Purchasing a domain name

[gibbons]

I looked up a domain name tonight and found it's already taken. When I go to it I get directed to buydomains.com and it's listed as for sale. Here's the shocker... they want $1,800 for it. We're not talking about www.donaldtrump.com here. I mean for pete's sake, it's a nothing domain name.

My question: What's up with this? Do people go out and grab stupid domain names and list them for sale often? Who is buydomain.com? Will they deal? I might give a couple hundred for the name, but no more than that!

 

[RotaryWingBob]

I looked up a domain name tonight and found it's already taken. When I go to it I get directed to buydomains.com and it's listed as for sale. Here's the shocker... they want $1,800 for it. We're not talking about www.donaldtrump.com here. I mean for pete's sake, it's a nothing domain name.

My question: What's up with this? Do people go out and grab stupid domain names and list them for sale often? Who is buydomain.com? Will they deal? I might give a couple hundred for the name, but no more than that!

Bingo...

But not often -- I've not had a big problem grabbing domain names I wanted...

What's the big deal? Whether he/she will get the dough is no big deal to me...

Why does it upset you?

 

[KennyFlys]

It seems like exactly that. They come up with whatever and grab them. Last year when I was selling aviation radios, I set up a store on eBay under "Flying Stuff & Junk." I tried for a domain site as well. "FlyingStuff.com" is "under construction" but never has been used. "FlyingJunk.com" is also snapped up by a domain seller.

It seems like the "virtual speculator" has taken over the internet domain name game.

 

[gibbons]

Bingo...

But not often -- I've not had a big problem grabbing domain names I wanted...

What's the big deal? Whether he/she will get the dough is no big deal to me...

Why does it upset you?

It's not so much that I'm upset, it's more that I find it unbelievable they would ask $1,800 for this domain name - www.point6.com I mean, who the hell other than me wants it?

Hey, they grabbed it and they can do what they want with it. But like I said, I'd like to have it and would pay a couple hundred for it - but $1,800? How do they set the price? Will they deal? Is buydomain.com just a brokerage house for domain names?

 

[CJones]

Isn't there some sort of law that they must be actively pursuing using the domain to hold its name? If not, there should be. Darn cyber-law - talk about a can 'o worms!

 

[mikea]

It's not so much that I'm upset, it's more that I find it unbelievable they would ask $1,800 for this domain name - www.point6.com I mean, who the hell other than me wants it?

Hey, they grabbed it and they can do what they want with it. But like I said, I'd like to have it and would pay a couple hundred for it - but $1,800? How do they set the price? Will they deal? Is buydomain.com just a brokerage house for domain names?

Squatters. AH! It was proven that every word in the English language is registered to some scumbag. You have to be careful even when you check for availability. They watch for inquiries and if they see that looks interesting THEY grab it before you can.

DON'T pay a squatter. Let them wallow in it.

Chip, you can get a different TLD: .us .biz. .net .fm .tv .org .name Also throw in a hyphen: point-6.com

.aero domains are priced so that nobody but maybe Boeing would want one. You may notice how many .aero we know about. .tv was the same price range at first.

Also I would stay away from Go Daddy and NetSol as registrars. They've done some scummy things like turning off the domains charged with spamming and demanding $250 to get it back. I'm moving to stargate.

 

[TangoWhiskey]

It's not so much that I'm upset, it's more that I find it unbelievable they would ask $1,800 for this domain name - www.point6.com I mean, who the hell other than me wants it?

Hey, they grabbed it and they can do what they want with it. But like I said, I'd like to have it and would pay a couple hundred for it - but $1,800? How do they set the price? Will they deal? Is buydomain.com just a brokerage house for domain names?

Find out when it expires and wait for it. No guarantee, but if they don't renew right away you can snag it.

I use namecheap.com to register and manage my domains, regardless of where I host them. I've used many registrars in the past, and they are the best in my opinion (of the ones I've used). Their service and user interface are terrific.

Try a variant. All of the following are available:

point6.biz
point-6.net, .biz
pointsix.org, .info, .net, .biz, .us

 

[mikea]

Find out when it expires and wait for it. No guarantee, but if they don't renew right away you can snag it.

I use namecheap.com to register and manage my domains, regardless of where I host them. I've used many registrars in the past, and they are the best in my opinion (of the ones I've used). Their service and user interface are terrific.

