Hire service to negotiate DN purchase?

[karenz]

Hello everyone, I'm glad there's a Newbies forum here. I read about it on sedo (which I just disovered a few days ago, along with alternic.) I'm not a newbie to web site design/hosting but I am one as far as buying names from others is concerned

I need some advice. There's a domain name that I want which is currently being used. I've had my eye on it for a year. I did a snapnames on it last year when it was a month away from expiring, but the owner renewed for another year. There went my 70 bucks.

He's just parking the domain ... it's full of free newsletter signups and google adwords type of things, but there's no "available for sale" link on it. No contact info on the site other than a form to which no one ever replies.

So ... i was thinking of hiring sedo or similar kind of service to be more aggressive about negotiating a sale, keeping me anonymous. I didn't even know that was possible until I started investigating this whole field last week.

Has anyone ever used this kind of service?

I'd approach him myself but then he'd be able to look up my own company's web site (small shop, just me, a resume service) and see that I'm using that name combo for one of my services, and he'd jack up the price.

The domain name isn't trademarked (did a quick check), it's a weird combination of a couple generic names. But I like it. Someone else has the .net, a diff. guy has the .org ... this is the .com version.

Any advice? Do these services work?

 

[.edu]

If you use a 3rd party service then the domain owner will probably have the intention that you are serious about acquiring the domain and may ask for a real end user price. I advice you to just contact him yourself, not to mention the owner would cut out alot of fees by dealing direct with you. Just my 2 cents.

 

[karenz]

really. hmmm.

So, if I approach him myself... what's the best way to do this. Phone? email? The reg. owner is a company in the US but the admin and tech contacts are outside the US, way outside. It's weird.

Should I use an escrow service? Do we sign a contract? Is there a faq around here (or anywhere) about this?

I was really hoping to have a service take care of all the messy details. <g> If a service has so much experience in this .. sedo says they have a 70% success rate ... I don't mind paying their cut of it.

 

[legenddomain]

As I have just started in the buying,selling and trading of DNs myself I have a good friend that I have worked with and watched his plays on the name market for some time now. I spoke with him on a problem I was having which was similar.

His advice for me was to contact the name owner personally via phone e-mail or what ever. ie: try to avoid third party....

His end results have always been better that way.

but in the end I think it will be what route you really prefer to take.

or if you have a friend that you can trust in the reseller side, you can try going through them to keep you out of the pic, this may keep the price from going up on you if he does not know of a buisness that wants the name for advertising reasons.

or if you have a friend that you can trust in the reseller side, you can try going through them to keep you out of the pic, this may keep the price from going up on you if he does not know of a buisness that wants the name for advertising reasons.

 

[netPH]

Hello Karenz,

Take .edu's advice... and also, you can find some infos here Link http://www.domainguru.com/c/31

I suggest you first write the owner by email before you decide some 3rd party brokers. If you find that you can handle the transaction by yourself then there's no need for brokers like but if you feel you'll need a 3rd party then go for any reliable broker of your choice.

I suggest an escrow service. Its the most secured to both buyer and seller. A bank LC process could be also an option, cheaper and also secured.

I hope this helps

BTW, WELCOME to Namepros :wave:

-Rostum

 

[karenz]

Thanks Rostum! I'll check out that link.

What's a bank LC? letter of credit?

Don't know what that's all about but I'll cross the bridge when I come to it.

so... I guess the domain buying services are pretty useless? I mean in this limited sample... no one's replied who's ever used them, and everyone says don't go that route, at least at first.

I'd still like to hear from someone, anyone, who's ever tried it. Just curious now mainly.

K

 

[RJ]

DomainGuru also offers a buyer service where they'll negotiate with a seller for you. I've never used Lee's service for this, but he offers some compelling reasons to try it.

http://www.domainguru.com/services/broker.php

 

[csmaster2005]

Originally posted by karenz
really. hmmm.

So, if I approach him myself... what's the best way to do this. Phone? email? The reg. owner is a company in the US but the admin and tech contacts are outside the US, way outside. It's weird.

Should I use an escrow service? Do we sign a contract? Is there a faq around here (or anywhere) about this?

I was really hoping to have a service take care of all the messy details. <g> If a service has so much experience in this .. sedo says they have a 70% success rate ... I don't mind paying their cut of it.

Well if they're a reuptable company, then I'm sure signing a contract is enough and you wont need to use an escrow service.
Also, calling them will show you are VERY serious, as opposed to just emailing them, and mail is just too slow.