Previous owner contacting me for his dropped domain

[newbie191]

I registered a dropped domain yesterday and today I got an email from previous owner. I searched his email address with quotes on in google and it seems this email address was used as previous owner's contact.

hi please get me the domain
my-domain.org

This is the first time ever somebody contacted me and showed interest in one of my domains. So I have no idea where to go from here. How should I proceed? Please help.

Edit: He probably got my email address form the whois of the domain.

 

[biggie]

:talk:

if you vetted them and found they are previous owner, then now it's up to you and your conscience.

you could return the domain in exchange for costs you incurred, plus small fee

you could offer to sell at any price

you could ignore them

Good Luck!

 

[newbie191]

:talk:

if you vetted them and found they are previous owner, then now it's up to you and your conscience.

you could return the domain in exchange for costs you incurred, plus small fee

you could offer to sell at any price

you could ignore them

Good Luck!

How much fee in this case would be justified?
The previous owner probably didn't have the money to renew the domain once it was expired because godaddy's renewal fees are much higher when the domain is about to drop. So they were probably waiting for it to drop.
I registered the domain for its page rank value. Otherwise I don't see any value in the name. I paid around 7 $ for registration and due to the page rank I will be able to sell it for around 20-30 $.

 

[south]

How much fee in this case would be justified?
The previous owner probably didn't have the money to renew the domain once it was expired because godaddy's renewal fees are much higher when the domain is about to drop. So they were probably waiting for it to drop.
I registered the domain for its page rank value. Otherwise I don't see any value in the name. I paid around 7 $ for registration and due to the page rank I will be able to sell it for around 20-30 $.

And what's your time worth?

 

[johname]

Since you feel the name is maxed out at 20-30 $ in value and that you seem confident you can get 20-30 $.for it. Ask $100 and see what he/she says. They might counter with the full godaddy penalty fee.

On the other hand you might ask yourself "Am I just assuming they purposely dropped the name because they were cheap?" And maybe roll the dice and go for more.

Did they contact you right after you bought it? That may mean they were watching it closely.

Is my-domain dot org the actual name?

"hi please get me the domain" This an actual quote? All they said?

Goodluck.

He probably got my email address form the whois of the domain.

Thats what I am thinking too :ghost:

 

[newbie191]

And what's your time worth?

If I spend 15-20 minutes looking for a domain and then make 10 $ by selling it I will call it a time well spent.

Since you feel the name is maxed out at 20-30 $ in value and that you seem confident you can get 20-30 $.for it. Ask $100 and see what he/she says. They might counter with the full godaddy penalty fee.

On the other hand you might ask yourself "Am I just assuming they purposely dropped the name because they were cheap?" And maybe roll the dice and go for more.

Did they contact you right after you bought it? That may mean they were watching it closely.

Is my-domain dot org the actual name?

"hi please get me the domain" This an actual quote? All they said?

Goodluck.



Thats what I am thinking too :ghost:

The potencial buyer belongs to some country from Africa and so I doubt they have anything more than the reg fee in mind.
I got the email about 36 hours after I registered the domain.
No the domain is an abreviation and it is short for the name of an NGO working in Africa. That's why it has PR4 and PR5 backlinks.
Yes all they said was "hi please get me the domain"
I guess I got over excited because its the first time I got such an email.

I have now sent a reply.

Hi
I like this domain and I am planning to make a site.
If you want this then make me an offer and if your offer is good enough maybe I will sell it to you.
Regards



If I don't get a reply within next 3-4 days I will send another email and offer it for 100$.

 

[newbie191]

I just got a reply from the "interested" buyer and he offered me 20 $ for the domain.
But I just checked a simmilar domain without the hyphen and the same guy has registered that domain today(e.g. if my domain is my-domain.org he just registered mydomain.org). Which mean he is upto something. Maybe he is looking to make the site again from scrach. I haven't replied him yet.

 

[ioana_bv]

The pagerank of the domain you registered dropped aswell so the value of the domain now is reg fee.

Which mean he is upto something.

Maybe it means, he already got the alternative domain and if your for will be over his planned budget he would probably refuse it.

 

[GiftedDomains]

"Hi, please get me the domain"

LOL
Good email. Short and targeted.

 

[newbie191]

The pagerank of the domain you registered dropped aswell so the value of the domain now is reg fee.

:imho:
I slightly disagree. Dropped domains with pagerank are still in demand. The value comes from the backlinks which are still intact.

LOL
Good email. Short and targeted.

 

[johname]

Try bumping him to 25-30 and sell him the name. This name sounds easy to replace and he is offering about what you thought you could get for it. Regging that new non hyphen name, not paying the godaddy late fee and watching the name like a hawk are huge signs your dealing with a person on the cheap. Goodluck

 

[nielsencl]

Most domainers will generally try to squeeze the previous owner for as much money as they can. It's up to you if you want to do that but it sounds like you are more like me and willing to give a stranger a break.

Here is something to consider: Many NGOs/Non-profit organizations lose their domains all the time. When this happens that go a little crazy because it means so much to their organization. The problem for domainers is most NPs don't have much money and even if they do, they are not likely to take a big financial hit when they can get another domain and "start over".

When you are talking about a domain with backlinks/PR consider giving the domain back to the original owner for free. The one condition you could ask for is that they put one or more links to one of your other domains or sites and keep the link for as long as they own the domain or some period of time.

You could also let them "use" the domain for free and you remain the owner but get the links from their site for a year or two. Later you can transfer the owner back to them.

Getting one or more nice links from a NP with good PR for a year is worth more than $20 to most people. Since the links don't cost the NP anything, you should both be able to get a great deal out of that regfee domain you found.

 

[xman]

I had one domain that I forgot to renew then I contacted the new owner. The new owner was asking $1K for it but I told him I could only pay $600 for it so he sold it back to me. The domain I bought back was worth at least $x,xxx to the end user.

Since you mentioned that you're willing to sell it for $20 - $30 you can asked for $100 - $150
The previous owner probably have a plan for the domain.

If you don't sell it, what would you do with that domain?

 

[newbie191]

If you don't sell it, what would you do with that domain?

In any case I will sell it, probably to a blog network owner. It is of no use to me. I have now told him that I will sell it for 100 $.