Advice on buying a domain already registered by DomainMarket.com

[RobinHood]

So I'm looking to get a domain that's already been registered and apparently for sale by domainmarket.com

I've never had to deal with any of these companies and have requested a call back.

Does anyone have any advice on how flexible these companies are with price and whether I can expect to get screwed?

It's for a friend whose looking to start up a small company and they really could do with the .com

 

[Alex]

I've only every enquired with one of those types of companies before, and when I found out the price I quickly walked away as it was a couple of thousand $'s

 

[steven s]

Does anyone have any advice on how flexible these companies are with price and whether I can expect to get screwed?

I doubt that any of these companies are flexible.
They would probably rather cyber squat a domain than let it go at a reasonable price.
But what is a reasonable price?

The first domain I registered was a .com and I've been wanting to pickup the .org and .net for sometime.
These guys manage to swoop up lapsed domains in record time.

What about .co but that is probably taken by the same person as the .com.
That is why I registered .co on some of mine just so someone wouldn't sell it.
I'd rather pay and sit on it myself.

 

[RobinHood]

.co and .co.uk are still available

I'm wondering if I should just register them in case my enquiry prompts them the register those too.

If for few hundred quid we could secure the domain then we'd entertain it, I doubt it would be worth much more than that though. Might be better off rebranding instaed if it's more? I'm really not sure...

 

[steven s]

I would register them just in case.
That way you are protected from someone else buying them.

My guess is if the squatter knows you are looking for a .com, he will snap up the .co.
At worse, you can use them. At best, you can still use them and redirect to .com.

 

[RobinHood]

Yep, very true. I've gone and taken them just in case.

Unfortunately I think my friend needs to present to some potential buyers soon and there's not enough time to re brand and they really like the name, so if it's a ludicrous price we'll just have run with the .co.uk for now.

I guess I can only wait and see what this company says.

 

[AdamD]

Hate companies who buy domains purely to hold onto them to sell for profit.

Reminds me of all the domains I wanted in the past, for a charity based idea I had, only to find they were bought years ago and have that templated search engine type page on, with a "this might be for sale!" link.

Grr.

 

[Sola]

My guess is if the squatter knows you are looking for a .com, he will snap up the .co.

How exactly is the guy a 'squatter" if he obviously bought the domain before you even thought up the company's name? I man this is a STARTUP idea, according to the OP...

Hate companies who buy domains purely to hold onto them to sell for profit.

Your decision to "hate" them makes no sense. It is a legitimate business that they are into. What's there to hate?

And no, I have no affiliation to the practice in any way before someone starts pointing fingers...

 

[AdamD]

Your decision to "hate" them makes no sense. It is a legitimate business that they are into. What's there to hate?

And no, I have no affiliation to the practice in any way before someone starts pointing fingers...

Because it's unfair for a business/company to buy a whole bunch of domains, including CHARITY related ones, just so they can resell for thousands of dollars.

 

[Carlos]

Most of these parked domain sale pages.... Most of them expect you to pay an excess of a grand or above. I've seen a domain with an asking price of 5 thousand dollars. So you better be strapped before you put in an asking price.

Some companies, however, like BuyDomains offer a reduced price if you wait long enough.

 

[RobinHood]

Well I left a telephone message, they never called back. Called back twice the next day, never picked up

 

[Carlos]

Well I left a telephone message, they never called back. Called back twice the next day, never picked up

Could be a few reasons:

1. The site or company in question isn't really a real site or company. 50% of the time, when you call, you get the call back, or if you did it by e-mail, you get a response.

These "companies" want the highest bidder than the advertised price. I noticed that 50% of the domain names listed are 2x the domain worth. For example, some domains may be listed for 3 thousand dollars, but I bet they're expecting more.

Like I said before, some companies reduce the price if you wait long enough - these are the more legit companies than companies like DomainMarket. Those legit ones want YOU to buy the domains, rather than a "lay the domain there and bait."

2. The person on the other side of your telephone line doesn't like the price you gave or request you gave.

If you're persistent enough, that phone call will come. Either that, or you can do a walk-around.

3. Buy the trademark rights to the name you're looking after. Then send a cease and detest letter. But in order for this trademark to work, you need a pre-established presence. And the trademark can't fully confuse with another name.

I have another suggestion, but it bordlines on "stalking" - go to the company HQ and do the transaction in person. There was a story just like this. Ah, yes. This is it.

These are just possibilities.

 

[RobinHood]

Interesting stuff, I still hadn't received a reply so I just tried them again and it turns out they're just a broker for the domain and someone else owns it. I have to contact them using the contact form on the site and they'll send me a quote.

Point 3 interests me. Interesting story about Klout too.

Obviously it's a new company and so we haven't really established ourselves yet, however the company will be UK registered shortly with a view of distributing to stores in the UK. Initially just locally, with a view to move nationally if it's successful, however we really don't know if it will grow into a reasonable sized business or not so we're not in a position to spend thousands on a domain at this point.

I guess we could apply for a trademark, but that's another couple of hundred quid. And even then would a UK trademark be enforceable if it's a .com domain is registered by a US company?

No harm in just contacting the chap and going from there though? It's not like they would spend the extra money or time trademarking it considering it's pretty random.

 

[Carlos]

Interesting stuff, I still hadn't received a reply so I just tried them again and it turns out they're just a broker for the domain and someone else owns it. I have to contact them using the contact form on the site and they'll send me a quote.

I was just about to say that, but I didn't want to offend you.

They're a domain broker, someone else owns it. And 90% of the time, you'd have to contact them via contact form/e-mail... but they should be able to respond to your phone call, too.

Obviously it's a new company and so we haven't really established ourselves yet, however the company will be UK registered shortly with a view of distributing to stores in the UK. Initially just locally, with a view to move nationally if it's successful, however we really don't know if it will grow into a reasonable sized business or not so we're not in a position to spend thousands on a domain at this point.

There is no "if" with entrepreneur(s). If you want to be a valuable company, you have to acquire the top domain name - in Klout's case that rings true. His company is worthless if his domain name doesn't have .com in it. If you spend a lot of money on a domain name, the investor(s) of your company see it more than valuable, it's an investment opportunity, if your company is set up right.

What it boils down to is: .com or forget about having a e-commerce site. That's what it boils down to. Investors want to see that you're freakin' serious about it. It being the company, the brand, the whole shebang.

I guess we could apply for a trademark, but that's another couple of hundred quid. And even then would a UK trademark be enforceable if it's a .com domain is registered by a US company?

No harm in just contacting the chap and going from there though? It's not like they would spend the extra money or time trademarking it considering it's pretty random.

Go ahead and contact the chap first, then go from there. If that doesn't work, get that trademark done, and you're in control.

DMCA prohibits squatters, in fact... ModernWarfare3.com was in a middle of a dispute, and Activision was able to grab the name before the owner continued to tarnish the name by directing it to Battlefield 3 sites. The owner did it again with ModernWarfare4.com just recently, and I think Activision is too slow to react. I hate those jerks.

 

[RobinHood]

It's not necessarily going to be an e-commerce site from the get go, more like a info site about the brand, it's for edible products so ideally stores would be the preferred distribution method.

However if the brand is successful and my friend decides to add additional products to the line (which is the plan) then I'm sure the .com would be beneficial.

I've had a reply.

They want $1k

 

[Andy.N]

1K is pretty cheap if you really need it.