I purchased a domain a few weeks ago of what I figured was an out of business car dealership. It doesn't get a lot of traffic now but it is a PR3 name. Well the company wants to buy it back now. They must have accidentally let it expire. I just got a message on my phone this morning. What do you think I should sell it back to them for?
Sure they can do that but then they have to start from scratch. Obviously there is an advantage to keep the same name. I am wondering what the dollar value would be for that advantage.
not sure what you mean "from scratch" - they can just put the same site on a new domain name, and people googling for "crysler jeep dealership in north holmsted" will still be able to find their new domain site with an address and phone numbers, it is not like they will see drop in traffic because of loosing those backlinks
I guess if that is all they care about is if somebody were to search specifically for their company than sure they can start a new website. But it seems like they would be interested in getting traffic based on more than just that criteria. There is value in incoming links to a site since traffic comes from them and also adds to the importance of that site.
@atxsurf You are forgetting that they are a physical business so advertising and branding will have to be re-printed.
Well, if you could get $1,000 for it, I'd take it... considering it contains a trademark, if they really wanted to, they could get it back on those grounds via an ICANN dispute (it would cost them money, but in the end you would get nothing and have to give up the domain).
You wouldn't even need an attorney... you just go through ICANN's universal dispute resolution process.
It depends if the dealership is an official partner for Chrysler, does it not? If the dealership is a private business (i.e. not an official affiliate/partner of Chrysler Jeep) then surely they can't sue you over the trademark?
That would be correct... If they are just selling used Chryslers, and aren't licensed by Chrysler, then it would be more difficult (but not impossible). Now if the domain in question is just one of a bunch of domains owned by these guys: http://www.strongsvilledodge.net/ Then they could get it back since they *are* official dealers.
The name is terribly long and probably can only be used meaningfully by that car dealership. The trademark issue mentioned in this thread is mute, because even to file a dispute through ICANN costs at least $2k. I would see what they are willing to offer and sell it back to them if it is in the mid-$100's. You would not be using the name for yourself and the PR3 will drop quickly over time if there is no site associated with it...
I bought this domain to do research on how it will affect my other jeep related websites by linking to them from it. If they boost my other websites then they are valuable to me. Do you think I get much juice from this site by linking? Do you think I get any juice from doing a 301 redirect? There are 313 incoming links.
If you have other jeep related sites, then you probably can provide some content. In that case I would set this former car dealership domain up as your own site and put some unique content on it (don't copy content from your other sites, search engines don't like identical content on different sites) and link it to some of your other sites. This way you may be able to keep the PR3 ranking and "juice" it for the benefit of your other sites.
I just talked to a guy from the company and he is going to talk to management and see how much they would be willing to pay for it. I didn't give them any numbers but I said if the price is right I would sell it. I guess we will find out how much it is worth to them.