate any of your name? Would you?

 

[atinc]

what was the name you donated? would like to see it when the site is online

 

[polymorph]

I was looking at recently deleted .orgs list and I saw P/h/a/m/e.org.
It turned out there is a nonprofit called P/h/a/m/e, currently using P/h/a/m/e/p/d/x.org. Looked like a fast sale to me but then I found out they are supporting people with disabilities and their families. So I just emailed them the name is available and they now own it.

 

[creataweb]

No - because too many people are scammers / liars out for freebies only. My 2¢

 

[Rothex]

Here's another angle. There could be additional tax benefits to donating a name to a charity or a non-profit. Let's say you spend $10 registering a domain that can be sold for (or appraises at) $1,000. That could help you the business owner offset some tax liabilities while giving back to something you're passionate about. I personally haven't been in a situation to do this yet, but am also not opposed to it.

On the other hand, I would be highly skeptical of anyone approaching me with this request. There's always someone ready to take advantage of soft heart.

 

[axus_auto]

But I had a change of heart after I got to review his work. He's been working on a series of passion projects in the arts in VR. I'm heavily invest in virtual reality domains and not just domains but the industry as a whole. I love the tech, I use the tech, and I believe it's a tech with immense social good potential.

So after first round of negotiation... I told them I would give them the name for free with the only caveat being to pay it forward. It felt good being able to contribute to an industry I love and follow and I know their work will actually help people. They also did catch me after I had just closed a very big VR sale too.

The way I see it is that this is a business and we have cost- be it time or money like any other business so FREE is not a business plan. But once in a while if the things align right we are able to do some kind acts. 'Tis the season.

That said....

Do you donate any of your name? Would you?

Why didn't you negotiate for a share of their business? I remember Mark Zuckerberg once paid this guy for painting services with the option of shares instead of cash. The painter became a multi-millionaire.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/graff...rst-office-now-worth-200-million-2015-6/?IR=T

I don't see any problem with this as assuming the business fails, you get nothing. You only get paid handsomely if their business takes off.

 

[WatchDogue]

In 2005 I tried to donate a highly appropriate subject domain name to an organization I belong to for use at an national fundraising auction.

In essence, a name I owned I would donate to the annual national meeting's dinner auction and any member could bid and acquire it for their personal use with all proceeds accruing to the host organization.

My reasonable estimate of its' likely bid potential was 1k - 2k.

No interest by the auction acquisitions committee hence, no donation made.

 

[gilescoley]

Nice gesture mate, I seriously believe in karma, so you do things like that and good things will come to you.

 

[Sinfully Wicked]

Do you donate any of your name? Would you?

No and no.

I'm in this business to make money.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Do you donate any of your name? Would you?

For me a lot depends on the name. A so-so name I would let go if it is not getting traffic or interest. Any name that has potential would be another story. Suppose the venture flops, the person is lying, they sell the name, etc., these are potential problems with giving a name away. The answer is that you enter an agreement that they have free use of the name for x years with you maintaining the fees as your gift to them. After that time has passed, they can make a token buy from you or you can extend the free lease. If they fail you have lost nothing...plus the name may have increased significantly in value.

 

[GoKaizen]

No, unless I personally knew the person.

 

[marketer36]

Nice job OP - Pay it forward!

Yes - I have gave away a lot of domain names over the years. 10+

It was a mix of:

• projects that I wanted to start and never did
• Ideas that I thought were initially good but realized they weren't after registering the domains.
  
• domains that I have that don't fit my existing business model.

 

[viqi]

Yes, I just recently gave a domain name to an organization working for the poor and vulnerable.
It is very easy to research whether someone is legit or faking it.
Life is too short to be greedy.

 

[1Darko]

I would donate to a non profit organization.

 

[frank-germany]

Do you donate your domains? Have you? Would you? Should you

This week a guy reached out to me about a VR domain I owned. He reached out on LinkedIN. He was very direct that he would like the name for a startup he was starting with 3 guys and my name was perfect for them. In not so few words... I told him you need to pay to play. Look... I'm not running a charity I spend a lot of time reading and researching to this domain thing right. I knew they didn't have a lot of money but this was the time of name and situation I walk away with ~$2,000 give or take.

You get so many sad stories and at times straight lies in this industry from potential buyers that it's hard to really give a damn and put up the screen. I've had my fair share of stealth buyers yadi yady ya.

But I had a change of heart after I got to review his work. He's been working on a series of passion projects in the arts in VR. I'm heavily invest in virtual reality domains and not just domains but the industry as a whole. I love the tech, I use the tech, and I believe it's a tech with immense social good potential.

