Administrative contact's domain is available

[spietreser]

I have the following situation currently happening to me and would like your view on this.

Let's say you found this great domain name (for example: abc.com) and looked up the whois. Then you found out that the admin contact uses an email (for example: admin@xyz.com) and that the domain name xyz.com is available!

What would you do to get abc.com?

1. If noone registers xyz.com, the renewal reminders/transfer codes/etc for abc.com will never arrive anywhere. This means that abc.com has a 90% chance of expiring and dropping. You will then certainly lose the domain because you'll have to compete with everyone and their aunt to get abc.com at the highest auction price.

2. Register xyz.com and start the transfer for abc.com. You will now certainly be getting the domain abc.com, but will you be able to keep it? Because abc.com is not yet expired, you are then basically stealing the domain.

3. Register xyz.com and then ... ? If you register xyz.com, will you be able to legally acquire abc.com?

Thanks in advance for your fast replies!

[draggar]

2. Register xyz.com and start the transfer for abc.com. You will now certainly be getting the domain abc.com, but will you be able to keep it? Because abc.com is not yet expired, you are then basically stealing the domain.

3. Register xyz.com and then ... ? If you register xyz.com, will you be able to legally acquire abc.com?

Thanks in advance for your fast replies!

I think you answered your own question.

[Dave Zan]

3. Register xyz.com and then ... ? If you register xyz.com, will you be able to legally acquire abc.com?

Seriously, how exactly does that entitle one (at least materially) to "legally acquire" the domain name other than doing #2 above that?

[Acro]

Long but worth reading

[Dave Zan]

Long but worth reading

If the "moral" of what you wrote there doesn't sink in, I don't know what will.

Up to you, OP.

[dmyre]

Call the registrant, explain the situation, and offer to purchase the domain.

[katherine]

Identity theft is a prosecutable offense.
Stealing domains can get you a jail sentence.

[Mark Talbot]

1. If noone registers xyz.com, the renewal reminders/transfer codes/etc for abc.com will never arrive anywhere. This means that abc.com has a 90% chance of expiring and dropping. You will then certainly lose the domain because you'll have to compete with everyone and their aunt to get abc.com at the highest auction price.

Actually the domain has a 99+% of being renewed, as most good domains are set to autorenew.

The smart thing to do would be to not touch the email domain, nor the other. The moral thing would be call the contact phone number and tell the owner their name is prone.

[airmax]

I actually saw this happen with some very good domain names, most tend to take the moral high road, and as vast as the internet is, just like every industry we have some bad apples, who try to take advantage of this situation. As for 99% renewal, lots of turnover in tech companies, some out of business, sometimes invalid credit card numbers, or a change in admin email etc... it happens...

If you are assuming someones email identity, and then resetting the password to gain access to the account, and changing the cc, and registrant info, you can pretty much see the issue with the situation, it is a no no imho.

[spietreser]

Thanks for all the replies!

I wasn't going to steal the domain, but would like to avoid paying the maximum price for it. The website for the domain I want is down, so they might be able to let it go for cheap (I hope!)...