Acquiring a .com Domain Name Thats Aleady in Use?

blobert

Hello Folks,

I’m in the process of starting a new online business. I’ve been going though a few possible .com names, all the ones that I am interested in are taken. My top choice is in use but seems inactive, the owner registered the domain in 2003 till 2011, there is a previous catalogue of goods from 2003, the 2004 one does not work and the 2005 part is “under construction”. The shop that it says you can also buy the goods from does not sell them and I can find no evidence of the product they sell still being available. The site is registered to an owner in Poland.

My question is this, what is the best way of going about acquiring this domain name? Should I just email them and ask them about it directly? Or should I use a service such as godaddy.com, they charge $60 +10% commission on the sale price and claim to be experts at negotiating domain names sales.

As I say it just looks like this is a largely inactive site of a small business that may not still be around, I’m just trying to work out what the best way of acquiring the domain name is from anyone that might have experience in the area?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks

DubTony

wow, a 10 % commission. Sweet. Somehow I can't imagine they'd be pushing for the best deal for a buyer.

Is the domain available as a .net?
What about .eu?

Even some other TLD without the strict limitations.

My brother recently registered his business name with a .be (Belgium) domain so that he could use it as a promotional and marketing tool.
He's having an open seminar soon and his invitees will be directed to www.hisbusinessname.be/there

BTW, when he tried to purchase the .co.uk domain from it's owner who wasn't using it, your man wanted £2,000.

Illkillya

blobert wrote: »

Hello Folks,

I’m in the process of starting a new online business. I’ve been going though a few possible .com names, all the ones that I am interested in are taken. My top choice is in use but seems inactive, the owner registered the domain in 2003 till 2011, there is a previous catalogue of goods from 2003, the 2004 one does not work and the 2005 part is “under construction”. The shop that it says you can also buy the goods from does not sell them and I can find no evidence of the product they sell still being available. The site is registered to an owner in Poland.

My question is this, what is the best way of going about acquiring this domain name? Should I just email them and ask them about it directly? Or should I use a service such as godaddy.com, they charge $60 +10% commission on the sale price and claim to be experts at negotiating domain names sales.

As I say it just looks like this is a largely inactive site of a small business that may not still be around, I’m just trying to work out what the best way of acquiring the domain name is from anyone that might have experience in the area?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks

I would say approach the owner directly, as nicely as you can. Send from your personal email address, blog in signature, etc., make yourself come across as some rinkydink nice guy with an idea, because if he thinks you're from a company with a few quid in the coffers then he will try to fleece you. Price depends on how good the domain is, but more so on the seller - I've got some good domain names this way for <€1,000, while other times trying to buy less valuable names, the guy would come back and laugh, expecting €40k minimum.

Beware of getting scammed, and perhaps more importantly, beware of him being too worried about getting scammed (make it clear that you're a real person, try to get him on the phone, offer to use a reputable escrow, etc.)

spartacus93

I'm currently trying to get my hands on the .com equivalent of a .ie domain I have. It's not being used but it has been registered by a company that

"own about a million domains and broker another 1.8 million names for resellers. We have it because this is what we do, we help small to medium sized businesses connect with their targeted clientele and customer base."

They're not helping, if that didn't have it registered I could just get it myself for €10, he wants a little under $2k for it. How that's helpful I'll never understand.

padocon

What's the site?

blobert

Thanks guys, Ive written to him/her, will see how I get on...

skelliser

have you tried .net .info .co.uk

also have you tried using hyphens, as in www.my-site.com

ntlbell

skelliser wrote: »

have you tried .net .info .co.uk

also have you tried using hyphens, as in www.my-site.com

adding hyphens is generally a bad idea

you get people sending emails to blah@myhypensite.com etc etc

I would avoid them where possible make the name as easy to say as possible.

skelliser

ntlbell wrote: »

adding hyphens is generally a bad idea

you get people sending emails to blah@myhypensite.com etc etc

I would avoid them where possible make the name as easy to say as possible.

Where did ya get that idea?
have a look at this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055633510

in some cases hyphens could be an advantage.

ntlbell

skelliser wrote: »

Where did ya get that idea?
have a look at this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055633510

in some cases hyphens could be an advantage.

from experience.

"what's your email address"

"info@blah-blah.com"

"a wha?"

"a hyphen"

"what's that"

and so on and so forth...

radio adverts etc same problem.

you should make the URL as easy to "say" as possible

skelliser

agreed about making it "easy" to say but most people will google the name first so it really boils down to page rank so if the site is well designed and layed out it should rank well regardless of a hyphen or not