Ask HN: What's the best way to buy a claimed domain name?

Usually contacting the proxy company is a bad idea, since you will be dealing with robots and not real humans.

Also, use a disposable email address, since it's very likely your email will get sold to spam lists.

Well, remember that the proxy is really just a relay. If you email the proxied email address the registrant will likely get your email in their inbox. They might ignore it, but it's worth a shot as a first step. That proxy also might just be a honeypot for spammers, but it's usually worth the risk.

Also, check sedo.com, flippa, and other domain marketplaces to make sure that domain isn't listed for sale already.

godaddy offers a service where they try and contact the person behind the proxy on your behalf, and charge upon success. I tried them once to no success, the person who told me about it said it worked for them.

Another thought is that you can check http://who.is. When you search there for the whois information, they have a history tab. Maybe the person that has the domain now has not always had the privacy protection on it. You might be able to get the phone number or original email address from that.

The best way is don't because the domain owner is likely to demand a retarded price now that s/he knows someone is interested in it. They are hoping for an outrageous bid from a large corporation or government institution. IME, they are just not worth the trouble from a bidders perspective.

Many squatters register domains when registrars offer have specials like "50 domains for $10!" Those domains never gets renewed by the squatter and instead they are just hoping for one profitable sale. So it's entirely possible that the domain you're interested in will expire naturally and then you can pick it up.

Also, don't visit the squatters domain in a browser. The blank page is there to measure how many hits the domain gets to estimate popularity and therefore also value.

my brother recently emailed a guy about a random domain name (nothing exciting, four random letters - figured he could buy it for $500-$100 which seemed fair) the guy countered with 1.5m EUROS! and the email of contact@###.com in perpetuity!

Why you ask? wikipedia's list of most expensive domain names...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_domain_n...

you have to give credit to the guy for asking!

I routinely buy domains I don't use - not to be a squatter but my imagination gets away from me. I imagine most HNers have dozens of domains they don't use. Someone emailed me recently for a pretty good one and offered $500, I countered at 3k and we settled at $1,500.

Most people will be sensible about it.

Also checkout backorder services in case the domain is forgotten and comes up for expiration.

This is a good list: http://www.domainsherpa.com/domain-name-backorder-services

Note: I'm in no way affiliated with the linked site or any of the services listed.

Picture this. Twenty years ago, you had the opportunity to lease premium real estate - a massive storefront, open to billions of people - for only $10 a year.

The catch? There's already an equally massive sign above the storefront - Accelerated Pneumatic Deliveries.

You can't move the sign, cover over it, paint it, etc. But the lease was so low you couldn't help but purchase it, and now, as long as you pay your $10, each year you can own this storefront.

A few decades later, Bill Pneumatic, the owner and son of the founder of Accelerated Pneumatic Deliveries, comes along. He wants to purchase your storefront.

Here in lies the rub. You've put roughly $200 into your storefront at this point. Clearly $1000 - a 400% ROI - would be a fair price. But you know:

1. The value of the storefront to APD is nearly priceless. Your storefront is unique, but it will only ever have one interested buyer.

2. The downside potential should you decline is nearly nothing. Three less coffees a year, or skimping a bit one night out a year for the rest of your life, and you can keep that storefront until you're buried in front of it.

Welcome to the world of domain ownership, where the owner has no rational basis to sell to you a domain for anything but a ludicrous price. I know of a handful of established companies that have changed their name over domain availability. I know about a dozen more that have paid thousands for a domain. If those purchasers make up only 15-20% of all businesses, the domain owners are making comfortable, easy money.

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Do not go through GoDaddy or Namecheap. Their services are a flat fee plus commission - why would you want to pay someone commission to buy something for you that you already know is going to be unreasonably priced? Especially a company who specialized in commoditizing their services.

I would recommend contacting the proxy and trying to make contact with the owner. It will take longer, but you have a much higher chance of success.

But you should probably just find a different domain.

I bought domain names as an investment and sat on them for years until people with lots of money wanted them bad enough. I think this is the mindset you'll be up against.

Good tactical advice here: http://avc.com/2011/04/finding-and-buying-a-domain-name/#com...

TLDR: Lead with a real offer at a price that the owner cannot dismiss out of hand, gently imply that your offer has an expiration date, don't act attached to the name, negotiate from there.

