domain ownership question. someone wants their domain back

[Daddys4]

i picked up a domain thru tbr in march 2011.
Today i received an email from someone. Read Below.

Please pardon the interruption. I am not sure how these internet domain things work. However, my Hosting company has informed me that somehow the domain xxxxx.ca which I have used for nearly 10 years expired and is now owned by you. I don’t have a lot of resources however I am hoping that I can buy it back from you. I am just a small guy hoping to get his web site back.

i have a few questions.
how do i verify that this guy is the original owner?
Do i charge him anything above what i paid for it?
The only reason i ask if i should charge him more, is because at one point i myself dropped a .ca name for my business. and was charged 1k to get it back.
My personal opinion is to just give it to him for the price i paid for it. but am i being too nice

Thanks for your help.

[Adam Dicker]

Please pardon the interruption. I am not sure how these internet domain things work. However, my Hosting company has informed me that somehow the domain xxxxx.ca which I have used for nearly 10 years expired and is now owned by you. I don’t have a lot of resources however I am hoping that I can buy it back from you. I am just a small guy hoping to get his web site back.

You should not care of believe the above statement.

how do i verify that this guy is the original owner?
Do i charge him anything above what i paid for it?
The only reason i ask if i should charge him more, is because at one point i myself dropped a .ca name for my business. and was charged 1k to get it back.
My personal opinion is to just give it to him for the price i paid for it. but am i being too nice

Don't verify anything, you are a domainer not a charity.
State the price you want for it and that's it, he can then decide if he wants it or not.
The domain's history is just that, it's history and you own it now.
If you give it to him for what you paid, you should get out of domaining now.
This business will eat you up alive.
There are very few businesses that would stay in business if they sold things at what they cost them.

-=DCG=-

[chipmeade]

Could be this is a person who used to own a site but not likely. The Hokey line to start (..not sure how this confounded interweb thing works, duh..) is a typical lame attempt to sound hopeless. "Somehow I have ended up not owning my own domain!"

[Daddys4]

You should not care of believe the above statement.



Don't verify anything, you are a domainer not a charity.
State the price you want for it and that's it, he can then decide if he wants it or not.
The domain's history is just that, it's history and you own it now.
If you give it to him for what you paid, you should get out of domaining now.
This business will eat you up alive.
There are very few businesses that would stay in business if they sold things at what they cost them.

-=DCG=-

DCG i understand what you are saying. and i agree with you that he should pay. But i also remember you once stating that this same situation happened to you and you felt bad for the person and gave them back there domain.

[CureCancer]

never mind

[Adam Dicker]

DCG i understand what you are saying. and i agree with you that he should pay. But i also remember you once stating that this same situation happened to you and you felt bad for the person and gave them back there domain.

This is true but I have only done that once out of thousands of sales, it was bottletree.com, I remember it clearly.

I was also already well established before I gave that one away.

-=DCG=-

[Mark Talbot]

All I could suggest is consider it yours.

If it dropped, its his problem to deal with.
If it was stolen, let a higher authority handle it and let the law/your conscience guide you.

As far as the contact you recieved...

I have had everything like I am poor but want this for my band, I want this name but my (multi-billion) dollar company wont let me spend more than a couple hundred, and even had "please send me the registrar login details for the domain name I now own" (which wasnt the case). The latter came out of the blue for a domain name I have never offered for sale, and clearly had owned for ten years lol.

Basically I am saying I dont believe anythin anymore except I do believe in Benjamins.

[Eifwen]

However, my Hosting company has informed me that somehow the domain xxxxx.ca which I have used for nearly 10 years expired and is now owned by you. I don’t have a lot of resources however I am hoping that I can buy it back from you. I am just a small guy hoping to get his web site back.[/I]

To me, if the guy had an established website (business or personal) around this domain for 10 years I don't think he would of let it expire.

I am not sure how these internet domain things work.

If he had the domain for 10 years, he knows how things work.

[Maxwell]

His story, and your verification of same is nothing more than a waste of time. What I see is an inquiry by somebody who is interested in the domain name. Plain and simple. Needs no more explanation. I would not converse with the guy, just say something to the effect of "give me money".

If it's really a great name that you think you could get a lot for down the road, then hold onto it, and don't even bother replying to the email.