Try a variant. All of the following are available:

point6.biz
point-6.net, .biz
pointsix.org, .info, .net, .biz, .us

Well, they were available until you checked them and all of the registrars saw the inquiry.

These scumbags don't miss expirations. They pick up expired domains in hopes of extorting the owner when they want it back.

 

[KennyFlys]

I do recall a case where a company regained use of a domain name without some extravagant price that was nothing short of extortion. I just can't tell you who it was or the details.

 

[jesse]

Domains are cheap. Buy enough of them and you'll find someone that really wants the name and will pay big. At least that's the idea--and it must work.

My worst domain squatter experience was with a personal domain that I owned for years. One day I let it expire by mistake and my registrar didn't contact me. After it expired no one can renew it for 30 days. I setup a registrar to buy it the instant it came available. Some company beat my instant buy somehow and called me offering to sell me the domain for $3,000. Needless to say I was rather ****ed that they bought it the second it expired and then contacted me wanting a ransom. I'm sure with enough legal power--I could have got it back. But that costs money as well.

The same company still contacts me to this day wanting to sell it. They drop the price about $500 each time..and I let some words fly each time.

I just checked. It's the same company---BuyDomains.com bastards.

 

[RJM62]

Cybersquatting is illegal. The problem is that the way the law is worded, it's difficult to satisfy the requirement that the present owner isn't using the domain in question. If they have some bogus search engine or monetized affiliate links to some commercial sites, who's to say that's not a legitimate use? Few challenges are successful as long as the squatter has something on the site.

As for registrars, I personally like www.iyd.com. There's really not too much that a registrar does for you once you register the domain, but what little there is to do, IYD does well. I've registered dozens of domains with them over the years, and never had any problems. (In fairness, though, problems with registrars in general are pretty unusual.)

On those few occasions when support was necessary (mainly clients who insisted on "handling their own domains," and then neglected to renew them), telephone support was fast and easy-to-get from IYD.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I'm now an IYD affiliate/reseller. But I was a customer first. I affiliated with them because I liked the service.)

Rich

 

[Anymouse]

Yep it's called speculation. My name was taken for a while and then one day I noticed it wasn't. On a whim I grabbed it via www.freeservers.com. It's because of these idiots that we now have to pay for the domain name. Used to be that they were free. Then the idiots started grabbing anything and everything and exhorting the companies that wanted those names.

 

[RJM62]

Yep it's called speculation. My name was taken for a while and then one day I noticed it wasn't. On a whim I grabbed it via www.freeservers.com. It's because of these idiots that we now have to pay for the domain name. Used to be that they were free. Then the idiots started grabbing anything and everything and exhorting the companies that wanted those names.

I had a similar experience. Eight of the domains I own are the singular and plural forms of the same company name, in four TLDs each (.com, .net, .us, and .biz). After I registered the first two or three, I had to wait years until the squatters got tired of renewing the others. As they became available, I jumped on them one-by-one.

Rich

 

[Skip Miller]

It's not so much that I'm upset, it's more that I find it unbelievable they would ask $1,800 for this domain name - www.point6.com I mean, who the hell other than me wants it?

My wife formed a company last year and long story short, the alphabet soup name she wanted - MKMC.com - had been grabbed by a squatter who wanted $4 grand!!! All nearby combinations were also squatted upon.

However, MKMCUSA was available and so we got that for about $5. Note for you websurfers, there is no website there yet, the domain is just for email.

-Skip

 

[SCCutler]

There is also a provision for arbitration if someone is "squatting" on a domain name, but the cost of the arbitration process is so high that it is only viable for substantial business use.

 

[colomtnflyer]

Ya- I got screwed that way too, Jesse! I had a website offering my ski instruction services, and the woman who was managing my site for me didn't get it renewed. Next thing I knew, I was receiving emails offering me my own site back for over $5K. I was more than Pi$$ed!
But as I'm no longer full time in the ski biz, I really don't care anymore...

 

[smoore]

I never squatted because it didn't sit well with my personal morals. I try not to stand in anyone's way in any regard as long as they aren't harming anyone else. i.e. I don't want to cause you problems in your endeavors. I have no problem with anyone else doing it, they have to live with their decisions.

