Ask HN: Domain buying and valuation

1 points by sithu ↗ HN
I'm interested in making an offer on a domain that's currently owned by a company. How do I go about estimating a fair value, and making an offer? Is using a domain broker a good idea? Thanks

1 comment

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It's okay to initially ask what they want. It won't change if you use a broker (except the broker will add 10-30%). If they don't want to sell, which is what happens 99.9% of the time, it's over...

Another approach, kinda douche-baggy, is to file a trademark on the name and use the existing uniform dispute policy from ICANN to acquire it. It can be costly, and you may end up losing the trademark AND domain.. http://www.icann.org/en/help/dndr/udrp

(BTW, If you do this, you'll burn in hell)

That said, make sure you use the patent&trademark office http://www.uspto.gov to check to see if there is a trademark on the name AND THEN MAKE SURE YOU ACQUIRE IT WITH THE DOMAIN. If they won't sell the trademark, DO NOT buy the domain.

In the end, the "fair" price you have in mind is probably 1/10th of what they'll want.