I want to buy a domain but...

IT.com

Domainant

Member
I've gotten no response from the domain owner. I didn't low ball - I didn't make an offer at all. I just asked if the owner would be willing to sell the domain to me. The website stopped being updated 8 years ago, but until this year, it was up and had adsense ads with the sites old content. Now, the website is gone, but the domain still exists and is owned by the original person still. The domain is not parked. I've been reading the articles that domainking131 shares on this forum , so I understand why an owner might not want to sell a website or domain even if it's not being used. The owner keeps up with the domain registration religiously, so there's no hope it will expire and I'll be able to snatch it up. Is there anything else I can do? Should I assume the owner's non-response is the equivalent of "no"?
 
Thanks for the help. It's amazing at how the site is appraised so differently by the each group - results have included $200, $500, all the way up to $2,000. It's set to expire in a few months, but the owner has had it since 2009, so I doubt the owner will fail to renew. I'm going to take your advice to offer a specific number first. Not sure about phoning the owner. Thank you for the advice!
 
You should definitely send at least one more email and include your offer as Jeff suggested. If you still don't get a reply from the owner then you should probably start looking around for something else.
 
Thanks for the help. It's amazing at how the site is appraised so differently by the each group - results have included $200, $500, all the way up to $2,000. It's set to expire in a few months, but the owner has had it since 2009, so I doubt the owner will fail to renew. I'm going to take your advice to offer a specific number first. Not sure about phoning the owner. Thank you for the advice!
yes phoning someone is a bit unconventional to me and some people would be weirded out by it. Yes go ahead and make a fair offer(by your estimate)and leave the rest. At the end of the day, you can always make your highest offer and leave the rest to the seller.
 
You should definitely send at least one more email and include your offer as Jeff suggested. If you still don't get a reply from the owner then you should probably start looking around for something else.
Again, you don't want to sound so desperate and push away the owner. There's a possibility that he may respond once you quote a figure so all the best in your attempts.
 
You must have been keeping an eye on the website for quite some time. Out of curiousity, what would happen if the domain owner quoted an amount that was way beyond your means? Would you attempt to bargain?
 
Again, you don't want to sound so desperate and push away the owner. There's a possibility that he may respond once you quote a figure so all the best in your attempts.
Yes, I agree that you don't want to sound desperate, but you don't want to just give up on the site after one try if their is a possibility you can persuade the owner. It's a matter of having nothing to lose.
 
You must have been keeping an eye on the website for quite some time. Out of curiousity, what would happen if the domain owner quoted an amount that was way beyond your means? Would you attempt to bargain?
I have plenty of debt from university, so I wouldn't be willing to take out a loan that's for sure. I always assume that negotiating is part of the buying and selling process for domains and websites. Unfortunately, I didn't get that far because I never received a response. I guess the owner doesn't want to sell. I'm disappointed, but it's understandable.
 
Your first response to a seller should always include a bid amount. Always. After the bid amount, put "Firm".. As in, that's the highest you will go.
 
Your first response to a seller should always include a bid amount. Always. After the bid amount, put "Firm".. As in, that's the highest you will go.
I didn't include "firm" because the amount wasn't firm. The owner recently pulled the whole website and parked the domain so it's worth very little. But, that wasn't always true and I wasn't standing firm on any amount. It's a moot point though because I did not receive a reply. The owner has had the same site for ages and is the original owner and creator of the whole thing.
 
You would think that the domain owner would be anxious to sell a domain that hasn't been used for 8 years unless he gets residual income from the un-updated site. But it would be courteous if he would just say so and then you could go about your own business.
 
I agree, Anayaa. It would have taken a couple of minutes to just reply, "thanks, but no thanks."

I meant to update this thread, but dropped the ball. The domain owner passively let me know that the domain isn't up for grabs. A few days after I inquired about buying it, the owner renewed for several more YEARS. What's interesting is that the owner had already removed all the content, which of course lead to Google removing it from search results. It seemed like a bizarre move because it had consistently ranked on the first or second page for every keyword in the niche, even without article updates. So, I was hopeful that the owner just wanted to keep the content, but would sell the domain or just let it expire. But, I knew deep down that was never going to happen. What's odd is that the owner's email address isn't a professional address that matches the domain. It's in the same niche, but not the standard match up you expect to see. No clue what the end game is.

That was rude of me not to update earlier when so many here took the time to write out such great advice. I appreciate the help very much. I added your remarks to my Evernote account, so I'd know how to handle these domain issues down the road.
 
I was searching for a domain for my new business and found that the one I really want is up for sale at over $2K I'm going to have to settle for something a tad different than my original choice but that's ok I guess because it still has the main title in it.
 

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