How important is the .com when a company develops the .net?

[jammin63]

I bought a domain with both the .com and .net extentions. I then let the .net extention go and kept the .com Recently, I received an email wanting to purchase the .com (domain was not for sale). I found that the new owner of the .net was a large corporation and since have begun to develop the site. After the initial request for purchase (which I declined), there was no further contact for interest. The name is not a name brand, it is a slogan that only this large company or maybe it's competitors would be interested in obtaining. It looks like the .net site will be going into a huge marketing campaign within the next few months. My question is.....how important is the .com to them? There seems to be no interest at all at this point in purchasing it from me. I am assuming through my own research that their new site will get 70k to 100k visitors per month. If there is no interest in the .com, I figure I will make something just to have it parked (currently no traffic and that is the same as the corporations .net site but things will change soon). Their site is going to be linked in Facebook not only for advertising but also using the Facebook application as a user interface). Any opinions or comments?

 

[cmason]

jammin63, sounds like a pretty nice predicament you are in! I won't say too much as I am new to domaining, but I would say that the .com would be HUGE for the organization. From some other posts I have read, patience is key. Learn some negotiation skills from these forums and be prepared!

I look forward to hearing advice from more experienced members.

 

[mayed]

well buddy, .COM is king of all times ... be sure that they will realize the importance of the .COM and they will come back to you for sure ... just stay calm ... and have pinacolada ...

you can park the domain once they start advertising their .net version ...

believe it or not ... normal users type .COM after the name naturally ...

sometimes i type some of my domains followed by .COM and then i realize that ohhh my domain ends in .me ...

 

[hawkeye]

I'd suggest parking the site now, and not using any keywords that relate to their products or services. Then I'd get a nice 5 page mini site up real quick that would be somewhat similiar in genre, i.e. if they promote music make a ringtone site etc., then load it with ads and affiliate banners. Then reap the rewards of all the misdirect traffic, till they decide they need that .com, and gladly sell it to them for a (strong!) fair-to-all price. Sounds like some stars may be aligning for you on this, so good luck on/with it!

 

[SeanPreston]

Ye, If I was you I would contact the company that ownes the .net

If they are setting up like you say they are, they should have a large amount of funds available.

You should contact them (dont say a price just yet) to see if there intrested.

Sean

 

[ecalc]

...how important is the .com to them

Apparently the dot com is not very important to them if they've signaled huge marketing campaign plans on their 'slogan' dot net. Maybe their deputy marketing manager spilled coffee on his to do list and couldn't read "buy the dot com." Good luck, you'll make out either way if they launch.

 

[Kate]

You should be careful if you intend to park the domain and target it to the .net.
Because that could be construed as bad faith, and you could even lose the domain through WIPO for example, even if you have owned the name years before.

One example involving a .co.uk domain: MySpace wins UK domain name that pre-dated its service - The Register

 

[john_karr]

I wouldnt park it they may try to black ball you. Try to sell it to them. Good luck!

 

[labrocca]

Some aren't reading well. OP was already contacted to sell the dot com. For some it's not worth forking over big bucks for a 2-5% bleed...if that. And if by chance OP makes any legal errors they will UDRP the domain.

Personally I think you missed your chance and I don't blame the net owner for letting the com go.

 

[copper]

Parking is THE LAST thing you want to do with it.
That's one step closer to WIPO.

If it's me, I would not contact them.
They already know you have .com based on your story.
So, what can you accomplish by contacting them?

I rather wait and see if they will contact you again.
Perhaps they are playing wait and see game with you anyway

 

[nomak]

I think you missed out on this one. It would have been better to let them make an offer, maybe you would have been surprised.
I don't believe that they will contact you the second time, since you refused their offer in the first place.
If you still want to sell, i think it would be a good idea to email them and say you changed your mind

 

[samuelhr]

Stop with the god damn ".com is king" shit, it isn't. Let us say that the business is "toys central" and their slogan is "cheaptoys", so they go ahead and buy cheaptoys.net, because cheaptoys.com is taken. They start an advertising campaign; "Get cheap toys with toys central at cheaptoys.net", they now have everyone understanding that the domain is cheaptoys.net, explain to me someone who thinks they need .com why?

What percentage of traffic will end up at the .com? 1%? 2%? Really not worth it, if you're branding the domain and not just the slogan. Of course the .com is preferential, because everyone associates .com with the internet, but it's not like end users are going to see "cheaptoys.net" and think "...cheaptoys.com" is it?

 

[nomak]

Stop with the god damn ".com is king" shit, it isn't. Let us say that the business is "toys central" and their slogan is "cheaptoys", so they go ahead and buy cheaptoys.net, because cheaptoys.com is taken. They start an advertising campaign; "Get cheap toys with toys central at cheaptoys.net", they now have everyone understanding that the domain is cheaptoys.net, explain to me someone who thinks they need .com why?

What percentage of traffic will end up at the .com? 1%? 2%? Really not worth it, if you're branding the domain and not just the slogan. Of course the .com is preferential, because everyone associates .com with the internet, but it's not like end users are going to see "cheaptoys.net" and think "...cheaptoys.com" is it?

In this case it really depends on what stage the company is in with advertising.
If they have already created slogans and everything for a marketing campaign with their .net webpage, then it is obvious that they have no need to get the .com