So I inquired about a VERY good .ca name recently. I emailed the Whois email and got an automated response. After a day, I get a real person telling me that their domain is not for sale. Fair enough. Here's the thing, this .ca is in redemption period and has been since "2016/05/05". I am quite certain that they are unaware of this. They were nice to me about it when responding to my email so being the nice guy that I am, I want to let them know to renew it. And to be honest, this name will EASILY fetch 4 figures (perhaps even 5) if it goes to auction so that is not in my current budget. Should I tell them to renew this name or "put my name into the hat" for when it goes to auction and hope for the best? Cheers!
Be honest and tell them that its in redemption . They may sell you at some point when they are ready to sell. Kudos for being honest..Good Luck ..
If you tell them, there is a chance of being honest and you can ask for the domain in future...If you don't, you end up nothing..
I once was going to register www.silversyde.com, but told myself do a good deed and tell the people who owned silversydesomethingsomething.com that it's available. They registered it, now it's their main website, didn't even get a thank you or anything. If I see someone is in deep issues, I would help, but if not, I ain't the pope (anymore ahaha)
The issue here is different from yours. He mentioned them as being nice. So you may get a chance to ask for the domain in future and a chance to be honest..
Unless they are a company that sucks @ss like a GMO Skanky mofo company like Monsanto or MacDonalds or some pharmaceutical company or any company without ethical business practices then I think you should probably give them a heads up... Especially if it is their main domain and they have their main business website on the domain
IMO, you're under no obligation to let them know. Not even a moral one. I let a lot of my names go past expiry, and eventually renew/reactivate. This might be the case with them too. If they really don't know, who cares? You don't run a charity do you? What if it was any other name, and you wanted to back order it? Would you worry about how/why it ended up dropping? Would you remind them to renew, and sabotage yourself? No, right? If you like it, go for it. Business is business.
Interesting discussion Personally, if someone inquired about my domain, I sure would check the expiry date on it.
Give them a heads up along with your paypal ID. If they let it drop snag it up assuming there are no trademarks and they didn't upgrade to a .com .
Thank you all for your responses. It's appreciated. I have decided to not tell them and hope for the best. If they somehow renew it then I will fill you all on on what the name is. I do know that if this name does expire and I don't get it, I should ask the new owner for a thank you at least. :P I'm not sure how long a .ca name stays in redemption. I thought that it's been too long already as well. The name in question is huge. The .com has been registered many moons ago and is worth millions. There are over 400 Canadian trademarks on the name but the name is also VERY generic... For example, something like vacuum dot ca ( this of course is not the name).
If the name is so valuable like you say, it will certainly be snapped and go to auction. If you alert them that the name is expiring, they might renew it, thank you and off it goes the market. They may have no intention of selling it, but you can try.
It depends on the registrar but we have seen that "auto renew grace" in whois can get "stuck" on a .ca for a month or so even if it is renewed BEFORE expiration. If it hit redemption on May 5th it would have dropped by now.
Since my last post, I have sent 3 emails to them without a response. I just sent the 3rd one offering $3000USD for it. In all 3 of my emails (first one dated late June), I have mentioned that the domain is about to expire. My original plan was to not tell them but I had a change of heart... Mainly believing that I have more of a chance of getting it like this then from a .ca TBR auction. The name still says "redemption period". I'm running out of ideas on how to acquire this name before it goes to TBR!
Do they actually use the name, or are they just holding? I say you should just make your highest final offer, and leave it be. If they don't respond, backorder and wait for TBR. I really really want to know what the name is now....
Being a fairly honest person myself, I would tell them about their domain. Domainers it seems all say, no..... Geesh.... Decency and honesty in the world of domaining is really sorely needed!
If the website resolves to their site it is not in redemption. We have learned that our .CA sites will continue to resolve to our servers and even eMail will work in expired status. But not in redemption. Call CIRA. Ask them to confirm the status.