Trying to buy an inactive/parked web domain…
Discussion
If I may, I have a question for those more internet/business/computer savvy than me…
I’d like to buy (or at least attempt to buy) a web domain.
From some research using tools like Wayback, it looks like it has been parked for 25+ years and never been used. Not once. I’ve been keeping an eye on it for 10 of those years, and indeed never seen any activity.
None of the contact information provided in the Whois data leads anywhere and I’ve tried a couple of those “we can try get it for you” brokerage services. In both cases they refunded me citing that they weren’t able to make any contact with the owner.
The domain itself is fairly short (7 characters), but quite obscure and not a noun. I can’t really see it ever being of use to anyone but me, though appreciate that’s not entirely relevant nor does it give me any claim to it. My point is simply that, unless acquired by me, it’s likely to sit unused for a while longer.
For arguments sake its value might be £2k and I’m willing to pay up to £5k. If the owner wants more than £5k or is a child about it or quite rightly just doesn’t want to sell at any price, I would not lose a second of sleep over it. On the contrary, it would be great to finally know that this avenue is closed and I will happily continue using the 99p domain I’ve been using for 10 years.
And so I ask - are there any tricks for finding out who owns a domain or contacting them? Or are there specialist businesses out there who can attempt to buy / acquire a taken domain?
Any advice welcomed and appreciated!
I’d like to buy (or at least attempt to buy) a web domain.
From some research using tools like Wayback, it looks like it has been parked for 25+ years and never been used. Not once. I’ve been keeping an eye on it for 10 of those years, and indeed never seen any activity.
None of the contact information provided in the Whois data leads anywhere and I’ve tried a couple of those “we can try get it for you” brokerage services. In both cases they refunded me citing that they weren’t able to make any contact with the owner.
The domain itself is fairly short (7 characters), but quite obscure and not a noun. I can’t really see it ever being of use to anyone but me, though appreciate that’s not entirely relevant nor does it give me any claim to it. My point is simply that, unless acquired by me, it’s likely to sit unused for a while longer.
For arguments sake its value might be £2k and I’m willing to pay up to £5k. If the owner wants more than £5k or is a child about it or quite rightly just doesn’t want to sell at any price, I would not lose a second of sleep over it. On the contrary, it would be great to finally know that this avenue is closed and I will happily continue using the 99p domain I’ve been using for 10 years.
And so I ask - are there any tricks for finding out who owns a domain or contacting them? Or are there specialist businesses out there who can attempt to buy / acquire a taken domain?
Any advice welcomed and appreciated!
miniman said:
What does a Whois lookup say? It should list some contact details but there s no guarantee they are up to date.
Hi. All it seems to say is:Data validation:
Nominet was able to match the registrant's name and address against a 3rd party data source on 10-Dec-2012
Registrar:
eNom LLC [Tag = ENOM]
URL: https://www.enom.com
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 26-Jul-2004
Expiry date: 26-Jul-2025
Last updated: 27-Jun-2024
Registration status:
Registered until expiry date.
Name servers:
dns1.name-services.com
dns2.name-services.com
dns3.name-services.com
dns4.name-services.com
dns5.name-services.com
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