HugeDomains got my .com with my name on it

[MalRL]

I had a .com domain with my name on it which I let expire (I know, it's my own fault).

So a company called HugeDomains bought it and is trying to sell it me for $3000 as a Premium domain. While I'm flattered they think of my name as premium, I can't and won't pay that absurd amount of money.

Is there any way to get the domain back?

 

[Kate]

Or you could just wait.
The average lifetime of a domain is often 3-5 years. Especially speculative regs.
I have a long list of monitored domains, and I have caught quite a few just by being patient.
I have caught names that I had been tracking since 2005..

Sometimes names can change hands, but ultimately expire.
For example there was a name I was interested in, and I was waiting for the holder to drop it. But in the meantime the name was sold to another party. Bad news. But they kept it for just 3 years (if I remember correctly), and I bought it off Namejet expired auctions. Game over.

5 years, 10 years may sound like a very long time, but some of you have been NP members for years.

 

[Name Trader]

Negotiation doesn't work with HD. If you make an offer, they know there is an interested party and put the price up. This strategy used to be explained on their website. I'm too lazy to see if it's still there. I don't know of, or even heard of, anyone buying a domain below their listed price.

 

[frank-germany]

just buy it back
and learn

 

[Fancy.domains]

Negotiation doesn't work with HD. If you make an offer, they know there is an interested party and put the price up. This strategy used to be explained on their website. I'm too lazy to see if it's still there. I don't know of, or even heard of, anyone buying a domain below their listed price.

From their FAQ:

HugeDomains will always consider your offer; however, our pricing may or may not be negotiable, depending upon the domain itself. The value of a domain is based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: comparable sales, the length of the domain, and the meaning behind the name itself. When approaching HugeDomains with an offer, you are asking us to manually review the price of the domain. In doing so, we may determine that we are willing to accept less than our asking price. In some cases, we will determine that we are not willing to accept less than our asking price, and on the rare occasion, we will discover that our asking price is too low.

 

[Ed- Michigan]

MaIRL...
Welcome to N.P.
Try offering to trade some domains for your name dot com...
E.

 

[jideofor]

You have no way to get it back unless you buy from them. Trying to deal with them to reduce the price is the best way now

he sure has a way to get it back... he should wait and see. They might drop it.

 

[martinrussell]

Negotiation doesn't work with HD. If you make an offer, they know there is an interested party and put the price up. This strategy used to be explained on their website. I'm too lazy to see if it's still there. I don't know of, or even heard of, anyone buying a domain below their listed price.

Brain Fart. I was indeed referring to BuyDomains…

 

[deez007]

Sorry mate, unfortunately once it has expired and been dropped then it's pretty much too late.

Huge domains are big boys in the domaining industry, they have a massive portfolio of really good domains, all selling in the $xxxx's - You could maybe give them a counter offer but realistically they probably wont budge.

 

[Brands.International]

Ask then nicely and offer them some more money for it, explain why it is important for you to get it back. It is not their duty, but there is nothing to loose really

 

[namerav]

Bargain with them maybe you'll get it for less.

 

[daica85]

You have no way to get it back unless you buy from them. Trying to deal with them to reduce the price is the best way now

 

[Fancy.domains]

HugeDomains are huge players with almost half a million names, as far as I know. They snap a lot of drops and lists them for XXXX - XXXXX.

Negotiation might work, but I would be surprised if they let it go below $1000. This is their business concept and I think they are receiving a lot of similar requests.

Best of luck...

 

[martinrussell]

I have caught names that I had been tracking since 2005.

Ditto Kate. Patience has paid off for us too.

BuyDomains will negotiate on price. Regardless of their infrastructure costs, I doubt they went to auction on your name and might be willing to churn it back to you in a fast flip for a few hundred.

 

[Name Trader]

From their FAQ:

HugeDomains will always consider your offer; however, our pricing may or may not be negotiable, depending upon the domain itself. The value of a domain is based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: comparable sales, the length of the domain, and the meaning behind the name itself. When approaching HugeDomains with an offer, you are asking us to manually review the price of the domain. In doing so, we may determine that we are willing to accept less than our asking price. In some cases, we will determine that we are not willing to accept less than our asking price, and on the rare occasion, we will discover that our asking price is too low.

It's a long time since I read it. But, yes, this is what I was referring to. I have the "feeling" they've softened the tone, just a little bit. But it could be just my reading interpreting it differently, then and now.

