Domain Patience

by on Jun 17, 2009

A while back I was contacted by someone who owned a web site that was direct competition of one of my own. He was offering to sell the site to me at some absurd price because it included the domain name, site, database, decals, etc. Since I already had a similar site, so all I was interested in was redirecting the domain name to my own site. He wouldn’t part with just the domain name, even though I made an extremely fair offer. He hadn’t monetized the site, then didn’t even park the domain when he took the site down. I noticed that he let the domain name expire and that it had originally been purchased through GoDaddy.com. I watched TDNAM.com for a while to see if it would pop up and never saw it.

I had pretty much forgotten about the domain name until today when, on a whim, I searched for it on GoDaddy.com and found that it was available. So, I snatched it up and, using promo code “OYH7″ it was mine for under $8. Patience paid off in this case. Not only is some direct competition gone, but I got his domain name and didn’t have to pay a premium for it.

Let this be a lesson to those of you who have a domain name no longer in use – if someone makes a fair offer, take it, especially if you’re not going to do anything with it. Squatting only works if you’re willing to sell.

  • http://www.uprinting.com Online Printing

    You just took haggling to a whole new level. Haha!
    But that’s a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
    So how much exactly is his initial offer? :D

  • http://drivelocity.com drivelocity

    If I recall correctly, his proposal was $900. I offered him $100-200 for the domain. He balked & I scored. It’s a four character domain name w/ one number, but is commonly used in the niche.

    Now that I think about it, even if I got the name from TDNAM for $5 or $10, it would still be more than the $8 I paid once you added the registration fee to it… I’m surprised nobody else picked it up before it went back into the pool…

  • http://wyposazenie.roompot.pl Wyposazenie Hoteli

    No wonder he didn’t want to sell the domain itself. He worked on the site so he’s either selling the whole thing or nothing – the site without the domain would be useless for him. BUT not parking the domain later on was just retarded.

  • http://forextradingadvicecenter.com forex trading advice

    well…. this guy doesnt know what he’s doing…. and wasted a good deal…. he’ll be heartbroken if he knows that u got the domain with such low price….

  • http://drivelocity.com drivelocity

    I don’t want him to feel heartbroken, nor do I want him to think I pulled anything over on him, but it is a valuable lesson to be learned. I’ve let domain names go that I probably shouldn’t have, but the difference is that I didn’t receive and subsequently turn down a good offer.

  • http://baltimorerealestateinvestingblog.com/ Ned Carey

    Good for you !

    It is such a common scenario in business to see people ask too much for something and ultimately get significantly less because they got greedy.
    .-= Ned Carey´s last blog ..Review of Multifamily Millions by Dave Lindahl =-.

  • http://www.depilacjaodnowa.pl urzadzenia do depilacji

    You did exactly what I would have done. I often laugh at people that think they can get thousands and thousands $ for their website, because some lame website cost calculator told them it’s worth that much. Well, newsflash buddy, your site is worth exactly as much as people are willing to pay for it. Anything over is either fantasy, ignorance or looking for an easy con ;)
    Grats on getting the website, 8$ for something that already has a pagerank and backlinks is a steal :)

  • http://www.trade-show-guru.com/about/ trade show guru

    As the saying goes, patience is a virtue!
    Congrats!
    And it is a lesson that often the greedy are also a bit lazy and stupid, and if you wait them out, they usually lose in the end.
    I’m glad you won!
    Have you done anything with the domain, or do you intend to, or just redirect it?
    .-= trade show guru´s last blog ..Does Blogging Regularity Matter? =-.

  • http://drivelocity.com drivelocity

    Right now it’s just redirected. The domain name used to go to a forum, so that’s what I have it redirected to on my site. No sense making people jump through hoops if that’s what they’re looking for.

  • Lisa

    This is helpful and I am hopeful. A company bought my Twitter name.com a few weeks after I joined Twitter last year (I think they must lurk on Twitter and buy every new Twitter name) and its expiration date is today. The URL brings up a 403 error page. I guess I’ll just wait and see if they forget about renewing it in 45 days or whenever as I think no one else will want it. Back ordering it will only signal my interest to the owner who will hold me over a barrell

  • http://drivelocity.com drivelocity

    Good luck Lisa!

    As far as I’m concerned, backordering is a waste of money. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get it, and I would also fear that the person would be tipped off & renew.