Needing a little help...

[GCgirl4ever]

I am following a name that is going to expire on the 5th of October and I need to grab it.. I doubt anyone else will want this name except the current owner. It's for a company one of my family members owns. So here are my questions

What backorder service should i use??
Will the current owner be able to see if there is a backorder on it??
Can I see if there is already a backorder on it??

This person doesn't exactly have many computer skills.. just likes to pretend he does.. so please help.

 

[Tippy]

As to which BO services to use it all depends on how badly you want the name. It wouldn't hurt to put a bid on it at NameWinner.com and a GoDaddy.com BO, the 2 least costly choices. There are other snap services such as Pool.com and SnapNames.com both starting at $60.

If the person knows about BO and NameWinner they could easily see that a BO and bid has been placed if they bothered to check.

Mike

 

[Jeff]

Originally posted by Tippy
As to which BO services to use it all depends on how badly you want the name. It wouldn't hurt to put a bid on it at NameWinner.com and a GoDaddy.com BO, the 2 least costly choices. There are other snap services such as Pool.com and SnapNames.com both starting at $60.

If the person knows about BO and NameWinner they could easily see that a BO and bid has been placed if they bothered to check.

Mike

Bingo!
And, though it's possible to secure a domain by utilizing ALL of the services ... it is still not guaranteed, of course. Does it "expire" on 10/5 ... or is it scheduled to "drop" on 10/5? Is the current WhoIs information still visible with the present owner's contact information? This may just be a matter of semantics, but it MAY be still possible to negotiate with the current owner as to its availability (which could also alert them to renew it, on the downside). I'll revist here, as well ... if I've clouded anything with "Expire" versus "Drop", etc.

 

[GCgirl4ever]

I personally know the current owner but my aunt is afraid that he'll renew it if we say something to him. It expires on 10/5 not drop so I still have a while... I know no one else is going to take the name but the fact that he still has it and may renew it is the problem. Thank you to both Mike and Jeff.

 

[Jeff]

Originally posted by GCgirl4ever
I personally know the current owner but my aunt is afraid that he'll renew it if we say something to him. It expires on 10/5 not drop so I still have a while... I know no one else is going to take the name but the fact that he still has it and may renew it is the problem. Thank you to both Mike and Jeff.

Gotcha!
Fear of renewal is a concern, no doubt about it. Sounds as though direct contact here won't do any good, in fact could work against you. Hmmm ... I would say (depending on the caliber of the domain name in question) that both Namewinner and GoDaddy BO (or Snapnames or Pool) may prove sufficient, though, once again, not guranteed. You have plenty of time to decide the best course of action, as you mentioned.
Best of Luck here.

 

[Tippy]

Is the Domain currently active, a live site?

Mike

 

[GCgirl4ever]

Nope, he registered it for my aunts company and then he never gave it to us like he told us he would (he's a friend of my aunts) it's been registered for 4 years but I think he forgot about it finally. he has it from register.com where he spends a nice amount of $$$ to keep it.

 

[Jeff]

At $29.95 (with the latest renewal "coupon"), he may decide against keeping it ... let's hope that is the case here! :D

 

[SlashRoot.Com]

If there is little or no chance that anyone else is going to be interested in this name, you could very well get by using the less expensive BO services mentioned above. If he is keeping his domains at Register.Com, I agree with you here:

This person doesn't exactly have many computer skills.. just likes to pretend he does.

Keeping this in mind, I would say just keep it below the radar, stay cool, put an El Cheapo BO or two on it, and you got it made.

Good luck with the snaps!

 

[GCgirl4ever]

thanks.