Buying a Domain Somebody Else Holds

Find out who holds it

Type the domain into a browser first, since what appears tells you a great deal.

An active site means it is in use and probably not for sale at any sensible price.

A parking page with advertisements means a registrar default or an investor, and frequently carries a for-sale link.

Nothing at all means somebody registered it and forgot, which is the most promising case.

Then look it up in a registration lookup, which may show an organisation or a contact route even where individual details are hidden.

How you ask changes the price

• Do not mention your business name.
• Do not explain why you want it.
• Do not use a matching email address.
• Do not say it is important.
• Do ask whether they would consider selling.

The third is the one people get wrong without thinking. Writing from an address at the matching business domain tells the holder immediately that this domain is worth more to you than to anybody else, and the price reflects that.

The opening message

Which should be three sentences and no more.

Say you noticed the domain is not currently in use, ask whether they would consider selling it, and ask what they would want for it.

Do not name a figure first, since whatever you say becomes the floor.

Do not explain your plans, since the more they know the more they can price against.

And do not follow up more than once, which is a negotiating position as much as a courtesy.

Most such messages receive no reply at all, which is the normal outcome rather than a failure.

A worked example

A business wanted a domain that had been parked for years.

Their first instinct was to write from the company address explaining that it matched their trading name and they needed it for a rebrand.

Instead they sent three neutral sentences from a personal address asking whether it was available.

The holder replied with a figure in the low hundreds, which they paid through an escrow service.

They are reasonably confident the first version of that message would have produced a figure several times higher.

The whole thing took about three weeks including the transfer and the escrow release.

Most of that was waiting rather than negotiating, which is the usual shape of these.

The neutral opening cost nothing and was the only decision that mattered.

What these are worth

Which is the question with the least satisfying answer.

A forgotten registration held by an individual frequently sells for a few hundred dollars, since the holder had not thought about it.

A domain held by somebody who invests in them is priced deliberately, and the asking figure reflects what they think the category is worth rather than what it cost.

A domain matching a well-known term or a short common word is a different market entirely and can be very expensive.

Decide your ceiling before asking, in writing, and hold to it.

The alternative domain that costs fifteen dollars is always available, and remembering that fact is what keeps the whole negotiation sane.

Use escrow for anything substantial

Which is the practical protection.

An escrow service holds the money until the domain has actually transferred into your account, then releases it.

That protects both sides and removes the awkward question of who goes first.

The fee is small relative to any purchase worth using it for, and for anything above a few hundred dollars it is not optional.

Established marketplaces have this built into their process, which is one reason to buy through one where the domain is listed.

Never send money directly to somebody you have found through a registration lookup, however reasonable the conversation has been.

The awkwardness of suggesting escrow is far smaller than the alternative.

Get the transfer done properly

Since payment and possession are separate events.

The domain should move into a registrar account in your name, not simply have its details changed.

Confirm the registrant is the business, the lock is applied, and the contact address is yours.

Remember the sixty-day rule: a domain cannot be transferred again for two months after a registrant change, which affects the order of operations.

Do not consider it finished until you can log in and see the domain in your own account.

Until that point you have paid for something you do not yet hold.

Know when to stop

Which is the discipline that saves money.

No reply after two messages means no, and continuing produces nothing except a holder who now knows somebody wants it.

An asking price far above your ceiling means the answer is a different domain, not a longer negotiation.

Businesses have spent thousands acquiring a domain that saved them nothing at all over a slightly longer alternative.

Decide the ceiling first and then treat it as a real limit rather than an opening position.

Writing it down before the first message is what makes that possible, since the number is much harder to hold once a conversation is under way.

The counter-case

Sometimes it is worth paying properly.

An exact match for a well-established business name, particularly one already in use on signage and vehicles, can justify a substantial figure.

Waiting is also a legitimate strategy, since a good share of parked domains eventually lapse and can be caught at renewal.

And where somebody is holding a domain in bad faith against a trademark you hold, there is a dispute route that is not a purchase.

Ask neutrally in three sentences from an unrelated address, name no figure, set a ceiling in advance, and use escrow.

The approach

1. Type it into a browser.
2. Look up the registration.
3. Set your ceiling in writing.
4. Write three neutral sentences.
5. Use an unrelated address.
6. Let them name a figure.
7. Use escrow and check the transfer.

Step five is worth more than any negotiating tactic, since an email from the matching business domain announces exactly how much the domain is worth to you before you have said anything.

The case for a second domain at all is covered in the second domain pointing at the same site.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.