Expiring Domain Question

Hey,


There's a domain name I want that's expiring at the end of this month. I checked the site and there's actually nothing on it, except from a note from their registrar saying it's going to be available soon.

I checked on whois and it says it expires on the 29th of May 06.

The problem is I heard that there's a 75 day period before the domain name actual becomes available again to the general public. I intend to have the site up and running in the next month or so, which means that I need the domain name before this 75 day period if possible.

I was considering contacting the guy who owns the domain name and ask him to renew the domain name and transfer it to me for a small price (I don't have much of a budget right now... ). The guy doesn't seem to have much interest in it so I figure he might go for it.

Also I checked one of his other sites, which was registered in 2004 (until 2007) which is an incomplete site.

I could of course wait till the domain name becomes available, but this would mean that I might face some competitors although I think it's quite unlikely though because the domain name doesn't seem to have much demand (only .org has been taken).

What do you think would be the best course of action?


Thanks!

P.S. Sorry it's such a long post!

 

I would do as you suggested, try and get in touch with the current owner and snap it up before someone else does.

 

How much would it roughly cost in your opinion if it's not a domain name that isn't demanded very much? I suppose that varies depending on a lot of variables but just a very rough estimate...?

 

What extension, how many backlinks, when was it registered?

 

Registered a year ago, .com and 0 backlinks!

 

Not much more then reg free then, no more then $15-20.

 

Awesome that's great for me coz I'm completely broke! Thanks for the help!

 

Well it ain't my opinion that matters, but the current owners Good luck though!

 

Thanks, I just e-mailed him so I'm looking forward to (and also dreading) his answer!

 

Blah...

I got a reply from the guy and he said he would wait for "something better". Hmmm...

I offered to pay for the renewal + $15 for his troubles... maybe it wasn't enough.

 

If the domain is pretty ordinary and it's about to expire, I'd just say he's playing tactics to try and up the price.

 

I agree. Call his bluff and back order it.

There's a pretty good chance that he'll just wait and realise that there's no other offers. If he reregisters it, make him the same offer again.

The way I see it: right now, he's got you either way, so you may as well cover your bases if he's bluffing...

 

with the low demand, you were better off not contacting him and applying to some of the various backorder registrars

Read up here and other places:
http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2005/03/how-to-snatch-an-expiring-domain

Next time, go to those places (no paying unless registered through them and some will charge you the minimum, usu $30 or so, if nobody else is backordering it). If he happens to re-register, *then* contact him.

 

If I do it through backorder registrars do I still have to wait the 75 day period after the expiration of the domain name?

And oh, I was wrong. None of the other extentions of the domain name have been taken. .net and .org are still available...

 

Yes, you would.

 

I lost out on a domain, I contacted the current owners a couple of times and offered them £200 for the domain. They ignored me, let the domain expire, and I lost out on it despite checking availability daily, sometimes multiple times AND having a watch on it (which I paid for with a domain registrar) WASTE OF MONEY

 

What was the domain name that you were going for?? I'm just curious because £200 is a lot of money for a domain....

 

the domain would mean nothing to you, but FYI it was http://www.scrumv.co.uk/ I own www.scrum5.co.uk www.scumv.co.uk (which is my rugby forum,) and I wanted the scrumv.co.uk domain name. Now it is parked and being used for crap, when I would have put it to good use

 

Ah right - I can see why you're upset about that...

 

when you get a site, try to get it from intermediary. if you contact directly, you may have to pay a high price.