Received call from previous domain owner (Help)

[gemstar]

I just recieved a call :talk: today from the last registrant of Cuxy.com
He mentioned that he had the domain for 10 years and let it expire because of financial trouble. He then asked if he could have it back? I asked him why he did not just pay the $8.00 or whatever to renew the domain and for some reason that was too much money at the time for him. I did not want to speak at the time so I just asked him to email me. I got this domain a month ago and I get a call now? How do I politley tell him no?
Thanks

 

[Name Trader]

Just say "Sorry. No. It's my domain now."

 

[Dotmainer]

He could sell it before expiration. Or he should renew it for longer time before that. So its a lesson. Thats a biz. Domain is nothing what he need like water or food, and there is always some reason why domains expire.

Why do you want to tell him no ? Just tell him your price !

 

[Red Rock]

Of course, this guy has just seen recent LLLL sales reports,
and thought Oh, Shi!
I sould have come up with that extra $8.00!
Well, unfortunately by now, it's too late.
You dont have to feel guilty.
You did what any one of would have done.
Nothing wrong about you owning this.
I agree w/Stub.
Simple and EZ,
Sorry No...that's it.

EDIT: I see Zoki's post now, and that makes sense, too.
Tell him your price, AND maybe just to be nice
give him the FIRST chance to buy it.

 

[Name Trader]

It's $34.99 at NetSol.

 

[gemstar]

I just felt right on the spot! I just got in from visiting the Pharmacy as I am sick at home and at that moment your speechless for a moment :p
I guess I did feel guilty but in this buisiness you have to overcome that feeling. I just cant see why it took this long to contact me. Seems fishy.
Thanks for the opinions :] I feel better now

 

[Red Rock]

Ya know,
It's great that you have a heart,
but this is Business!
Thats It!

 

[Jackie]

Tell him you paid a substantial amount of money to acquire this name and have your own development plans.
Remind him that domains only belong to "you" as long as you pay the renewal fees and not let it expire. A good analogy is: If you don't pay the property taxes for your home, the government can (foreclose) take it away? Advise him to turn on auto-renew at his registrar on domains that he values.
Say you're willing to take reasonable offers to purchase the domain back and recoup your costs. Take a look in Archive.org and it might shed some light on the past uses of this name. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://cuxy.com

It might be safer to not put this domain on parking so it won't be so easy for them if they decide to try and establish bad faith against you in a UDRP/court TM proceeding... (disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and I can't offer advice in the legal dept. of things)

 

[gemstar]

I did mention that I had plans to develope and I did put a Under-construction page for the domain. I cant see how the domain could be in trouble as there is no Trademark. But you never know.

 

[Len]

IMO he should be prepared to pay you fair market value or a price that you are comfortable with or else he should forget it! I have let domains drop or sold at next to nothing and regretted it later but that's life.

 

[gemstar]

Thanks for your support everyone :hearts:
This is making it more comfortable for me to handle.

 

[cache]

this is quite common. People change their minds, there could be a good reason with a very real story. I never know what to do myself. It just depends.

 

[HBK216]

Lets get one thing straight, you did nothing wrong in legally acquiring a name that did not get renewed. Now under no circumstance should you just hand it over but there is nothing wrong with hearing them out in terms of an offer. I recently sold a L-LL.com to a previous owner who forgot to renew it. He was nice about it & we negotiated a price that I was satisfied with.

As far as the advice of getting an offer that is market value, I would take that with a grain of salt. This market is mostly one created by hype & flipping to other domain investors as compared to actual end users. There is no guarantee that an actual end user will come calling for random letters.

Either way do what you feel is best but don't feel guilty about anything as you did nothing wrong.

 

[TheBulldog]

"No, deadbeat"

Problem solved.

 

[gemstar]

Much appreciated :]

 

[Name Trader]

Glad your feeling better

 

[domainerph]

This seems to be a very common 'con' now to buy your name..
I also received a call exactly the same way...

Smells very fishy now...

 

[gemstar]

Glad your feeling better

Thanks Stub :wave:

Well I sent off the email and indicated that everything was done according to the rules and that I am sorry for what he had gone through but there has been a substantial investment in the domain and plans to develop already.
There may be some consideration if he wishes to reimburse the costs associated.
BTW I Googled the phone number and its from Florida the address associate with the phone number he called from and left in his email points to a larger than average house with a nice pool. :wave: (Google satilite map) But I guess most homes have pools in Florida? I just don’t understand that if he loved this domain so much to call me for it a month after I got it. It wasn’t like I got a call right away if it was so important. The domain was registered for 10 years even with the financial problems im sure that after having the name registered for that long he could have found a few bucks to secure it another year no?

 

[l-l-l.com]

Just say no

Or if you intend to sell it then let him no the price so he can acquire it from you

 

[Spade]

Ive had this happen before as well. I don't even offer to sell it back, because i feel like im extorting them. The truth is, if he wanted it so badly, he wouldve found a way to keep it. If it was with network solutions - he did receive a portion of whatever the domain sold for via NameJet or Sedo. Dont forget that!

Justin