What should I do?

[allanh]

The story is that I picked up a domain name of a non-profit organisation which gets quite good traffic last week.

They dropped the domain and forgot to renew it.

Now they are contacting me, asking me to hand the domain back.

Should I hand the name back to them?
Is it unethical to "sell" the name back to them, considering it's their fault for not renewing it properly? Or should I offer to "rent" the name to them?

thanks for any advice

 

[henrysim]

Tell him how much you want for the domain, as the domain is now yours and there is no trademark for the name.

 

[allanh]

considering 20K :P

 

[acronym007]

considering 20K :P

I think that is a bit high.

Chess? I thought it might be for handicapped kids or something.

Since it's not for kids, and for chess people instead, sell it to them and charge a nice price. They forgot to renew the domain. Tough cookies. :imho:

- GF (free market capitalist)

LOL, I agree...

 

[MicroGuy]

considering 20K :P

You are most likely wasting your time with that price. Better to tell them you're not interested in selling. I think $300 to $500 is a more realistic range.

Good luck.

 

[allanh]

You are most likely wasting your time with that price. Better to tell them you're not interested in selling. I think $300 to $500 is a more realistic range.

Good luck.

thanks for the good luck

But 300 USD won't even cover my backorder fee

 

[lzy]

thanks for the good luck

But 300 USD won't even cover my backorder fee

Unless the traffic while parked is giving you a good return, they are and probably will be your best "end-user".

 

[allanh]

yep, they are my end user.

/agree

 

[soggyindo]

thanks for the good luck

But 300 USD won't even cover my backorder fee

many stores aim for a 100% markup.

eg. bookstores buy a $10 book and sell it for $20.

why not explain how much it cost to "backorder", double it, and say that's your (low) price, with costs incurred.

you could get more perhaps, but still you've earned some $, and done your karma good.

also, i'm not sure how lucrative or translatable that traffic would be...

 

[MicroGuy]

You might want to go ahead and grab ilchess(.)net (available) for $1.99 and sell them both as a package. :blink:

 

[footodors]

Don't get greedy or they'll checkmate you by starting over with a new domain.

Open with pawn to e4 and double price for a quick flip.

 

[allanh]

actually, they have started a new website. But it doesn't really matter to me. I will use the traffic for parking and maybe develop a website later myself with that domain.
I play a bit of chess myself, so it's not hard.