So after first round of negotiation... I told them I would give them the name for free with the only caveat being to pay it forward. It felt good being able to contribute to an industry I love and follow and I know their work will actually help people. They also did catch me after I had just closed a very big VR sale too.

The way I see it is that this is a business and we have cost- be it time or money like any other business so FREE is not a business plan. But once in a while if the things align right we are able to do some kind acts. 'Tis the season.

That said....

Do you donate any of your name? Would you?

when I feel like somebody is doing simply great work for
animals or other suffering beeings
and they would benefit from the domains traffic
I simply redirect the domain to them


you can always let them use your domain for free
but keep it
in order to secure to charity aspect for ever

 

[BostonDomainer]

For me a lot depends on the name. A so-so name I would let go if it is not getting traffic or interest. Any name that has potential would be another story. Suppose the venture flops, the person is lying, they sell the name, etc., these are potential problems with giving a name away. The answer is that you enter an agreement that they have free use of the name for x years with you maintaining the fees as your gift to them. After that time has passed, they can make a token buy from you or you can extend the free lease. If they fail you have lost nothing...plus the name may have increased significantly in value.

I agree. But i didn't overthink this.This was one of those situations where everything was aligned. I'm active in the VR scene here in Boston and go to meetups here and there. These guys were out of Boston. A friend of mind used to work with the contact guy and said he was a good guy. I really like the projects they were working on and the vision of peace through art. I'm sure they will be a commercial entity at some point. Hopefully they'll keep me in mind They did offer to take me out to dinner and meet the team when they have a finished product. That's fine. This was just a quick existential gesture. Like most here, I run an efficient profit rendering operation and "free" isn't a business plan. But if there is a want that I can meet especially for a name I didn't spend much out of pocket cost- then why not give back. Who knows, this gesture may have restored their hope in humanity lol. Or perhaps this act is my golden ticket to the afterlife lol when my soul is weighed against a feather lol.

 

[Rothex]

when I feel like somebody is doing simply great work for
animals or other suffering beeings
and they would benefit from the domains traffic
I simply redirect the domain to them


you can always let them use your domain for free
but keep it
in order to secure to charity aspect for ever

This is a great alternative to completely donating a domain. If the domain has pertinent traffic the organization could benefit simply from the additional exposure. You could also lease the domain for free as a "donation" so they could develop a site from it. In doing this you can still retain ownership of the domain should something change with the organization or you decide to sell or develop the name yourself.

 

[BostonDomainer]

This is a great alternative to completely donating a domain. If the domain has pertinent traffic the organization could benefit simply from the additional exposure. You could also lease the domain for free as a "donation" so they could develop a site from it. In doing this you can still retain ownership of the domain should something change with the organization or you decide to sell or develop the name yourself.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio [Domainer],
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
- Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

All those are possibilities. Or one can give and just say fu*ck1T. To give or not to give... that was the question.. and there are a lot of questions and scenarios that could lead to any decision. We all have different situations so we could all deal differently under same climate. I've found few non-profit who actually 'get' the value of a name. The only ones that "get it" know's how to profit. 2giveornot2give

 

[Govind Choudhary]

Here's my story:

I had a dot-com domain name after all the outbound, auction stuff it was expiring in a week. There was a growing non-profit organization sitting at Dot org extension. Yeah, they were also in my outbound emails. They said NO as they don't have the fund to pay for the domain name.

Now, before a week its expiration I decided them to ping them again saying they can get the domain for free. One of the guys said Free? If there is one thing in life that I have learned...nothing is free. What's the catch?

Then I gotta explain him and asked for the GD account and mail. Just after a couple of minutes, I transferred the name. He didn't believe he got the name.

 

[frank-germany]

Here's my story:

I had a dot-com domain name after all the outbound, auction stuff it was expiring in a week. There was a growing non-profit organization sitting at Dot org extension. Yeah, they were also in my outbound emails. They said NO as they don't have the fund to pay for the domain name.

Now, before a week its expiration I decided them to ping them again saying they can get the domain for free. One of the guys said Free? If there is one thing in life that I have learned...nothing is free. What's the catch?

Then I gotta explain him and asked for the GD account and mail. Just after a couple of minutes, I transferred the name. He didn't believe he got the name.

.. and now he's waiting for the catch on a daily basis...

 

[stewmath]

The peanuts my domains sell for i feel like im already giving all my domains away anyway

 

[lock]

There would be certain ethics that may influence a donation of a domain rather than have it into wrong hands nothing specific to mention.