discuss So what do you do when previous owner contacts you to get name back?

[alcy]

just curious what you reply if anything.. when previous owner writes you couple days after you just regged freshly expired name... saying he forgot to renew it.... due to illness..

if its decent name you see good potential for in future, do you stick to your price on it even if you believe his story... or do you offer him special discount... or do you plain not believe the story?

its not a tm or anything like that..

thought I'd hear some other views as this is first for me... plus people may learn from thread.

cheers

 

[Nikul Sanghvi]

I consider each request on a case-by-case basis... many are not acceptable reasons but I keep an open mind as there are always exceptions:

I returned Radikal dot co for free (at my own cost) to the previous owner last year.
There's a number of reasons I thought this was worth doing:

1) It was a small ongoing business - with a website, email address and matching social media handles
2) The former registrant was based in Haiti and unable to use a computer at the time of renewal
3) They were courteous and cordial in their approach, and made no demands
4) The business focuses on social/societal impact by helping entrepreneurs fight their way out of poverty
5) The material cost to me was $10. In relative terms, the opportunity cost to them was also far greater than mine

Whilst many consider empathy to be a weakness, I've always considered it a strength.
I'm not saying I'd comply with every single request - but I try my best to look at the facts and make decisions in a way that let's me sleep easy at night.

 

[offthehandle]

With Autorenew or prepay in advance for 10 years, no excuse. The nag reminder emails too. To me any responsible business owner, should take advantage of protecting it and is no excuse. That “I was sick”, “my mother died”, or whatever is a “The dog ate my homework” excuse. Especially I recall prepaying for my business to Netsol $500 for a number years back when ~$75 a year. Domains were not a paltry $8-10. Now $100 for 10 years. Peanuts.

 

[infosec3]

I was on the other side of the equation. I was the guy trying to buy my domain back. I sold a domain to a NamePros member for $200. Soon after, I received an offer for $1000 for that domain, because the other domainer here did not change the contact information, so it showed my email.

I contacted the domainer via PM and asked if he could sell the domain back to me for $300. He said, "No, thanks". I thought everything was lost and gave up. However, a few days later he contacted me and sold me the domain for $300. I then answered the $1000 offer and asked the end-user for $5K. We negotiated a bit and agreed on $4K. So, I ended up selling the name for $4K.

 

[branding]

I gave a big discount a few times but only because I could verify the story.

If people are polite and honest I'm always willing to talk. Gave a .org back for free once actually as I sympathized with the cause.

Running a business isn't always about the money.

 

[Fancy.domains]

Some time ago a guy contacted me and wanted to pay me $200 for a .org which he had used for a personal blog, but forgotten to renew. As soon as I confirmed it to be true, I made a counter-offer of $350 (the listed price was about $800) which he accepted.

However, I would never go this low, if I couldn’t get any proof of that he actually had used it for his nonprofit blog.

 

[Lee Latner]

Be professional and understanding. When it comes to discounting the domain, it's entirely your call. You may sell the domain today, you could potentially sit on it for years without another prospective buyer. You currently have a potential buyer, treat it accordingly.

 

[NYJimbo]

so then he said 300.... +100 cash (whatever that means lol.. cause the 300 is already basically cash lol) ... plus offered me 3 .com domains... which aren't very nice.

Sounds like a domainer trying to pull a fast one.

 

[Rinkuji]

This is what I get.
Domain registered and website in use since 1997.
But this new young Engineer owner not even ready to pay $500 .. He was stick to $50.
I sold it later to other domainer for low XXX

 

[NYJimbo]

Considering that most domains go through 30 days held after expire, 30+ days in redemption and then about a week to pending delete, I find it hard to believe their sob stories.

I just went through this with a .TV. The guy wouldnt even pay $250, he wanted to pay reg fee. I told him the $250 offer is good for one week, after that its going back up to $1288. He went silent.

Last year same thing with a .org, offered it to him for $325, he wouldnt pay anything over $100. I told him to go away and stopped responding to him.

 

[Silentptnr]

Let them know that the good news is that the domain might be for sale. If they really want it back, they will buy the domain at the set price.

 

[Silentptnr]

I just think that if you find an available domain and register it.....past registrants mean nothing. It's one of those "so what" kind of things. Has no bearing on the current registrant.

I once had this exact situation and after the person finished telling me their sob story, I immediately told them how happy I was to be the owner of the domain.

No hard feelings.

 

[JB Lions]

just curious what you reply if anything.. when previous owner writes you couple days after you just regged freshly expired name... saying he forgot to renew it.... due to illness..

if its decent name you see good potential for in future, do you stick to your price on it even if you believe his story... or do you offer him special discount... or do you plain not believe the story?

its not a tm or anything like that..

thought I'd hear some other views as this is first for me... plus people may learn from thread.

cheers

Instead of special discount, I would do the opposite, more. Or just treat them like everybody else. I don't like it when people try the sympathy angle to get a domain or try to butter you up. Most people at the core are decent, people will try to take advantage of that.

 

[Ategy]

I'm actually in the middle of an incoming negotiations via GoDaddy's Buy Service (wow are they ever ridiculously slow when it comes to communications).

