I have a client that accidentally let their domain name expire. Some one now has it up for ransom. My question. Is it worth using SEDO to try getting the domain name back. They talk about how they will negotiate, and then escrow the sale. That costs about $70. Do you get your moneys worth using this service? SEDO has a link that you can buy it for $500 (to be negotiated after you sign up). Emailing the person who now owns the domain , they want about $800 Anyone who has tried this?
If you have been using the domains for a reasonable length of time, and it is the bases of your business, as well as on all of your marketing materials. Just sue them for it. Send them a really scary letter, and sue them. It against the law to hold a domain hostage that has , or is the name of an existing business, especially of the business has been using it. Contact an attorney. Or will the $800 be cheaper? I think they call it Cybersquatting?
You mean to say "the client let it expire"? Expiration, redemption and deletion? takes around 75 days I guess, if you wouldn't care for 75 days without business then why care now? Instead of using Sedo - directly interact with the new domain owner.
Yes the client let it expire. It's kind of a hobby site for a off roading club. It's not a full business site where they are working with it regularly. They update it after competitions and such, so I guess they didn't notice that the site was down. (at this point I'm guessing, they just told me about it a day ago) I guess my question is more, is SEDO worth using? Being that is is not a business with strong branding (although the domain is the name of their club), I don't think a lawsuit would work. Also, the company that registered the expired domain is in another country, law gets messy that way.
I'd try negotiating directly with the seller. If you go thru Sedo they may hold out for more. The advantage of Sedo is their escrow service reducing the possibility of the seller taking your money & not turning over the domain. The original owner's site would have been down for over a month & he didn't notice? Or thought he could pick it up when it dropped?
DAmn! That sucks. If he is holding it hostage, you DEFINITELY want to use Escrow for any transactions. Once people know you want something, because you contacted THEM, the whole atmosphere changes in what would have been an easy transaction. Be careful.
Agree Escrow for sure and try presenting your case with the new owner and make him an offer....if he just regged it he may take $250 for quick turnaround understanding that it is a non profit or was a groups website that just let it lapse in error. If the guy has any senses he would take it unless it is a kickass name.
show an example of how he is "holding it hostage" please. I want to know what you mean. If your client let it expire, and he purchased it, theres nothing illegal about that. It is now his domain, he can ask / sell it for any price it is worth to him, that is not "holding it hostage". Worst case scenario, your client is going to learn a costly but valuable lesson that you have to pay attention to yuor domain expiration dates
No that is actually called "reverse hijacking". Letting a domain expire and go through the deletion process is kind of like getting evicted from a brick and mortar store front. Trying to kick out the person that now rents your old store front would get you thrown in jail. To the best of my knowledge ICANN has ruled both way's in relation to a company trying to get its domain back after it drops. The one thing that could shoot the new registrant in the foot would be if they are using the domain to trade on the previous owners TM. This would trigger the first test of a UDRP case. i'm not an attorney so don't take what I write as truth.
That's the same impression I got. Oh well, nothing stops people from believing whatever they want inspite of certain facts flying in their face. You're pretty close anyway.