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.

 

[Addison]

Well? did you resell those domains ?

They were for my friends. The first domain did sell for a big profit at auction, but the second domain was my friend's common first name. I doubt he'll ever sell it.

Taking advantage of people who lost a loved one is really a lot of fun.

#1 I said it was fun playing PI. Click here for the definition.

#2 They were not taken advantage of. They were given $XX,XXX (a significant amount of money) for assets they didn't know were valuable and that would have expired if we didn't contact them and help them through the process. In the case of the lawyer, it caused the family to owe less money and have less financial hardship during a time that was already tough enough for them. I don't know what happened in the other case, but the money could have gone to paying for the funeral for all we know. No matter where it went, paying someone thousands of dollars unexpectedly is never a negative thing, despite your attempts to make it one.

 

[DU]

They were not taken advantage of. They were given $XX,XXX (a significant amount of money) for assets they didn't know were valuable and that would have expired if we didn't contact them and help them through the process. In the case of the lawyer, it caused the family to owe less money and have less financial hardship during a time that was already tough enough for them. I don't know what happened in the other case, but the money could have gone to paying for the funeral for all we know. No matter where it went, paying someone thousands of dollars unexpectedly is never a negative thing, despite your attempts to make it one.

I hope they gave you a big thank you for taking an asset out of their hands for much less than it was worth and saving them money. It was very charitable of you.

 

[Addison]

I hope they gave you a big thank you for taking an asset out of their hands for much less than it was worth and saving them money. It was very charitable of you.

They did, but don't confuse yourself: domaining isn't charity. Our job is to buy underpriced assets and sell them for a profit. Nevertheless, it's not like we paid a hundred dollars for a million dollar asset.

I like the font emphasis on you. Keep it up.

And yes I got your sarcasm.

 

[DU]

I like the font emphasis on you. Keep it up.

I will try but it's not as easy as it looks I'll probably do it wrong eventually

There is never a right answer here and there are different degrees of right and wrong. My position is what my position is and others think what others think. Some cases more black and white than yours - I probably shouldn't judge so harshly on a personal level. I think that ambulance-chasing, grave-digging are modes of operation that should not, in general, be fostered as a positive approach to domaining.

 

[matrigaldo]

@Jv1999 my time worths more than you and your irritating posts.

 

[Jv1999]

@Jv1999 my time worths more than you and your irritating posts.

Doesn't mean you should spread bad advice. If you cba to look it up, don't make it up?

 

[matrigaldo]

Doesn't mean you should spread bad advice. If you cba to look it up, don't make it up?

Bad advices? Have you even read my posts?

 

[TauseefKhan]

First you need to meet and educate the concerned family members on how to gain access to the domain in question. Secondly, you negotiate the deal. I think you need to meet them personally.

 

[varmuk]

50-50

 

[Haykay2005]

At this point. I think the Registrars should start having a next of kin form to cater for events like death. Domaining is an investment/business and should be treated like one

 

[damance]

How old are you @Insha010?

 

[NetworkPearl]

How old are you @Insha010?

May I know why're you asking?

 

[Haris]

Getting a domain whose owner has passed away?

Email them, Call them, visit the home address in the whois if you can, use social media, search their email and phone number on facebook/twitter and you'll find their profiles, then you can easily contact their family members..

imo

 

[Ted Levy]

How are the ethics different if the owner is alive or dead? Would it not be ethical to try to buy a valuable domain at a low price from the owner if he were alive? His estate--and presumably lawyers aware that assets should be valued--is in the same position. It's not like you are buying from an incapacitated individual who is lacking in mental competence.

The first domain I ever sold was for $500; I subsequently learned it was "worth" $2,000+. Was the buyer unethical? I remember that I was quite happy to receive $500 at the time for a domain I paid $9 for some years earlier.

In my opinion, the OP did nothing remotely wrong, even if he was acting in his own behalf and not assisting friends.

 

[rhakim]

As most likely the heir is not a domainer, therefore not aware the value of the domain nor how to sell the domain, most likely the domain will just expire and catched by a dropcatch company. In this situation eventhough the purchase price of the domain is only 20% of the value, it will still be additional money for the heir.

 

[Carol Carmel]

Why don't you be legitimately fair about the whole thing and split it down the middle. Offer at least half of what it's worth. Tell the seller that you are only offering 1/2 price and explain the complexities of selling it at full value unless your a professional. Then you gave full disclosure, sleep guilt free, and win over the heir with your honesty. It's a win-win situation. You may not make a killing off the deal but, you'll have done the right thing, and we all know the world needs a lot more of people doing the right thing.

 

[tonecas]

so, paying half of a supposed fair market value makes one more honest? are there shades of honesty?
why not paying 2/3 of the market price? or 4/5? it seems more honest to me. i could sleep even better this way.

 

[Haris]

Yeah, right..

Paying less then the full market price is still not being completely honest.. pay the full market price.. and then sell at break-even.. take Temazepam.. sleep better.

 

[DTradr]

Assets in estate sales are often sold for way under market price to move them quickly and minimize the hassle and time with a drawn out disposition, dealing with attorneys, dealing with listings, brokers, fixing it up, etc.. If somebody is selling something and they are ignorant of the real market value of that asset - why would the buyer be considered unethical? In most every case - you're doing them a big favor in that they are monetizing something they would likely not have, or would have to bare the test of time and effort to get market value....

