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When your .com is taken

by Jon Tees
11 replies
What do you do when your chosen .com address is taken by someone who is.

1. Not doing anything with it, in other words you see "coming soon." (it never comes) or a page that's been parked by the register.

2. Is basically unreachable for they hide behind a private register who prevents their identity or contact info from being revealed to the public. You have to contact them through a third party and who is really to say if they ever get your message?

3. Most likely they have auto renew and transfer prevention turned on meaning there is virtually no way to purchase the site from out from under them when it does expire.

This has happened to me a few times, I'd offer a fair price if I could only reach the person, and as owner I could actually put those domains to use.
  • Profile picture of the author DrewG
    I just check to see when it expires and try to get it at that time when it expires. Or else I see if the .org is taken. Otherwise, I just move on...
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      1. Not doing anything with it, in other words you see "coming soon." (it never comes) or a page that's been parked by the register.

      Doesn't matter what they are using it for - if they registered it, they own the domain. If parked, the domain will usually say if it for sale.

      2. Is basically unreachable for they hide behind a private register who prevents their identity or contact info from being revealed to the public. You have to contact them through a third party and who is really to say if they ever get your message?

      When you register a domain there is no obligation to provide info for people who might want your domain. Those who want to sell will provide such information.

      3. Most likely they have auto renew and transfer prevention turned on meaning there is virtually no way to purchase the site from out from under them when it does expire.

      If auto renew is on, clearly they plan to keep the domain for now and they are protecting themselves from people who want to buy it out from under them.
      your chosen .com address
      If someone else has registered the domain, it is not your domain to choose. Find another name to use or use a different version of the same domain.

      I see this topic here on occasion. The point seems to always be made that the domain is not being used - but that has nothing to do with it. You will be able to track some owners and make an offer but those not interested in selling may not respond.

      If this happens to you often perhaps you should change the way you choose a domain. I go to nameboy or a similar site, enter keywords and choose from domains available rather than choosing one already registered.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author Gene Pimentel
    Originally Posted by Jon Tees View Post

    This has happened to me a few times, I'd offer a fair price if I could only reach the person, and as owner I could actually put those domains to use.
    There is no reason you wouldn't be able to reach the owner. Use the contact email in the whois record, whether it's through a privacy protection service or not, and the message WILL get to the owner.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nic Lynn
    Gene is correct. If the owner keeps their contact info up-to-date, they will get the message via whois contact info, even if they are behind a privacy address. Fallback plan should be to buy .org or .net instead... or look for domains with similar domain keywords that are up for auction that already have some backlinks, etc. That's my domain name aquisition workflow anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author TimGross
    Keep in mind when contacting someone regarding this (or ANYthing) that subject lines etc are extremely important.

    Years ago, I had a guy leave 2 or 3 very unspecific messages regarding one of my domains on my voicemail, asking me to call him back. I didn't call... I'm not a big fan of making random calls to talk to someone who I don't even know what they want.

    Finally after a couple of weeks, the guy left a different message; From the tone of his voice he was clearly frustrated, and he said, "I WANT TO SEND YOU A CHECK FOR $10,000, PLEASE CALL ME BACK!"

    I called him back. (Sold it to him for $15,000, although that's not relevant to the story)

    Moral: Depending on how important you consider the domain, don't be coy. You can try contacting them once with the usual, "Interested in buying your domain, lets talk about a reasonable price"

    If that doesn't work and you really want results, put the highest amount you're willing to pay in the subject line:

    "I'll pay you $350 for xxxxxxx.com, but it has to happen by xx/xx (date) or I'm going with a similar domain that I've already registered"

    -or something like that.

    I had a guy email me asking if I'd sell him my Gmail address, without giving a number. I didn't even respond. I figured it would be too low for me to want to do it, and didn't feel like wasting time emailing back and forth for nothing. If he had emailed originally with an amount that would've made by jaw drop, I might have said yes.

    Don't beat around the bush. Try to think of what to say that would get YOUR attention, and do that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Powers
    Sometime the problem is:the guys of the registered .com domains do not make any response to your ask or ask for a high price that can't be acceptable.That's really annoying.
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  • Profile picture of the author achivement84
    I try to think of another domain name ot register. Or I settle with a .net. Any of the other domain types are not worth it in my opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author jendoe
    Just wanted to verify that the emails do go through... I have the "privacy protection" registration on my domains, and wanted to be sure - so I sent an email from an unrelated account to the whois info. It's just an automated forward to your real email.

    (And $15k - wow, nice Tim!)
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    • Profile picture of the author netkid
      Jon,

      I would move on and not get to hung up on getting a specific domain name. I put up blogs for my clients and we search for domain names and I can come up with so many alternative "catchy" domain names that are search engine relevant, that it is not such a big deal anymore.

      Hope that helps,

      Bruce
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by Jon Tees View Post

    Not doing anything with it
    You are assuming that the only thing you ever do with a domain is put a website on it.

    When I develop large-scale internet services, there's no web site per se, but the domain still resolves to an IP which provides authenticated service on a trusted port. Adding a website increases the attack surface area and reduces security.

    Case in point, one system I constructed for a major medical provider exchanged encrypted insurance and benefit information over a non-standard port for subscribers to their service. The underlying database and system conformed to the then-new HIPPAA regulations, thereby removing any need for smaller providers to understand or implement them. There was no website there, but that was far from "not doing anything with it" - the service was pulling well over $1.5 million in subscription fees monthly.

    Care to guess how interested they were in selling it, and what you would need to offer to get them interested?
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