Getting a domain whose owner has passed away

[NetworkPearl]

Hi,

I'm interested in a domain name who's owner has passed away in a few months. The registrar is GodDadd y and the owner is still the registrant and admin whereas the technical contact is a web design company.

I tried to call the owner, number is not active anymore and neither are the emails.

So I got in touch with the technical contact and told them about this. They stated that they don't have a contact with the owner for years now.

What can be done? Expiry date is quite far.

 

[matrigaldo]

well in this kind of case most likely the domain ownership is something heirs are probably not even aware of and the domain will lapse and sold at drop catchers. might as well get the family the money instead.

Well, probably. But not surely.

 

[NetworkPearl]

You are 100% right. You should not do this.

Have you ever watched American pickers? They buy things a lower prices, but not at the price point of nearly being theft . Even when the seller has no clue how much the item is worth, they educate them and provide a fair price.

If you offer someone a fair market price, or near it, you can sleep at night.

Cheating people will not only damage your rep, but it will damage them.

I remember reading a thread here on NP where someone sold $100k+ of numerics for dirt cheap, because they were tricked by someone else. After that happened, the seller contemplated suicide.

Could you live with yourself if someone killed themselves, or others, because of your deception? I think not.

If you are just and fair it will benefit you both financially and spiritually.

It comes straight from the bible:

"Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!"

Perspective:

I just bought a DN through auction, and found out that the previous owner passed away last year.

I did no wrong, yet I feel 'wrong' about it

True. Ofcourse I wont be paying $10 for a $100k name.

This domain is probably worth around $30k I'd start the offer with a $2k offer and then probably till $6k max.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Some time ago i read the story of a young woman (20 or something) inheriting from her suddenly dead relatives few apartments in their little town plus a prestigious one in Rome. She was suffering a lot for the loss, and decided to sell all these apartments because she didn't want any memories anymore.
Her lawyer decided to take advantage from it, and told her he found a buyer for the Rome's apartment: 180,000 Euros. It was the average price she received from other 3 apartments, then the lawyer told her it was over the real value of the apartment, was a bargain, because it was in bad conditions etc (she never visited, she was young, naive and mentally unstable after the loss). She agreed to sell it at that price.

The buyer was the lawyer itself, through a small individual company he created days earlier, and he was able to flip it at 1.5 Millions of Euros within few weeks.

I don't really know how, but after a while she sued him for "swindle" and, eventually, won and received a huge compensation, the lawyer has been dismissed and removed from the lawyer register.

I'm aware it's not exactly the same, but don't you feel a little like the lawyer?

Does this thread state I'm going to lowball them?

 

[matrigaldo]

True. Ofcourse I wont be paying $10 for a $100k name.

This domain is probably worth around $30k I'd start the offer with a $2k offer and then probably till $6k max.

If the domain value is around $30k for real, you should start with a $10k AT LEAST.

 

[NetworkPearl]

If the domain value is around $30k for real, you should start with a $10k AT LEAST.

I have sold a name before for $15k which I bought for just $2.5k. The enduser (who sold it to me initially) himself stated this price to me.


It's not how much I'm paying but actually how much the seller wants. Plus this name sold for around $5k in an auction 2 years ago and there's a whole lot of difference between retailer pricing and reselling.

Ofcourse I won't lowball.

 

[matrigaldo]

@Insha010 this is a different case, you're not trying to negotiate, you're trying to do something in the thin line between legit and unethic.

 

[matrigaldo]

What's unethic about this?

Again.

You know the name worths $30k . And you know the legit owner has been passed away.

Then you're going to offer to unaware relatives $2k for that name.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Again.

You know the name worths $30k . And you know the legit owner has been passed away.

Then you're going to offer to unaware relatives $2k for that name.

I'd start the offer with a $2k offer and then probably till $6k max.

Plus this name sold for around $5k in an auction 2 years ago and there's a whole lot of difference between retailer pricing and reselling.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Took the words right out of my mouth. If someone doesn't know the value of an item, instead of trying to jump at the opportunity to take advantage of them, why not try to help them? They make money, you make money, everybody wins.

Everyone should remember what goes around comes around, so if you get accustomed to taking advantage of people, it's only a matter of time before you're in the same situation.

I agree to not taking advantage of people.But when a domain is worth around 4-5k at whole sale I can pay the same amount to them swiftly and without any troubles.

Besides I called the IT women who was in charge of the domain. She left this IT company( who I contacted initially as stated in the first post) a year ago and I was able to get phone number from them.

She is in fact well aware of the potential of this domain name and told me she will approach the relatives if my offer is fair.

I now quoted $8K for this domain.

Let's see how it turns out.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Cool I'll try to do the same.

Also by this I meant trying to approach them via Facebook.

 

[wwwweb]

What does estibot value your domain at?

 

[NetworkPearl]

What does estibot value your domain at?

$11,000 , is a plural and receives 3,500 exact searches a month.

 

[Billy Wagner]

sorry to tell you but every big domainer has bought domains from those who don't know the true value and in your opinion, taken advantage of them.

