The art of buying existing domains - help please!!

[-DeaDLocK-]

Hi folks,

Would appreciate some advice - I am involved in a new start-up, and we have the branding all set-up and good to go. I have been tasked with securing the domain names.

domainname.co.uk
This one used to be own by somebody else but has now expired, but still in the "suspended" status, which is a window of opportunity in which a domain name is non-functional and is a kind of grace period for the original owner to renew it. I have backordered the domain with two different domain "sniping" services, but they are American and I don't know how effective they are with the UK TLDs. I am also frequently checking the Nominet UK WHOIS records on this domain to see when it's available for registration. Does anyone know how long it takes from the point a domain expires until it is released to the public?

domainname.com
This one is tricky. This is a currently registered and active domain. The registrar is Nameview, who are specialists at bulk domain registrations for domain horders. The domain name we want looks exactly like this other web site (also registered by Nameview): domaindeluxe.com. This is obviously a front for opportunistic web hits and spyware distribution, as opposed to the domain being used for any meaningful purpose. I infer from this that the domain we want is available to buy, if we could only make contact with the current owner. That's just the problem - Nameview protects the domains it registers with something called IdentityShield, which is an anonymous screen that hides the details of the domain owner. If you get the WHOIS results from Nameview's web site, it provides unique and temporary encrypted e-mail addresses (which I assume would forward to the domain owner). This is the only means I've found of contacting the owner, but I have sent a few e-mails to this address and have gotten no response so far. The registar themselves have clearly said on their web site that requests for domain purchases will be ignored, so I haven't tackled that avenue.

Just to give you an idea of figures - my initial stated offer for this domain is US$5k, with room for negotiation into multiples of this figure. So you can see just how intent we are on grabbing this from the current owner, and I believe he would be fair game, if I could only grab his attention.

Anyone have any advice or tips?

Thanks,
D

[sp60]

Can't really comment on the .com, I suspect this will be difficult to obtain, but I recently purchased a .co.uk domain that had expired. To give you an idea as I didn't check it every day, I know that the existing registration expired on 2nd September and it only just became available to re-register. I'm guessing from this that the period is 3 months. You may have shot yourself in the foot by registering your interest with these 'sniper' people as I suspect they will milk you for as much money as possible, just make sure if they are successfull at obtaining the domain, that you obtain full ownership of it when you pay them, not that they own it, but allow you access to it as they will be able to hold you to ransom for years if that is the case.
There are plenty of forums, sites etc that should give you the full knowledge on this subject, which I think would be well worth the time and effort in your situation.

good luck

[-DeaDLocK-]

Thanks.

Three months is a long window and would take us too close to launch for comfort. US TLDs are supposed to take 75 days to expire, which means that it should be happening right about now, so I was banking on the UK domains having a similar window.

What we could do is approach the old owner, get them to re-register and then buy it off him. Obviously much more expensive, but it means we get it.

The domain sniping services do one thing for us - they put us in the running for buying the domain. We cannot risk losing the domain for the sake of some money - if it comes to auction on these sniping sites (happens if there's more than one person after the same domain on the same sniping service), we will win it. The goal here is getting the domain - and we'd be willing to do (almost) whatever it takes.

D

[sp60]

-DeaDLocK- said:

Thanks. Three months is a long window and would take us too close to launch for comfort. US TLDs are supposed to take 75 days to expire, which means that it should be happening right about now, so I was banking on the UK domains having a similar window. What we could do is approach the old owner, get them to re-register and then buy it off him. Obviously much more expensive, but it means we get it. The domain sniping services do one thing for us - they put us in the running for buying the domain. We cannot risk losing the domain for the sake of some money - if it comes to auction on these sniping sites (happens if there's more than one person after the same domain on the same sniping service), we will win it. The goal here is getting the domain - and we'd be willing to do (almost) whatever it takes. D

yup, fair enough, I generally only register tld's for personal use, so am happy to wait out expiry times. I can well understand your approach when the launch of a new company is dependant on the right domain name though. Sorry I couldn't give you a more definative answer, hopefully someone on here has done this kind of thing before and can give you a few more solid tips...

[thebullettrain]

I guess you have checked the domain status on www.idr.co.uk/

I have not read your post – a bit busy at work – however it you think you have the right to the domain you can then take it to arbitration, which isn’t all that expensive.

Alternatively you can start bidding for the domain. It may well be worth getting someone to enquire on a no names basis to see what kind of price they domain holder may consider.

Hope that helps let me know if you have specific questions.