I hate the fact that it's illegal*. The 'net is the last frontier for anyone less wealthy than Richard Branson. Leave it to us, please.

Don't want to pay for a squatted domain? Come up with another one or just use IP addresses like us geeks. Complaining about squatters rings of entitlement in my ears.

* want to avoid any lawful impropriety? Just squat domains someplace like SeaLand, as every "legitimate" squatter does. Oh yeah, don't ever bring the money into the USA, too.

 

[mikea]

I never squatted because it didn't sit well with my personal morals. I try not to stand in anyone's way in any regard as long as they aren't harming anyone else. i.e. I don't want to cause you problems in your endeavors. I have no problem with anyone else doing it, they have to live with their decisions.

I hate the fact that it's illegal*. The 'net is the last frontier for anyone less wealthy than Richard Branson. Leave it to us, please.

Don't want to pay for a squatted domain? Come up with another one or just use IP addresses like us geeks. Complaining about squatters rings of entitlement in my ears.

* want to avoid any lawful impropriety? Just squat domains someplace like SeaLand, as every "legitimate" squatter does. Oh yeah, don't ever bring the money into the USA, too.

Sure. The problem here is this "wild west" was civilized before the scum came along and laughed at the naive suckers. .com was for business .org for non-profits, etc., much less sending unsolicited commercial email.

There was a thing called netiquette. Fail to comply and you got flamed. Whatta stupid time, huh?

 

[SCCutler]

The "squatting" to which I principally object falls into two categories:

1. Registering the name of a going business, one in which the registering entity has no interest. The registered domain has no value other than what can be extorted from the business.

2. Pouncing on an already-existing domain for a going concern. Same reasoning.

I note that they typically place adverts for competitors on the bare-bones site when they do this.

Example: My friend Kevin "Jade" Roberts, owns a small gym here in Dallas called, "Jade's Jym." Had "JadesJym.com" registered, his 'puter guy (who was teh contact) let it lapse, and the very day it became available, someone else snapped it up, put up ads for other gyms and trainers in the area, and offered to sell it to him for Very Much Money.

Guy evidently got tired of it, 'cause Jade got it back, but it was a couple of years.

OBTW, if you ever need a Sly Stallone lookalike for your parties or corporate events, Jade's the guy. Remarkable!

 

[KennyFlys]

The squatting has gotten so out of hand, it's hurt some legitimate business efforts to expand to the web. But, how do you stifle what amounts to legalized extortion without also placing a limit on the free market?

The closest I can think of is limit the number domain names to be held (squatted). But, then you'd have to address the shell corporations, each of which would be another set of domain squatters and all having the same corporate ownership.

In the end, I don't think there really is a solution.

 

[smoore]

One solution to the problem of squatters snapping up existing registrations would be grace period and notice to everyone on the contact list. Lets face it, technical contacts sometimes slack. If management got a notice that their name was in danger, they could go crack the whip down at the NOC.

Another would be to simply treat it like any utility bill. The electric company will continue to service you if you miss a payment. Why can't the registrars? They have created this "game" where the squatters try to "steal" the domain the month after it's overdue.

Hmm, that might even be a niche registrar business, "We won't cut you off until you ignore us for X months."

 

[write-stuff]

That's why you see so many names like snopes, yugmaa, frispa, etc. Just about every combination of two English words has been snarfed up. Same thing with every combination of 3 characters imaginable. New businesses have to go with made up nonesense names. It's gotten so commonplace now, these are considered "Web 2.0" names.

 

[Lawreston]

My wife formed a company last year and long story short, the alphabet soup name she wanted - MKMC.com - had been grabbed by a squatter who wanted $4 grand!!! All nearby combinations were also squatted upon.

However, MKMCUSA was available and so we got that for about $5. Note for you websurfers, there is no website there yet, the domain is just for email.

-Skip

www.distinctiveview.com

That appears to be a rather large and successful company in Texas, Distinctive Views.

Some time ago I received a telephone call from someone who wanted to buy my domain name. It seems that when the TX company went to register www.distinctiveviews.com (note the s in the spelling) it was not available. Somehow, the caller sourced my telephone #, though I think that information is now discreet. And why did the organization call me?
See the image; however, the postal address, email address, and telephone # recently changed. The website? I'm still building it, but the domain is mine until into 2011.

HR