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As our re-launch draws ever closer, and the marching band and trumpets are being dusted down, I've come to a slight problem.
As we're radically rebranding (in a rather exciting way) for our e-launch from our previous off-line selling, I've come to a slight hitch.
The politics of claiming squatted site names. Ok, not really squatted, but domain parked. I'm being dramatic.
Now, the registration is expiring in 4 months. Do i wait, then snap it up, or contact the current owner now? Obviously, that could very well enter into ridiculous price hikes. The domain name isn't exactly commonplace, but is not in the least bit obscure, so I imagine they could charge a fairly large price. Given it is a nice name, and not in use, I can only imagine it's a professional squatter, so a large price hike is very likely.
Currently it just has the usual GoDaddy squat screen.
Advice? Wait and hopefully get it cheap (if not renewed), or reveal our interest and face a price hike?
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Advice? Wait and hopefully get it cheap (if not renewed), or reveal our interest and face a price hike?
4 months is a long time to wait. I don't have a lot of experience in this area either, but I'd be inclined to contact them now with an enquiry.
I'd been meaning to get around to registering an URL throughout the late 90's, only to have it get snapped out from under me in 1999. They still haven't done anything with the domain, and now and again I check in on it. Every year I get excited coming up to its expiry, and every year they renew it, only to leave it fallow for another year. I don't think it's that uncommon.
Early this year I'd been meaning to get around to registering an URL... only to have it snapped out from under me (worse still, they're already using it). You'd think I'd learn my lesson...
The problem is, the name does contain some sexy search terms. I could imagine it going for $2500 on a fair market (especially if the holder is informed, which she likely is, given I'm guessing it's a squat). I much rather pay $20......
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Most likely it is set for auto-renew since (i'm pretty sure) that GoDaddy has this set as a default.
Also after the 4 months it will go into a 30 hold, which will then most likely go to auction if there is anybody else interested or if it is in anyway has an interesting keyword. [I myself get a daily feed of expiring names with the word monkey in them for example]
Just because it goes to a GoDaddy screen does not mean that they are a professional squatter -- this again is a default setting of GoDaddy. People doing nothing with domains (or ideas) is more common place then squatters.
There are a few other ways to tell, but without having the specific whois info it would be difficult to give you much more info then that.
I think your best course of action would to contact the domain owner and ask them if they would be willing to sell for a fair price.
I would contact GoDaddy and ask them what those Statuses mean. I've never seen anything like that. GoDaddy is very easy to contact. they have super customer service.
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Now, the registration is expiring in 4 months. Do i wait, then snap it up, or contact the current owner now? Obviously, that could very well enter into ridiculous price hikes. The domain name isn't exactly commonplace, but is not in the least bit obscure, so I imagine they could charge a fairly large price. Given it is a nice name, and not in use, I can only imagine it's a professional squatter, so a large price hike is very likely.
I've purchased a few names that were "parked" and not in use.
It can really vary. I've purchased some for as low as $50, and it can go into the hundreds of dollars (or thousands as you've said) depending on the name and how much you "need" it.
If it really is your brand and your brand isn't going to change, you really need it. But the domain owner doesn't have to know that.
If you are patient...
I would suggest putting in a backorder at GoDaddy to see if you can nab the name once it expires.
I would also put in a backorder for the domain at pool.com just in case.
Then I'd wait the 5-6 months (4 months plus the grace period and time it takes for an expired domain to become available) and see if GoDaddy can grab it for you.
I've had good luck using GoDaddy's backorder service with domains that were registered at GoDaddy.
If you're not patient or are worried about someone else snapping it up...
I would send a very short email noting that you noticed they aren't using the domain at the moment and to see if they have an asking price for the domain.
You might even want to skip the email part and just try a phone call. Sometimes you will get a better response that way talking live to a person.
This just means that they have the domain "locked" so it can't be transferred without them manually "unlocking" a domain. It's the same as "registrar-lock", but just different language.
I think it probably WILL be renewed; I think they're cheap enough these days that most people who snatch them up are willing to keep sitting on them, or at least forget about them (and thus they keep being auto-renewed). That's my experience with domains I've wanted that weren't in use, anyway.
I think asking about the domain kind of casually would be a good idea. Don't give an impression of how important it is to you. As Rodney said, just say you noticed they weren't using it, and were wondering if they'd be willing to part with it.
If the price is high, you might consider declining and checking back in a few months to see if they're then willing to settle for lower, though if they've been sitting on it for a long time then this probably won't be the case. There's also the option of a counter-offer of course - if they say 'sure, I'll sell it for $500', you could offer $300 in return or something and see if they'd settle for less.
Failing that - maybe it's actually worth the high price, if they ask for it. I know a guy that bought saddam.com maybe a two years ago for a whopping $5000. I thought he was crazy at the time, but he made a ton of profit from ad revenue in only a year's time, and also ended up reselling the domain for more than it cost him.
Just to add my 2 cents ... I would recommend to never look up domain names using an online whois server or any such company/website that allows you to see if a domain is free (because your domain may suddenly be NOT free). The best way to look up a domain is to simply use "nslookup" in a DOS window. Simply type:
nslookup "-set ty=all" domain.com
and if you get a response you know it is taken. If you don't get a response then it is almost guaranteed that it is available. Of course, you can also just type in the domain you want in a browser to see if it is available, but this doesn't always work as not all domains have a physical location associated with them. Maybe I'm giving everyone info they already know, but about 8 years ago I was burned by this once, someone grabbed a domain I wanted after searching for availability using some websites.
Tactics for obtaining squatted domains? 