However, if you're like me, and you like to get two things out of somebody's interest in a domain (get the lump sum, get the f*** out), I would respond with a price.

The trick, of course, is in determining this price. If you could PM me the domain, I'd be glad to tell you what I think you should respond with.

Part of what you should consider is just how much this guy is capable of giving you. Archive.org is your friend here. You should run a search on the way-back machine and see what type of business this guy is in.

That said, if you're able to pull up what email address he was using for the business (i.e. info@example.ca), set up that same email address, since the domain is under your control, and inspect the emails that come in for a little bit of insight about what he's had going.

If he's running a mom and pop antique shop, don't count on anything above $xxx for the name. However, if he's running an airplane manufacturing company, I'd respond with a non-negotiable $x,xxx per year lease proposal.

[Adam Dicker]

I have been pm'ed the name it's worth at least 1-3k IMO.

-=DCG=-

[Maxwell]

I have been pm'ed the name it's worth at least 1-3k IMO.

-=DCG=-

Sounds like it's a good one, then. I've known your valuations to be consistently reliable.

I'd appreciate it if the OP could PM me the message as well. Second opinion couldn't hurt.

Adam, was your valuation at all influenced by the past use of the domain?

[msn]

i picked up a domain thru tbr in march 2011.
Today i received an email from someone. Read Below.

Please pardon the interruption. I am not sure how these internet domain things work. However, my Hosting company has informed me that somehow the domain xxxxx.ca which I have used for nearly 10 years expired and is now owned by you. I don’t have a lot of resources however I am hoping that I can buy it back from you. I am just a small guy hoping to get his web site back.

i have a few questions.
how do i verify that this guy is the original owner?
Do i charge him anything above what i paid for it?
The only reason i ask if i should charge him more, is because at one point i myself dropped a .ca name for my business. and was charged 1k to get it back.
My personal opinion is to just give it to him for the price i paid for it. but am i being too nice

Thanks for your help.

Things like that can happen, and given the changes at CIRA last year, it is also quite plausible.

Just the same, send me the domain name and I will check if we have the prior WHOIS on file for it.

[Daddys4]

The funny thing is that I replied to him asking him what he thought the domain name was worth and he replied back to my business email not to my gmail. I guess he searched my name up and saw that I own a certain company. This has happened to me before when i have made an offer on a name or someone is interested in one of my names. I don't make my domain names private. I never understood why people do this, do they think they will get a better price if they know who I am. Or that they can get more out of me for a domain I want to buy.

Anyways here is his reply back to what he thought the domain was worth.

The amount I think makes sense is the amount that does not cause you a financial loss.  Would that be about a hundred?

[Spex]

That said, if you're able to pull up what email address he was using for the business (i.e. info@example.ca), set up that same email address, since the domain is under your control, and inspect the emails that come in for a little bit of insight about what he's had going.

I'm no lawyer and I know Daddys4 is now the owner of record....but isn't the above illegal/unethical?

[CureCancer]

never mind

[Acro]

Please fix the title, that "there" pokes an eye out

[chipmeade]

The amount I think makes sense is the amount that does not cause you a financial loss.  Would that be about a hundred?

Your reply: "No it wouldn't. Thank you and Good luck."

[urlurl]

you can check the waybackmachine to see what if there was a site used with that name - if there was no site or it was a parking site you know the guy is full of sh*t

[Maxwell]

you can check the waybackmachine to see what if there was a site used with that name - if there was no site or it was a parking site you know the guy is full of sh*t

You post this just as I pm'd the OP explaining my findings of the exact thing you just suggested

There's definitely a site, and it appears to follow a similar business model to the guy's current business.

As I had said, the story is immaterial. All he needs to worry about is capitalizing on this guy's interest to get his checkbook out. I don't give a hoot about the story. I'm just interested in what escrow site you plan to use when you give me my asking price.

Whether he's full of sh*t or not, there's still evident interest in the name, but having done my research, he's no "small guy".

[Onward]

I just had this happen and my $16 pickup was turned into a $466 sale...in 1 week
In these situations, I usually cut the person a break if 4 things exist:

1. the dude is not a prick and understands it is now my domain
2. the story pretty much checks out
3. I am not dying to develop the name
4. It is not a nice generic.

If the guy is a prick...I will make a point of not selling it to him even when he comes back next month...and the month after - which they always do.