Back-Ordered Domain Rec'd - Prior Owner 1 Month Later Desires Name Back!

[jtaugher]

back-ordered a domain in late December that wasn't showing any website for through my own WildWest reseller account. On January 8 of this year it came through and grabbed the domain. I would imagine that this domain had been in grace/redemption for over 45 days.

Now, just two days ago, more than a month after the name was now under my ownership does someone come to indicate:
"A customer notified us about the site being down so I checked into it and found that we were not notified about renewing our domain name. So I'll get right to the point. What are your plans for this domain name? Do we need to look for another one to replace this name?"

<Seems that's what everyone tries to claim -- even though most Terms and Conditions of registrars say it's the registrants responsibility to renew>

I back-ordered this domain for purposes of a client who "could potentially use this domain" -- who's Hosting I am about to embark on. They already have successful websites, but this would be a smaller fitting name.

The domain-names for purposes of this message have been changed, but one will get the point:

* The name backordered was JDHOMES.COM.
* The client I have is "Johnathon and David, Inc." They are home builders and utilitize the domain: JOHNATHONDAVID.COM, and they have JD-REMODELING and another non-company name related domain.
* The individual who has contacted me by looking up my whois (should have made it private) is JAMBOREE DIXIE HOMES (a mobile home seller).


"Johnathon and David Inc" hasn't taken on this new domain yet, and may infact, say they don't want it. But perhaps they do. In my understanding, JAMBOREE DIXIE HOMES has lost it because of their failure to renew. Quite frankly, why does someone not miss having their own website up for 45+ days during redemption, plus another 34 days since I've owned it?

If "Johnathon and David" don't want it, I could "transfer" it to the prior owner, for my own administrative fee (to cover my back-order, and my time and frustration from his emails). I have no reason, never did this out of "bad faith" in the first place, to keep it.

Your thoughts on this?

[Sharpy]

It is possible that the previous owner did not realize that the site was down. Anyway I'd give it back if your clients don't want it. I'd charge him the BO fee and $50-$100 admin. If your clients do want it, ya snooze ya loose.

[Nameable]

You and your client take precedence. Confirm whether or not your client wants it.

If not, evaluate the domain. Could it be valuable to anyone beside these two parties? If so, it's your domain, make some money with it.

If not, has Jamboree been nice and professional with you? If so charge enough to cover your time and effort and maybe gain a new client. If they've been a royal pita, charge more and send them on their way.

Business as usual when it comes to drops, like it or not.

[hiOsilver]

I usually ask for $250 from the previous owner in this type of situation, to cover my time, effort, and lost opportunity.

[JMJ]

Currently in the same boat hiOsilver. And as usual they "didn't realize" they're site was down. They asked what I wanted for the domain and my response was $499 as it says on my site. I will more than likely settle for less but for the time being I'm sticking with it.

[Adam Dicker]

I take a much tougher stance.... Keep it unless you can sell it back to them at a better price. This is not an ethics issue as you got the domain legally. The person at the company who was in charge of renewing the domain should be fired for not renewing it but this is no concern of yours.

I sell about 10 of these a week and treat every case as a business decision. The one who offers me the better deal gets it.

Once again, this is for caught drops not stolen domains.

I guess I am a mean guy, but that's ok, cause we know where nice guy's finish.

-=DCG=-

[jquail]

"I guess I am a mean guy, but that's ok, cause we know where nice guy's finish."

Best quote I've heard in a while...excellent

[bocajohnh]

.... Keep it unless you can sell it back to them at a better price.

I sell about 10 of these a week and treat every case as a business decision. The one who offers me the better deal gets it.
-=DCG=-

Great insight. I'm curious, what is the ratio of previous owner contacting you , vs. you contacting the previous owner?

[actnow]

I never contact the former owners. PERIOD!!!

I also get a number of those letters. And, I feel guilty everytime. :bandit:

But, when it gets down to money. Very few are willing to spend a couple
hundred dollars to get it back. Most of them don't want to spend more than $ 100 !!!

If they are not willing to spend $ 200++. I keep the name. And, I don't feel guilty anymore.

[skylight]

Some even try to attempt to threaten you by sueing.

[Steen]

I love it when they threaten to sue over $5-$100.


I had that happen once over $5

[Domagon]

Domain was deleted - becomes a matter between the previous registrant and their registrar/ICANN to deal with. Not your problem.

Most longtimers in this business have run across similar situations...

As others have suggested...be firm and say very little...or if unsure what to say, it's often best to say nothing at all.

Some things I recommend, and personally do myself, is "locking" the domain if you haven't already, and given the value of it, perhaps adding a few extra years to the registration - that sends a message to the old registrant you're planning to keep it for the longhaul and they might as well not even bother trying to get it back.

Ron

[seeker]

I dont know about others, but in a few such cases, when the previous owners were nice, I actually transfered the domain back to them for reg fee!

in a few other cases were they were outirght rude from the first email, I simply ignored them.