 

[Silentptnr]

For someone else to pay $xxxx for it might be unlikely. They might drop it. You have to wait or pay the price. I dont think they would sell for too much less.

 

[bmugford]

Thank you so much to all of you for your answers.

I researched a bit more about the issue and this seems like the textbook definition of Cybersquatting. There are actually laws against this like the Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act in the US.

Illegal or not, I think it is extremely unethical to target people’s CVs and personal name domains. It is tantamount to extortion and I am not willing to negotiate with them.

My name is rare, it doesn’t have a lot of traffic and I don’t think I’ll be famous anytime soon, so good luck selling it! I already bought the .net domain so I’m good.

Again, thank you so much for your answers. They were very helpful. Good luck on your domaining!

A good question to ask regarding cyber squatting and names is -

Is the registration specifically targeting me? Unless your name is so unique or you are very well known the answer is normally "No". If there are more than a handful of people sharing the name it is likely to have been registered regardless of you.

Huge Domains owns hundreds of thousands of domains, if not more. It is unlikely they are specifically targeting you.

Buying & selling popular name combos can be perfectly legitimate.

There are often many thousands of people who share the same name, and only (1) .COM. That is what makes them valuable to the right buyer.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

My name is rare, but even if it wasn't. They are targeting domains that people forget to renew with the intention of selling to them at a higher price. Those domains are not valuable in and of itself. They are valuable to that person exclusively.

I guess a simple solution is to renew the domain. It is no longer "your" domain when it expires.
At that point you have lost the title to it and it becomes available for registration.

Unless you have a trademark, or can prove that you are well known or they are targeting you, it basically falls under capitalism.

I think they are targeting domains that might have more value to another party. It seems unlikely that they are planning on selling domains back to original owners for a large premium when they weren't even willing to pay a renewal fee on them.

Brad

 

[alcy]

u mean they contacted you to offer it or you just saw it posted for sale on the site?

cause if there is a guy on the planet named joeBlow (not you) and huge domains is selling joeblow.com then you understand how you are not necessarily the potential buyer they are trying to target.

 

[dordomai]

I had a .com domain with my name on it which I let expire (I know, it's my own fault).

So a company called HugeDomains bought it and is trying to sell it me for $3000 as a Premium domain. While I'm flattered they think of my name as premium, I can't and won't pay that absurd amount of money.

Is there any way to get the domain back?

if you want to acquire it really cheap, put a Namejet backorder on the domain and wait for a few years. (May or may not work)

 

[creataweb]

Yep, just backorder it. If your name isn't the same as millions of other people you'll probably get it back in a few years or less.

 

[offersity]

Unless yours is a really good name, they will eventually drop it.

Do you have any plan to actually use it? Save your money maybe and think of something else?

 

[frank-germany]

its your name
you should own it

 

[Domainstore]

Hello,
I've experienced this with some 15 .com-domains that were accidently dropped or dropped by me for another reason. When the domains came available, I have sometimes tried to catch some of them with godaddy or other cheap way. But they got it with dropcatch.
Really, I'm very angry because of that. But I know : It's nearly a monopoly they have on .com-names and are beginnning with other extentions also.
Anyhow => For some of the names I wasn't surprised, but for others I simply didn't understand : how on earth can they ask for this or that name thousands of dollars, although it can only be of intrest for some people.
They're have an agreement with the biggest .com catcher i know.(catching with dropcach).
But there are others that are as successfull. (but not godaddy).

Anyhow to resolve your problem
=> You can try anything you like of what previous members said.

=> But you can in the meantime (if you don't have enough money or can't reach an agreement) at least register it under another extention.
Or register the domain (your name) with the hyphen/dash in between (if you really want a .com). Although several people will sometimes forget the hyphen and that can raise the traffic to the domain without hyphen. And then they (dropcatch) may not let drop the domain quickly, although that's not sure. But at least it's something.
In any case : also don't visit the version they have often !!! Because the traffic you cause, could let them keep the name under the .com-extention.

But if it's your name (your name and surname) => Register the .net or .info, and dotname or 1 of the new extensions as .xyz, or you could try the .co, or even better : the extention of your country.

 

[Olayinka Oladele]

Wow. It's gone. Yeah, I know I should say sorry first. Did you build a website on this domain?