What gives domainers a bad name..

[joellefko]

Nobody here gets it. Wrong venue to post this. Web business owners would certainly back me. I have snapped plenty of domains for development purposes but never have gone after a domain specifically because there was a live site there with intention to hold it ransom. That's just bad business and in general extremely shady. The 3rd post shows this person does this deliberately and consistently. Being in the middle (not my domain) I asked for a favor from the domain owner and didn't get it. Now it's costing me a lot of time and money to fix the issue so yes it is frustrating. One more time my whole point is this type of circumstance is what gives domainers a bad name. I have received PMs with support on it but nobody want to speak up and agree on the board. Ironically this shows this practice is acceptable in the domain business. Tired of bickering over it... so over and out and best to all

Joel

 

[Raider]

Is the supposed squatter using the domain with the same content as your site?

I have to agree with others that it was bad domain management. Last year I built a Horse Racing site for a friend and I made darn sure to register every variation I could think of before building the site. It's a niche site that has a PR1.

 

[Devil Dog]

Nobody here gets it.

Joel

No, I think it's you who doesn't get it.

 

[LarryWentz]

Nobody here gets it. Wrong venue to post this. Web business owners would certainly back me. I have snapped plenty of domains for development purposes but never have gone after a domain specifically because there was a live site there with intention to hold it ransom.
Joel

Well I have numerous websites and am a web business owner and I don't back your thinking. I'd be willing to bet that others who disagreed with you in this thread also are web business owners - there are hundreds of business owners here. The person who registered the domain name went after a dead discarded site ... not a live one. In fact there was no site at all if you really think about it - just a domain name. His web business could be registering discarded domains and parking the domains for pay per click traffic - very legit. You contacted him and not vice versa so I doubt he sent you a ransom letter.

Personally I've never really gotten into that backlink domain registration thinking and just register domains I like and feel they have value for resale or development. However many people here build a profitable web business with domains with backlinks/traffic. When I think about it - I did register a domain name that was a former law enforcement site (with backlinks) and built a simple one page site that sold law enforcement supplies (affiliate commissions) - anything wrong with that? Nope.

Joel - I own WeightlossProgram.com and if I accidentally let it expire and you registered it - would you sell it back to me for $200 or would you hold it for ransom? Redevelop it and say the hell with me? Resell it for thousand$ more to someone else? (personally I would redevelop and/or resell it). I believe UCLA owned weightlossprogram.com at one time - they suffered from poor domain business management and let it expire. Now .... who deserves the domain name - them or me? (note - if the name was UCLAweightloss.com I would feel differently)


PS - Every domainer here is a web business owner even if there sites go undeveloped (parked names or not). They are virtual real estate investors - a web business.

 

[Deleted member 5660]

I approached the squatter as soon as we realized the site was down only days after he acquired it

The site had to be down for at least 6 weeks or more, correct?

 

[Onward]

You know ...I have found that a lot of this boils down to how the domainer was approached...and I personally have given names back at cost and then sold some at a reasonable profit...but when the person who dropped their name gets all big and bad with me...I just turn it off...I register names for more than just backlinks...because I see a development purpose....If I want to develop the name...I really do not care about the sob story about the person who let the name drop...but we have all been there and done that. I accidentally dropped a credit card related name I developed back in 1999 and spent over 30k developing and promoting...it really sucked...but it got me to learn the domain market better and I have profited greatly from that mistake as it really opened my eyes.

My suggestion. Learn from your mistakes...don't get too sour...move on....

Also, if your brother built a good site and had success...he will make the new name work well just the same...I wish you both Good luck.

 

[mibworld]

If the droped domain had links and traffic then it most surely has value irrespective of what you or your brother think about it. Lots of domains like that expire and drop each day and they are bought by other people. I you wanted to recover the domain you should have approached the new owner with a decent offer.