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Ask HN: Thinking of dropping a domain: should I ditch or pitch?

3 points by narcissus ↗ HN
I have a domain that I registered in 2000 at the same time that I registered my business. Since then, that business had become 'stagnant' but I'm at a point now when I want to ramp it back up. Either I keep with this business name or start a new one. To be completely honest, I'm only attached to the original name for sentimental reasons.<p>In 2005 a company in a different country registered their domain: it's the same two words and TLD, but there's a hyphen between the two words. I know that people have confused the domains before (even though the sites themselves could not be more different): just yesterday the site had over 100 visits, presumably <i>not</i> for me. I've also been sent maybe a dozen job applications in the past, as well as a response to an RFP once!<p>Anyway, with the option to 'start afresh', I'm kind of wondering if I should pitch the domain to this other company. Is it considered 'wrong' to do so, especially seeing as I am considering giving it up anyway? If I were to do it, how should I? Should I just email their administrative contact in Whois or is there a certain type of service that I am looking for to do this?<p>Thanks for any thoughts.

4 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 22.1 ms ] thread
cjbprime
No, it's entirely reasonable to offer to sell it to them for a non-extortionate price. You should make clear that you registered the domain name in good faith for your company, and will continue to use it if they decide not to buy it (otherwise they could claim that you registered it in bad faith).

(I am not a lawyer.)

narcissus
Thanks for the reply. I was pretty much thinking what you said, so that makes me more comfortable with the situation.

Having said all of that, do you have any suggestions on the next step? Is emailing the administrative contact as per whois the best way to do this?

Thanks for any information: this is definitely not my area of expertise!

cjbprime
Sure, go ahead. E-mail every contact, if there are multiple email addresses at that company's domain name.
argonaut
First try to get the contact info for a decision maker at the company (see if they have a "Team" or "About" or "About the Company" kind of page and then use Google on the names). Typically the administrator contact is going to be some sysadmin guy, but if all else fails you can contact the administrator email.

Some tips on negotiation: Make the first offer. Your first offer should be one that you would be absolutely overwhelmingly ecstatic to get. It shouldn't be too high as to make them reject you instantly, but it should be high enough that they'll make a counter offer (at a lower price). Remember, your goal is to get the highest price they're willing to pay.

Adjust your price based on 1)How big the company is (it's ability to pay) and 2)How common the two word name is + TLD. A good two word .com can go for the tens of thousands. A less common two word .com can go for the thousands. Look at sedo.com (the domain marketplace) for a good idea of the kinds of prices you target.