The reason I am sensitive is because a few years ago, during a time when for various reasons that dont belong here, I could not be on the computer for a couple of months, I lost many, many domains (especially in 2001, some regged as far back as from 94). from the many domains I lost, I sent only a few emails, directly asking what the price was, and informed them of the reason I 'forgot' the domains. Not one single person was kind, and the only domain I got back was for a completely made up name by me, that had sentimental reasons for $500 (from $700 asking price)

Since then, I remember to treat others better than I was treated...

[Nodnarb]

I have had this happen before too. I sold the domain back to the original registrant for $50. He was originally going to send me a check for the registration fee. But, after weeks of non-payment, and lies/emails, I tightened up and requested immediate payment of $50 so we could both move on. He finally did that. This cat was so irresponsible with his domain names, that 1 year later, I had to renew it for him and send him another bill so he could Paypal the reg fee back to me to prevent it from expiring again.

But, hearing what you guys say, I think I'd raise the bar a little and charge in the $100-$300 range.

Again, these are drops I'm dealing with - not domains registered or acquired in bad faith.

[OnSpec]

I never contact the former owners. PERIOD!!!

I also get a number of those letters. And, I feel guilty everytime. :bandit:

But, when it gets down to money. Very few are willing to spend a couple
hundred dollars to get it back. Most of them don't want to spend more than $ 100 !!!

If they are not willing to spend $ 200++. I keep the name. And, I don't feel guilty anymore.

The fact is, most people have no idea what their domain(s) are worth. Quite often they feel embarrassed for having lost it. However, when their aggressive attitudes take over, they bury themselves in my books.

Look after your client. Look after yourself. If you get the price you want, sell.

[Anthony Ng]

Most longtimers in this business have run across similar situations...

True. I once got a nasty e-mail on a .net that I had which I also own its .com and .org counterparts. They basically said it's NetSol's fault and legal action would be taken if I did not give it back. I didn't even care to reply. Never heard from them again. A year later, after I had sold my .com, I let it expired. It was not re-registered until I guess more than a year or two when one of our members here grabbed it, along with the .org.

[izoot]

I got an email from a former owner of a domain I picked up 7 months ago from the drop.
He "just" realized the site wasn't resolving to his pages...DOH! Must have been real important to him.

1) he spoofed the email address of the site to mail me webmaster@xxxxx.com ( I don't even have mail set up for it and from what his ISP said he had been using the addie for awhile ... I'm not sure how that works )
2) He accused me of stealing it and doing irreparable damage to his company.
3) He said he would be kind enough forget about how I obtained it, IF I would "give" the name back ... along with other ludicrous statements.

At which point I checked the email source and contacted his ISP about him "spoofing" address' and said if they don't handle it I will have my lawyer contact them as this could be a potentially damaging thing for me and them. ( They handled it quickly )

I also mentioned ( as I didn't really want to be a complete hardass ) that they could pass an email from me along to their customer and after reading it if he mailed back with a real address an apology we could talk about him buying the name back. Still waiting to hear something back ... but I doubt I will. After the riot act I read to the ISP I think that this guy feels pretty stupid about letting his name expire and making false accusations.

Funny thing is I couldn't care less about the domain ... had the dude just asked nicely I would have been happy to be very reasonable in the cost to get it back. Bunch of doofus' out there.

[seeker]

People...

some of these folks, just dont know how things work.
They assume,..., and aggresive emails follow.

Just answer kindly explaining what has happened. If you get an apology and a nice email, and assuming the domain doesnt mean much to you, give the person a chance.
If your consciouscness (sp?) doesnt bother you, then don't worry about it, till your turn comes

[izoot]

People...

some of these folks, just dont know how things work.
They assume,..., and aggresive emails follow.

Just answer kindly explaining what has happened. If you get an apology and a nice email, and assuming the domain doesnt mean much to you, give the person a chance.
If your consciouscness (sp?) doesnt bother you, then don't worry about it, till your turn comes

Like I said...had the guy not been spoofing what is now MY site address
and had NOT called me a thief.

I would have been happy to work something out ... but ignorance of the
rules doesn't make it ok to act like an idiot and make false accusations.

But as a general rule ... they let the name expire ... we did nothing wrong in catching an expired name. So generally speaking theres no reason we should not be able to sell the name back at a profit or not sell it back at all if we choose. Anyhow...every situation is different.

[sasu]

I registered many months ago manually a wirelessxxxxxx.com that dropped.

As soon as the update was done and mydomain.com service kicked in I started
to receive hundreds of emails of a us corporation... offers....memos... well everything
that moves inside the company.

In couple of hours the ceo of the company called me and told me that they had a serious problem and that he thought that I could help them .

He offered to send me straight away to my account 2000 $ with no questions asked
... after 2 hours of counter offers we got to an agreement of 5 figures.... everyone
happy ...

He was very polite and professional ... wished me luck in the future and thanked me for my understanding....

They had bought the domain year before and simply forgot... amazing... he told me to redirect all emails to an personal email addr that the IT Manager had so he could go out giving the messages to all the people until the changes were done

sasu