 

[Michael]

This is such an interesting question. I would start by saying that I think it is clearly wrong to target someone who isn't in their right mind, either because they are grieving the loss of a loved one, are elderly, mentally disabled, etc. While I generally believe it is the seller's responsibility to be educated on the value of what he or she is selling, in some situations they aren't able to, and that is when you should absolutely step up and make a fair offer.

However, when the seller is perfectly capable of making an informed and rational decision, I think the notion of offering the seller at or close to wholesale when they wanted less is completely absurd. It is trivial to do a Google search and find resources like DNJournal, Estibot, NameBio, NamePros, etc. and at least get a basic education on domain values. Someone being uninformed with so much information a click away is not your responsibility. If they were too lazy to do their homework, why should you give them the benefit of years of experience and knowledge, not only for free but pay them for it? That makes no sense. Information asymmetry and inefficient markets is the basis for this entire industry and many others. Your knowledge cost you time, and money from bad buys, to acquire.

Then there is this notion of paying them at or close to wholesale value. If any of you can predict the price of all the auctions closing every day within even 20% you are a unicorn. Because pricing is fairly subjective and somewhat unpredictable, how do you determine when someone is being unethical and taking advantage?

Maybe there's a domain that I think would wholesale at $10k so I offer $7.5k trying to be fair, even though the seller only asked for $2.5k. Then other people think it would wholesale for $20k and they judge me for taking advantage. Maybe we're all wrong and it ends up wholesaling for $5k, and I feel pretty stupid when the seller only asked for $2.5k but I tried to "do the right thing" by negotiating against myself. At the end of the day if the seller is happy with the price (and is mentally sound), and you're happy with the price, it is insane to give them more than they want. Pay the $2.5k and move on.

Diving even deeper into the situation above, what percentage am I allowed to earn in profit from my knowledge before I am taking advantage of someone? Only 10%, or is it 50%, or can I double my money, or triple it? Who is on the panel of domain ethics to decide what is a fair reward for my work, my years of experience, the risk I take in buying the domain, etc. Am I allowed to lowball someone harder than a newbie because my time is more valuable and I should get a higher return for my experience? Or should a newbie be allowed to lowball someone harder than me because I should be more confident in my valuation skills, so the risk is lower and thus the reward should be as well?

And what about situations of a distressed seller who needs quick cash, or someone who doesn't care and just wants to sell the name and move on? I'm reminded of a recent DomainSherpa interview where Drew picked up Inertia.com for $5k. Was he unethical for offering that amount when the other Sherpas thought it was worth 4-5x that wholesale, and should he have changed his mind and offered five-figures even after the seller agreed to $5k? By some of your arguments he is unethical for not doing that.

However it turns out the owner turned down several offers of $50k, an offer of $100k a long time ago, etc. So he was well aware of the potential, but was still happy to just take the cash and run. But if Drew had "done the right thing" and said "nevermind, I started too low and it is worth more, I'll give you $15k instead"... the seller would gladly take it and Drew would be an idiot. You can't always know the situation when you're walking into it, so all you can do is offer a price that you're happy with, and find the intersection where the seller will be happy with the price too.

It's such a gray area that I don't think there is room to judge people. And I would imagine that many of those passing judgements in this thread, when seeing someone post an LLL.com for $5k on the forums would be fighting and clawing their way to be the first to post "SOLD" rather than the first to post "Hey, that's too low, you should be charging more!"

I'd like to put out three hypothetical situations:

Imagine you reach out to a Fortune 500 company who owns a nice domain, and they agree to sell it to you for a price that you are sure is well below wholesale value. Do you move forward with it? I think most would, rather than saying "Hey super rich company, I'd rather give you even more money and earn less myself." After all they have the resources and the wherewithall to determine the value, so if they don't, well... seller beware. Maybe the person at the company who made the deal ends up getting fired because of it, when a higher-up catches wind of it and sees it as a huge mistake. Is that your fault? Maybe the higher-ups don't know domain values either and the person gets a promotion for bringing in revenue for an unused domain. Who knows, and I don't think that is your responsibility to do their job for them or try to divine what a future outcome might be.

Now for the second situation. Same as above but it is a large, well-funded charity selling it. What do you do? Personally this one would give me pause because the money would be going to help people in need. But if you take away the emotion, it's really not much different from the situation above. They had the same ability to determine the fair value but didn't. Maybe they are the ones being unethical by not being informed and making sure they maximize the value of their assets. Not sure I would be able to sleep well if I did this, but I wouldn't judge someone as unethical if they did.

The third situation is that you're selling a domain to an end user, and their first offer is double what you thought you could get for it retail. Do you say "Hey, I think you offered too much, the domain is worth less than that. You should go research domain values and get back to me"? Heck no, you either take the money and run, or try to work them up even higher. That's business, and a domain is worth the intersection of what the buyer is willing to pay and the seller is willing to receive.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the same domain in my hands is worth less than in Schilling's hands, because he has the experience and wherewithal to demand more. It's no different on the flip side, if someone owns a domain and isn't experienced in putting a value on it, that domain is worth less.

And again, who is to say what the value really is, how much profit you can make before you're taking advantage, whether or not the seller should have had the ability to determine the value, etc.? Many, many shades of gray here.

I do know one thing for certain, if I owned something that I wasn't familiar with, let's say a baseball card, and I undersold it, my first reaction wouldn't be "Hey that buyer scammed me!" it would be "Dang, I should have taken five minutes to figure out what it was worth."

Sorry for the essay, I just think this is a really interesting topic.