OK, I have this domain I want to purchase, it looks like it's already owned but the site is not updated at all it's just dead not even a placeholder page with adverts. How do i go about purchasing this domain, i don't have a clue where to go to or who to contact or who i pay? If I do a whois search it returns this which gives me no further help: Registrant Contact: RegisterFly.com - Ref# 22677531 Whois Protection Service - ProtectFly.com P.O. Box 969 Margaretville, NY 12455 US Administrative Contact: RegisterFly.com - Ref# 22677531 Whois Protection Service - ProtectFly.com (h6hu9hke6yvh7u@protectfly.com) +1.8458183604 Fax: +1.8456984014 P.O. Box 969 Margaretville, NY 12455 US Technical Contact: RegisterFly.com - Ref# 22677531 Whois Protection Service - ProtectFly.com (qscw9k11ewg7yf@protectfly.com) +1.8458183604 Fax: +1.8456984014 P.O. Box 969 Margaretville, NY 12455 US Status: Locked Name Servers: NS20.WEBSITESOURCE.NET NS21.WEBSITESOURCE.NET Creation date: 24 Mar 1999 00:00:00 Expiration date: 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 Code (markup): If I waited till 24th March could i nick it for free? I don't know how to go about it never purchased a domain in my life.. Thanks for all help in advance
The domain is already owned by someone else. It sounds like they have decided not to park it or put up a site. The owner is using a proxy whois service to hide ownership details - you could try sending an email to admin contact shown but it might not forward. Bottom line - you have no way to purchase this domain unless the owner gets an email from you and decides he wants to sell it, and at a price you are willing to pay. You couldn't pick up the domain on March 24, 2009 even if the owner decides not to renew it as there is a redemption period.
Thanks for the quick and informative reply, I guess I will try and contact admin, the site was an attempted search engine in about 1999, but since then the page hasn't been updated, but it's a 4 letter .com domain so am I looking at a stupidly huge price? Could you or anybody please elaborate on the redemption period, what does this mean.
There is a privacy protection service here and normally all you would need to do is send an email to the email listed on the whois record (here, the @protectfly.com address) and it will be forwarded to the domain owner. However, it looks like the issue here is that the domain was registered through RegisterFly (with privacy protection through ProtectFly) which has since gone out of business. So tracing the owner might be more problematic. I think most of RegisterFly's portfolio was taken over by Godaddy, so maybe you could contact them. There's an entry at Wikipedia with more info on the RegisterFly case.
Thanks for the replies, I can get in contact with them, but I still need some basic help because i've never really got involved with domains before. If you can answer one of the questions please help out. 1. What should I be looking at offering for a 4 letter .com domain ? 2. What should I be looking at offering for a 4 letter .co.uk domain ? 2. If it get's accepted, how do i gain ownership of the domain, once i've paid what will happen will it become registered in my name with some sort of agency? Do I then have to register with a host to upload my files to the domain? 3. What happens if the owner doesn't renew when it expires? Is it free? 4. Who decides the prices on domains that have never ever been purchased? Like www.rjhgruihgrhgirgrig.com where would I go to buy that, and who decides the price?
1. What should I be looking at offering for a 4 letter .com domain ? It depends on the actual letters. It could be thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's impossible to give an estimate on unknown letters. 2. What should I be looking at offering for a 4 letter .co.uk domain ? See above. 2. If it get's accepted, how do i gain ownership of the domain, once i've paid what will happen will it become registered in my name with some sort of agency? Do I then have to register with a host to upload my files to the domain? It all depends on the details of the purchase. You could have the domain placed in your name. Yes, you will need to purchase hosting before you can upload files to the domain. Owning a domain and hosting are two completely different things. 3. What happens if the owner doesn't renew when it expires? Is it free? The chances of the owner not renewing the 4 letter domain they have had since 1999 are about zero. If it did happen, you would not get the domain without using a paid service like snapnames. You really shouldn't even consider this as a possibility. No, it isn't going to be free. 4. Who decides the prices on domains that have never ever been purchased? Like www.rjhgruihgrhgirgrig.com where would I go to buy that, and who decides the price? The price will vary - just like prices at a supermarket. You can use a registrar like godaddy, namecheap, moniker, etc. You can go to godaddy's faq to learn more about the process.
Thankyou very much for answering my questions, it's really appreicated. I plan to read up more now on how it works. How much do you think I should offer somebody as a starting price for a 4 letter .co.uk with no Page Rank..I want to offer them a serious price, but don't want to go too high for a starting offer..
You're not listening. It depends on the actual domain name. It's like asking how much would you pay for my car - without knowing any details. Having no PR doesn't mean much. Anywhere from a few hundred to a hundred thousand dollars could be a good price.
mjewel is right. WPQX.co.uk should go for a very low price for example but if you are looking for something more like JOBS.co.uk or CARS.co.uk be prepared for high $xx.xxx to high $xxx.xxx
Sorry for being such an idiot, I understand fully now. I think i'm just going for the .co.uk for now, as the .com seems quite pricey, see how the site takes off, i'll probably invest in the .com at a later date seeing as users can often forget the extensions. I understand the concept of how domains work now, was a bit clueless before, hopefully all goes well, thanks a lot mjewel, mdbro and pubsit for the info it's really appreicated.
You can look for some examples of prices on http://www.namebio.com Here are some .co.uk sales (these sales are a year ago oct 2007). You can expect much higher prices for .com domains: rugs.co.uk - $51.000 dive.co.uk - $15.000 walk.co.uk - $13.000 food.co.uk - $5.000 Also for more pricing info check the latest sales at http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm