How do you buy a domain name from a domain squatter?

Question

I already asked this a year ago but got no reply. The situation did not change. So I thought I try again.The domain I would like to use for my startup redirects to a page on afternic.com and displays a page with a GoDaddy logo. Plus a form to request a price for the domain. I wonder if it is a good idea to fill out that form?When I search for the domain on afternic.com they display a "buy now" price of $40k which seems very high to me. And there is a "make an offer" button with "$25k min." next to it. Also very high.There certainly are HN users with experience in buying domains. How would you go about it?

throwaway158497 · Accepted Answer

I ran into exact same situation before. I clicked on the form, filled a disposable email address and put in a ridicuously low price (like $100). The broker at the other side responded and asked for $2000, to cover costs. I said no. He ended up selling me for $100.So, yes, those forms work, you can try it once.

wcerfgba · Answer

Don't. Domain squatting is a shitty practice and we shouldn't engage with exploitative practices. Otherwise, we signal demand, which justifies the feasibility of the practice. You can probably come up with variants of your desired domain which are a lot cheaper, e.g. foo.com -> fooapp.com, getfoo.com, ... .Anecdotally I don't think a snappy domain has much effect on SEO or a company's market value. Most users will access your website through search engines or links, and reasonable investors care about product-market fit, moat, strategy, and all those other things which have tangible effects on the success of a business.

pdevr · Answer

As a person who has sold and bought domains:
1. Do a Sedo.com search and see if it is listed there.
2. Search on Godaddy.com and Name.com and see if the domain is offered for a lower price.
3. If 1 and 2 didn't yield any results, monitor the domain using the many services available. If it drops, you will get notified. Expensive domains do get dropped once in a while, due to various reasons.
4. As throwaway158497 suggested below, offer a much lower price, if you can withstand the potential consequences.
>How would you go about it?
Think of a clever short .com and hand register it for less than $20. Or, if there is a second choice domain available for a lower price, buy that. Keep the rest of the money with you.

citizenpaul · Answer

I only once tried to buy a 5 letter domain that was the company I worked at's initials (totally random like "UJEAJ". I used godaddy bidding system and gave them our budget which was $35k USD. They said no and countered with $250k. I said sorry that was the max offer we could make and they refused futher contact by having godaddy inform us of their no more contact allowed. 10 years later the domain is still squatted. Good for them I guess.

gregsadetsky · Answer

There are interesting threads from some years ago here on HN that I found by searching for "domain negotiation". For example:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1198541
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5642503
Maybe some of the discussions from back then can be of help? Would love to hear others chime in as well.

PaulHoule · Answer

This market rarely clears.I sometimes get a message from somebody who offers me $75 for a domain.Most people who've sat on domain for a while think $75k is more like it but they won't get it.Fill out the form if you like but I think the odds are poor you'll get a response.

gtirloni · Answer

I wanted a domain that's so obscure nobody will ever register it. But a squatter is sitting on it. Afternic shows it for 100k minimum. I think those numbers are totally made up in case they find an idiot.

zhte415 · Answer

Think of an alternative name.

readonthegoapp · Answer

fill out the form, go from there, let us know how it goes please.