Buying family domain name

July 7, 2006 5:03 AM

I want to buy a domain a .com domain for my quite unique last name. It is for sale at Buydomains.com. They are asking over 1.200 dollars, which seems totally out of proportion. How much should I pay max and how should I convince them to sell it to me for that (low) price?

Additional info: only one small not so Internet-savvy Dutch family -as far as we and Google know- have this last name. So, they probably won't sell it to anyone else but me...

posted by IZ to computers & internet (12 answers total)

If your name is really unique and not of much use to anybody else, they might sell for a lower price, although I see from their website that they claim never to take less than $888.00 It never hurts to ask. Have you looked at using the .net, .org, or .name top-level domains? It might still be available there. Another option is to try and snap it up when the current registration expires or to file a complaint of cybersquatting with the appropriate agency, but there are other users who can explain the details of those options better than I. I did the same thing that you want to through GoDaddy a few months ago (after this post) and was able to register my family name as .com, .org, .net, and .name for a ten year period and get a nice-sized, fairly comprehensive hosting package for something around $200, so that might give you an idea of what you should be paying all together if you don't have to pay someone to give you your name back.
posted by TedW at 5:29 AM on July 7, 2006

Someone tried to sell me my last name.com for $400. I told him I was happy with .org.

Have you considered .name? It's a TLD that few people know about, but it seems ideal for your situation.
posted by bugmuncher at 6:19 AM on July 7, 2006

It wouldn't hurt to make an offer, but you'd probably be better off just coming up with another name, either doing (lastname).org or .net or even something like (lastname)family.com.
posted by MegoSteve at 6:58 AM on July 7, 2006

My familly's name in .com was bought by NetIdentity. We used it for out e-mails forwarding for like 2 months, then I bought the .net, and have been pretty happy ever since.
posted by XiBe at 7:16 AM on July 7, 2006

My familly's name in .com was bought by NetIdentity

NetIdentity disgusts me.
posted by Gerard Sorme at 10:05 AM on July 7, 2006

If you're really set on getting the .com:

We can't possibly estimate what the going price for this should be, since you're the only one who wants it. The important question then becomes how much do you want it? Figure out how much you're willing to spend to buy it from them and make a lower offer than that, see if they're willing to bargain down. If you can convince them you're their only chance of ever making money off the domain (and from what you've said you are) and they aren't stupid (I make no guarantees for their intelligence), they'll make a deal.

If you're amenable to another domain:

Have you considered .name? It's a TLD that few people know about, but it seems ideal for your situation.

.name is lame, don't do it! Get .net or .org if they're available. If not Megosteve's suggestion of (lastname)family.com is good, as is (lastname)s.com—our very own anildash owns and uses dashes.com—or the(lastname)s.com. There are less than 1k people with my family name and I was the first one to get online, so I was lucky enough to grab it, but I'm still frustrated about having missed registering lia.com!
posted by lia at 10:27 AM on July 7, 2006

How much should I pay max...

That's a ridiculous question. We don't know your budget or how badly you want the name, and you've told us that you're probably the only person interested in buying it. How are we supposed to assess its worth?

how should I convince them to sell it to me...

I don't think you will. If you were dealing with an individual, a person who had paid cash from his own pocket for this domain, you could probably bargain. But in my experience, these companies are large and faceless, and they're not interested in cutting deals.

I had a friend in a similar situation. She wanted to buy a domain that had been for sale for more than two years. The company wanted $800. She offered $200, and they refused to accept anything less than $800. Today, three years later, that domain is still owned by that same company. They actually renewed it about a year after she made the offer. Because they publish offers publicly, we know that hers remains the only offer they have received in more than five years — but they still want $800.

My impression is that, if you think $1,200 is "totally out of proportion," you're not going to be able to buy this domain for a price you would consider reasonable. My guess would be that BuyDomains will keep renewing your domain until (1) someone pays $1,200 or (2) the company goes out of business someday. Consequently, my advice is to forget about it. Choose another domain name.
posted by cribcage at 11:11 AM on July 7, 2006

and was able to register my family name as .com, .org, .net, and .name for a ten year period and get a nice-sized, fairly comprehensive hosting package for something around $200, so that might give you an idea of what you should be paying all together if you don't have to pay someone to give you your name back.

Please don't do that. Why be greedy? If you manage to get .com, don't squat on the others.

And don't involve any type of hosting package in the deal (I've never even heard of this). Hosting is cheap, getting cheaper everyday.
posted by justgary at 11:47 AM on July 7, 2006

Please don't do that. Why be greedy? If you manage to get .com, don't squat on the others.

How do you figure that this qualifies as squatting?
posted by anathema at 12:07 PM on July 7, 2006

Why be greedy?

I wasn't being greedy, just wanted to prevent others (such as the corporate squatters above) from being greedy. Much like the original poster, my name is unique enough that no one has felt the need to use it and has even flown beneath the radar of BuyDomains and the like. If someone, especially a relative, came up with a good use for any of the names I registered, I would probably give it to them.

And don't involve any type of hosting package in the deal

It wasn't really a package deal so much as a discount when I registered the domain names and got hosting through the same company. I am sure it wasn't the best deal around but it worked for me. I just wanted to give the OP an example of what he could get for a fraction of the 1200 dollars they are asking.
posted by TedW at 12:16 PM on July 7, 2006

Leapfish does free domain name appraisal, though it wasn't working just now. Get an idea of the market value, and send the owner of the domain an offer.
posted by theora55 at 6:48 PM on July 7, 2006

Please don't do that. Why be greedy? If you manage to get .com, don't squat on the others.

How do you figure that this qualifies as squatting?

You go ask the Ford Foundation.

And the American Ford Owners Association.

(Ok, no, they aren't actually at ford.org and ford.net, but it illustrates the point fairly clearly, I think...)
posted by baylink at 8:38 PM on July 10, 2006