It would be cool if you were more reserved with your usage of "squatted" to describe domain names. Amateurs commonly use it to mean "he has something I want," but in domainer lingo, a squatted domain is used specifically for trademark infringement: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Protection_Act" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Pro...</a> .<p>I think it's an important distinction to make when describing domain name disputes.
My suggestion would be to seek out a generic tld other than .com (unless you have a lot of money to burn). Here's Google's list of what they consider to be a generic tld:<p><a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922?hl=en</a><p>I recently picked up a useful .fm three letter domain for a new service. It perfectly matched the service, and I think the negatives of alternative generic tld's can be overcome very well these days.
Disappointing. There's no discussion of how much they paid, or how they actually got their domain name. From the article, it makes it seem as though they are in a lease to buy situation.
Three things jump out at me in that post:<p>1. Using any online 'appraisal service' or what have you as a pricing guideline is not something you can depend on. There have been numerous tools like this and sometimes their results are so wrong it is funny.<p>2. People who own domains get do get a lot of mail, often of the "let me scam you" variety. Standing out from these is the trick.<p>3. A good domain name is worthless without good content. Don't pick a bad name, by all means, but what lives at that name is much more important than the name imho.
The domain name market is completely broken. It shouldn't be allowed to register a domain name if a legitimate business isn't going to use it. It's just a corrupt practice and I feel sorry for everyone who plays ball and shells out top-dollar for this things.
I sold RebelSpirits.com for $500 to a winery business owner last year. We scanned and emailed each other our drivers licenses and he sent a check for $500 in the mail. I released the domain to him after I deposited the check. His check was from a major bank.<p>Can some one tell me if my method was smart or stupid? What could have gone wrong other than check fraud?
As someone who both buys and sells domain names (and particularly 3 letter .com's since 1996) let me point a few things out. I might also mention that I am the go to guy for a few well known VC's that you have heard of although that is not my main business at all (although it could be it just doesn't pay that well compared to other things I spend time on.)<p>This statement:<p>"Within a day or 2 we started getting responses. All the responses were the same and were in the format of “Sure we are willing to sell, we expect a bid in the mid to low 7 figures."<p>Is total BS and hyperbole. People in the business can be jerks and unreasonable for sure but it would be more likely for someone to "ask" for 100k or simply say "domain is not for sale" than to say "7 figures" (2 letter, possible, 3 letter, specifically "all of the responses", no. Unless of course you emailed the same people (they may have different email address for the same owner) and they were pulling your chain.) Exaggeration.<p>"When the price for a domain you like is really high, consider lease-to-buy options to give you flexibility."<p>I never recommend this it's normally a way to make sure you pay an exorbitant price for a domain.<p>"Don’t get attached to any domain name. "<p>Great advice. This is absolutely true.<p>"When you find something you like, move FAST and close it as soon as possible. Often times you might not have a second chance."<p>I can say that I have closed a number of sales by simply making the buyer feel that someone else wants the same name, coincidentally the same day someone else inquired! Total bullshit. Good leads are extremely infrequent. Possible but more likely you are being played with.<p>"Good domain names get offers many times a week. Think about how you’ll make your email stand out from the rest."<p>In general not true. There is no serious bidding war going on for good domain names every day. There are people for sure that email everyone and anyone with non serious offers and to people who own many names it appears to be that you are getting offers all the time. But you might get no inquires on a particular good domain name in 1 year or 5. The only way you need to stand out is to appear to be a real buyer and act like a real buyer. Unfortunately if you are sending a bunch of emails that's going to be hard to do.<p>"Use domainworth.com to get a rough idea of how much their domain is worth."<p>Totally meaningless. By the way never try to negotiate with a seller quoting any estimate value. With very few exceptions means nothing. Very few exceptions means there are always outlier cases.<p>"Use instantdomainsearch.com and leandomainsearch.com to help you check your desired names or come up with new ones.<p>Both good ideas.
By the way there are plenty of 3 letter .com's that you can
buy in the 20k to 40k range. Anyone who is interested can email me and I will point you in the right direction of people that I know that are selling in that price range. Below 20k gets a bit more difficult. But possible sometimes.<p>Wholesale price for people buying crappy 3 letter .com's (that you probably don't want) is perhaps in the 5k level (but they are not a good set of letters generally). These people will buy any 3 letter .com for 5 to 7k since they know that if a law firm needs those initials (one that has not opened yet) they can triple or quadruple the money.
I wish there was a rule which freed up a domain as soon as it could be confirmed as having been bought for profit and nothing else.<p>Whilst I can get a squatted domain if they're sitting on my trademark, there are so many great company names which haven't happened because some bugger bought all the dictionary word combinations and runs ads and a GoDaddy auction link on them.<p>Goodness knows how you do that in a way which didn't require huge teams of people. It'd have to be automated. Anyone got any ideas?
There's a problem to be solved here -- is there a way to buy/sell domain names ONLY to people who will actually use them?<p>I have a bunch of domains that I've registered over the years, with plans for side projects that haven't yet been realized. Some of them are probably moderately valuable.<p>Over the years I've let some expire that I was sure I wasn't going to use, and those are all registered nowadays... but NONE of them are actually in use. Just squatted. That's not nice to see.<p>I've sold a few as well, for reasonable prices, once I was confident that the purchaser was going to use them -- e.g., wishmash.com. I've had offers for others where we couldn't work out a deal -- not because I was asking too much, but because I wanted to sort out a way to ensure the domain was actually used, not just resold, and that got too tricky.<p>I'd love a way to have a sort of long-term escrow for a domain name, so I could let someone use it for an actual project... and if they get some traction, I'll sell it automatically for a fairly low price, and if they abandon the project, the domain reverts back to me instead of going to squatters.
I think the most important advice I saw here was to not get attached. And this is probably a basic piece of advice that applies in all negotiations - always have an alternative (where possible).<p>I recently got my four letter domain for a very reasonable price when I made it clear that the domain seller that I was willing to change the name. When people know that you're an emotional buyer, that's when you get screwed.