This is a great post, particularly the top comment http://avc.com/2011/04/finding-and-buying-a-domain-name/

Art Of Negotiating A Domain Name Purchase

This is the step that 99% of people SCREW UP.

I see so much bad advice about how to approach someone to buy their domain... "contact them and say I see you're not using xxxxx.com, I have a little project I'd like to use it for... would you be willing to let it go?" etc. etc. etc. HORRIBLE ADVICE.

People that are sitting on domain names don't keep paying the registration fees every year for fun, even if they aren't using the name. They know it has value. So don't insult their intelligence making them think they should do you a favor by letting you have their unused domain.

Many Domain Owners Think They're Sitting On A Lottery Ticket

Many domain owners think that one day someone is going to come along and give them millions for their .Com no matter what it is. The fact is, domains are only worth what someone is ready to had you a check for. (A tip to all you wannabe speculators.) I've seen many GREAT domains never get sold, so always keep that in mind. Anyway, because domain owners have this thinking, they are very reluctant to NAME A PRICE. So forcing them to start by naming a price isn't something they want to do, because they're hoping YOU offer some ridiculously high price that they will then counter to go much higher.

Because of this, you MUST start out on first contact with an offer (more on this in a second). The approach of "would you be willing to sell xxxxx.com? If so, how much?" isn't going to cut it; one of the main reasons is that domain owners of decent domains get TONS of emails all the time asking them that, and when they've replied in the past with a price or try to start negotiations so many people are only willing to pay $100 or some insulting price.

So what do most domain owners do? IGNORE YOU. That's right. So if you've ever contacted a domain owner after looking them up with a Whois search and they didn't reply, it's not because they didn't your email (which makes you think that follow-up fax or phone call will do the trick; HINT: it won't.) It's because they think you're like everyone else that thinks they can buy the domain for $100 or so.

Here's how you get their attention and get the ball rolling...

Rule #1: You must start out by making an offer in your initial email.

Rule #2: This offer must be high enough to get their attention and make them at least THINK.

NOTE: Rule #2's amount will depend on how great the domain is.

The two magic price points I have found that work the best (they depend on how valuable the domain is) is either $1,000 or $2,500.

If it's a great domain then $5K-$10K is usually the starting point. These amounts are enough to get anyone's attention. I've bought many $100K+ value domains for $15K-$20K by starting with a $5K or $7K offer.

By starting with at least something that gets their attention they will take you seriously. This is the first step or you have no chance to make a deal.

In most cases for decent 2 words domains, the $1K to $2.5K opener works best.

* TIP: Always know your seller if possible. Do a Whois on who owns the domain, visit the domain in their email address or do some Google searches, etc. You'll often find a struggling Web designer is sitting on a great domain. $1,000 cash to that person is a lot of money. So this also goes into the process of deciding what to open the offer with.

The key here is not to insult someone with a lowball offer, but offer enough to make them know you're a serious buyer.

So here's a sample initial contact email to send... (and I'll explain the rest of the language I use)...

Subject Line: Whatever.com ($2,500?)

Hi,

I see you are the owner of Whatever.com. I'm in...

FWIW, a "ludicrous" offer might not be that much, depending. I had a guy buy a domain from me a couple months ago for $5k.

If you go through a broker like DomainAgents (who contacted me and helped negotiate the sale via escrow.com) the process is quite painless - I got my money within a week and the buyer had his site up soon after.

FWIW, I likely could've pushed for more money because his business only had ccTLDs and not the .com that he wanted from me, but $5k for a domain that was expiring was totally a fair price.

Here's an HN thread and blog post about this topic, from a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3613095

http://blog.domai.nr/post/17910329952/buy-a-domain-that-some...

(full disclosure: I help run Domainr)

You could also get a brokerage like https://domainagents.com/ to help you with the process.

Go to the auctions and look for a name:

http://snapnames.com

http://namejet.com

I've gotten names that I had previously made offers on there.

Ritch at Acquirable is probably the best you can hire for this kind of stuff - http://acquirable.com/

Probably only makes sense for domains at least 5 figures USD though.

I've been on both the buy and sell side of this negotiation quite a few times. thistleco's advice is pretty good. I'll just add one thing about the new GTLD program. Unlike the past, nowadays you are competing against the registrars themselves and the automated and MANUAL analytics they run on availability searches, whois queries and etc. As the OP said in a comment here, if you find a brand you like, don't hesitate because that name might be repriced by the GTLD operator due to your searches and activity around the domain.