I don't doubt that. But their time will come eventually.

 

[Jasonn]

I don't doubt that. But their time will come eventually.

Yeah, in getting multi million dollar payouts.

 

[ch_dom]

I've helped friends do this twice. The first time, we had to get in touch with the lady's son (required social media stalking) who then represented the family and negotiated the price, splitting the proceeds with his family. The second time, we had to get in touch with the guy's lawyer who became the beneficiary of the domain due to legal fees associated with disposition of the guy's assets.

My friends were able to get domains easily worth $50-100k for $15k and 20k respectively. It was exciting playing PI to hunt down these people ((to give them money)).

Well? did you resell those domains ?

 

[tonecas]

everyday we go to domain name auctions that should not be placed on auction but instead be released to the public. we are all contributing to this unethical *and illegal* behavior of registrars. many domains were even snatched from passed away persons who had wives and kids that could inherit the domains. but registrars took them and then wait for some years to sell them at profit to all of us, honest persons.

don't be naive. this is business. the widow would not get *anything* for the domain if you do not reach her. you should buy low and not offer fair market values. the notion of fair market value is even amusing. a domain today is valued at 30k and next year it could be valued at 5k. you're a speculator. you take risk and you profit from information.

 

[urlurl]

better to have some (even if very little) money going to the family and heirs - then nothing and having it expire, where the registers and drop catchers make money.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Taking advantage of people who lost a loved one is really a lot of fun. I have to admit that I like threads like this as it demonstrates why people that think domainers are scumbags (despite the positive stance of some).

I've had this discussion before and got the "business is business" line and I think it's disappointing.

It's the same when you watch antique shows and someone says "I bought this mobile from a garage sale for $10 because I knew it was Calder". It's not theft but it's something.... I always hope for the reverse.. I spent $100 because I thought it was a Calder but it ended up just being a bent coathanger...


Often it doesn't and that's what makes it so easy for people to do.

I'm not Lowballing but paying reseller prices or even more.

 

[Serengeti]

Yea better some proceed goes to the family then the name drop and they wont get anything because either they didnt know the deceased had some domains or they knew he had some domains but didn't know about the validity/expiry of names, and/or the value and/or how to sale the given names. Then its a conscious call how much of a fair value to buy. Insh.. you could even go further.. buy it a fair value... keep in touch with the family..and when you sale at a good price give then another fair % of the sale profit and maybe teach them to come on namepros and learn some' about this business. Bottom line its you and your conscious...you and the guy in the mirror.

 

[urlurl]

so its better to have $30k go to go daddy or another drop catcher than to have $2k go to the estate?

 

[DU]

so its better to have $30k go to go daddy or another drop catcher than to have $2k go to the estate?

If you want to talk in terms of disconnected hypothetical arguments -

Is it better for $2K to go to the estate or $30K?
Is it better for a low-balling domainer to get it for $2K and overprice it or a productive small business?
Maybe it's better for $500 to go to the estate?

Whatever gets you through the day.

 

[BrandChimp]

Again.

You know the name worths $30k . And you know the legit owner has been passed away.

Then you're going to offer to unaware relatives $2k for that name.

Unfortunately, Who makes money are the ones who buy low and sell high.

 

[urlurl]

if you ever have pick up expiring/expired names from the auction there is a good chance some of those were dropped due to the owner dying.

And...

If you bought a name from someone for $100 and sold it a while later for $10,000 - wouldn't it be ethical to go back to the original seller and give him half?

 

[matrigaldo]

You're talking about passive vs active ethics. There's no moral equivalence, for example, between letting someone die and killing someone.

I think he hit the right point.

If someone consciously put a $30k domain for sale at $2k , there is no ethics involved, he just didn't do enough research and/or he doesn't have some kind of foresight, or maybe he just want to do a very quick sale for any reasons.

If someone dies, nobody claims / uses his domain portfolio, and the domains go into backorders / drop auctions, there is no ethics involved, the buyer wouldn't even know why the domain hasn't been renewed or if the previous owner has died or just left domaining, or got arrested, or got sick or whatelse.

This is not any of these cases.

In this case, a domainer is trying to actively get the domain from the family of a died owner, probably unaware of the entire domaining world, for a small fraction of what he thinks to be the real value of that domain.

He's using the dead owner family's ignorance (about domaining) for getting a bargain and make a (presumed) 1500% ROI.

It's not illegal, it's legit, but it's totally unethical, you're symbolically stealing a valuable property from a dead person.

But, hey, if you feel good about this, you're free to proceed and do whatever you want, even offer $500 and sell it for $100k tomorrow.

Just don't complain if you come here, tell us this story and most of us feel sick about that.

 

[NetworkPearl]

"Reseller pricing" is a concept made up to justify low-balling on a high quality name or avoid paying too much on a low quality name.



That's not reseller pricing, that's being an a*hole.

30k is the most it can get. It has a resell value of $5k and I contacted the IT company with a max offer of $8k. Read properly before judging.