Previous owners come asking for their domain back?

[PowerFreak]

Anyone have any good stories about picking up expired domains, only to have the old owners come begging to get them back? How did you handle it?

It just happened to me for the 1st time. The previous website was defunct for a few years, but they still used it for email and someone let it expire by accident (dummies). I picked it up because it has a lot of really good, relevant backlinks and I'm 301-directing it to my site. I basically told them that I'd sell it back to them for what the GoDaddy appraisal is (a little more then 2x what I paid) or give me half what I paid and I'd direct the email DNS back to them (with a promise to never sell it to anyone else)...I think I was pretty fair, waiting to hear back.

 

[johnn]

Years ago the previous owner asked me to buy the name back as he forgot to renew. It is a non-profit organization.

I gave the name back to him for free.

 

[PowerFreak]

If it wasn't a domain I was putting to use, I wouldn't have cared and would have just asked for my cost back, or if it was an operational website that was previously on it, where it was directly screwing up someone's business by losing the domain. This was an art school that died out years ago. We'll see what happens. They really didn't give me a lot of details, but I probably would just offer to direct the email/DNS settings back to them for free.

 

[VadimK]

I had a similar case a couple of years ago. A guy contacted me asking for a domain name I just won in Dynadot's pending-delete auction. He claimed he wanted to build a business on it but had lost it due to an accident. The story was extremely weak, and I researched him as well. Nevertheless, I offered a high XXX price - still about five times less than what I was planning to list it for. He then started to push back, offering $50 as his maximum and then imo, chosed the wrong strategy, saying some like: ''otherwise karma will get you.'' I asked him whether he'd thought that it was his karma that made him lose the domain in the first place? After that, we mutually disconnected from further discussion. The domain is still with me, and I have no intention of dropping it, it's definetely sellable at mid XXXX.
If he'd play nicer I'd let it go for a few hundred bucks (and from what I saw on LinkedIn about him - he could definetely afford it).

I can also say that, in any similar case for another name and different circumstances in the future, there is definitely a chance I would give the name back for free as well, if I feel so.

 

[PowerFreak]

I'm guessing it probably happens pretty often.

 

[dirk]

It depends.. I have given it back previously for free or for a very low price when the story checked out and it was an org or company I could get behind.

Not always... In november I had one of these 'requests'. Story did check out but I was thinking ... I'm running a business. Costs increasing. Told them no... Cannot do. They bought it at 4.6K bin.

 

[PowerFreak]

Done...my 1st domain sale they talked me down a little but I still made some money.

 

[Future Sensors]

Done...my 1st domain sale

Congrats!

 

[PowerFreak]

Congrats!

thanks! only took 3 weeks. Now I just need to sell a few more to help justify my obsession.

 

[Nargil]

Happens to me quite often. Not to point fingers, but in 90% of the cases it's artists of some kind. Mostly musicians.

I am trying not to be a dick and charge them only what I paid for the domain, though I had a few cases when even that was met with an outrage.

 

[PowerFreak]

Happens to me quite often. Not to point fingers, but in 90% of the cases it's artists of some kind. Mostly musicians.

I am trying not to be a dick and charge them only what I paid for the domain, though I had a few cases when even that was met with an outrage.

In this case it was an seo/marketing person that was to blame for letting it expire for a client. I tried to be flexible and understanding. Right off the bat she played down the value, even though her client was pissed (he was also emailing me as well)...I even offered to point the email/DNS settings back to their email accounts and not take any money, since they claimed that was what they needed.

 

[katerleonid]

When I bought my first expired domains (a handful, maybe 5–6) for my SEO websites almost 15 years ago, one of the former owners reached out and asked to buy a domain back.

I had no intention of reselling it, I bought it purely for SEO, but I asked for $300 for a .org domain.

Fifteen years later, he let it expire again, and now it’s listed for $1,500.

Yes, it happens.

 

[PhpOG]

I asked for laughtodeathDOTcom back, the guy has the worst jokes and ruined a nice design lol Offered him $250, never replied. Silly. I thought it would actually be funny haha