What is the best way to purchase a parked name? We had some bad experiences with our last attempt to purchase a parked name and I am now looking for another name for a different venture and everything sensible is parked! The last time we paid for an appraisal, made an offer, then was told they could not contact the owner. We then managed to find the owner with a search, via another domain parker, and he turned down our offer which was already higher than the original appraisal. No counter-offer made, and he is still not doing anything with it - very annoying! Any tips, anyone experienced this sort of thing?
Don't ever pay for an appraisal! The best thing to do is to make a decently written e-mail and make a GOOD offer. You wouldn't believe how many offers I've denied by e-mail. Sometimes people make low offers than decide they can "pay higher" later. They shouldn't have wasted my time with the initial 7-8 e-mails. By the time they learn they could afford a higher price, I lose interest in selling. Now, I'm not looking to sell, so to get let go would require a nice offer. Where it the domain parked? If Sedo, they may send it to auction. So you should be prepared for that scenario also.
Fka is right. Never pay for an appraisal. You should set a budget for buying that name and then contact by mail and offer just a little bit below your maximum budget. Sometimes is better to use the phone. It will be faster and it will show the owner that you are serious about buying.
It is always recommended to try and offer the closest value you are willing to actually spend in the first contact attempt itself. If the seller has turned down the offer it would then be recommended to start looking for a similar domain.
This might be a good option also. I spent 4 months negotiating for a domain over e-mail and finally I just picked up the phone and told him I wanted to speed up the process. Within two hours the domain was in my account.