It was the GD agent who told me the guy is the former owner. I felt a little bad, but the (mid $xxx) opening offer was just too low for me to even consider. I told the agent that I'm flexible in my price a bit, but that $xxx simply wasn't going to move it.

Another way of looking at any potential "discount" for the old owner is that you can also simply look at is as a discount for a guaranteed quick flip. Sure you could get a lot more for it .. but it could take 10 years.

In my case I hadn't even gotten around to pricing it yet before I got the incoming contact .. the agent's last message a couple of days ago said the buyer upped his offer a bit .. but didn't specify and the agent was unreachable today and didn't return my calls .. really curious to know if it was a tangible offer or not? lol


These situations suck because in most of these cases they likely can't afford our usual markups. But at the same time we can't be expected to alter our business model for domains we acquired fairly.

(Just realised it's a 2001 domain .. so he likely bought it in the aftermarket himself)

 

[BRANDERX]

I do not see any reason why you should let them have it back without getting your full asking price.

Be it a domainer or whatever.

Now if you are a rich individual, don't need any more money in life, sure give it back for free.

That's not the case though.

 

[alcy]

Let them know that the good news is that the domain might be for sale. If they really want it back, they will buy the domain at the set price.

good point
i mean it coulda just as well been picked up by someone who doesnt wanna sell it at all

 

[Kate]

The domain name probably was not used much, if in doubt you can check archive.org or google cache.
The previous owner may simply be infatuated with a long-held domain. Like so many domainers clinging on to bad names.

 

[offthehandle]

Instead of special discount, I would do the opposite, more. Or just treat them like everybody else. I don't like it when people try the sympathy angle to get a domain or try to butter you up.

The Sympathy card like the Victim card it is b.s.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Well, it is tough when I get one of these because I was on the 'sick' side of the equation once upon a time and lost many names.

This was well before social media and the easy ability to check stories...so, having said that, ask him for his name (if he hasn't given it already) and spent a couple mins to check his story. Then discount the name as you may see inclined to do.

If I were interacting with him I would be blunt...I would tell him if I can verify his 'story' the name will be x dollars for x amount of time (never less than 500 in my case) and if he will not comply with your info request and/or take the name within the period specified, let him know it will be full retail henceforth.

 

[golan]

I was on the other side of the equation. I was the guy trying to buy my domain back. I sold a domain to a NamePros member for $200. Soon after, I received an offer for $1000 for that domain, because the other domainer here did not change the contact information, so it showed my email.

I contacted the domainer via PM and asked if he could sell the domain back to me for $300. He said, "No, thanks". I thought everything was lost and gave up. However, a few days later he contacted me and sold me the domain for $300. I then answered the $1000 offer and asked the end-user for $5K. We negotiated a bit and agreed on $4K. So, I ended up selling the name for $4K.

And what if that buyer wouldn't buy, or changed his mind, or was a fake, or it could be a front running scam. Imagine your buyer sending you this offer from a fake name. Was discussed here a number of times. And you would just loose $100.

I never do like this. First, i don't feel it would be somehow ethically right. Now the domain is owned by my buyer, it was my conscious decision to sell the domain and thus to waive my rights to it. I had such a situation a few times, and every time i'm contacting my buyer and asking him whether he would be interested in a lead, and if yes i'm sending him the lead and if they get a deal he would send me some finder fee at his discretion. And it worked out two times, but more times they couldn't agree or the deal didn't happen for whatever reason.

 

[DomainVP]

Sympathy and business don't mix.

I can't afford Tom Bradys house, but I want to move in because I am looking for an upgrade for my family.

It's your domain, not theirs; conduct business accordingly.

 

[Rinkuji]

Let them know that the good news is that the domain might be for sale. If they really want it back, they will buy the domain at the set price.

You are Right. But they may know at what price we buy it in expired / closeout.
I don't think most of the owners want to pay XXXX for their mistake. May be they think its some sort of blackmailing.

 

[Daniel Lorentsen]

I've been talking to the previous owner of a two letter hyphenated domain that I own for almost a year now. He started off being very rude and threatened to sue me. When he realized it wouldn't work we started discussing the price, and ended up agreeing that he would pay 12.000$ for it. But now after almost a year he's not been able to get the money to pay for it. I acutally believe that but it also might be that he's trying to get the price down, that ain't happening though, but these situations are tough. If he hadn't been rude at the beginning I would maybe consider going down a bit.

 

[Internet.Domains]

I bought a domain for $1500. Many years later I had someone call and explain his partner sold the domain without his permission. He seemed sincere, was nice and cordial in the conversation, so I proceeded to try to help him.

I offered the domain to him for the price I paid, $1500. The seemingly sincere and cordial person erupted into a moment of completely losing control of emotions. It was nasty. I never really understood what he was yelling, but he implied I should give him the domain.

Regardless of my past experience, I will always try to help those that are sincere and cordial.

 

[EbookLover]

I wouldn't even sell it to this person given the story and specifics you have provided. Sounds like a possible chargeback waiting to happen, IMHO. Red flags, IMHO.