Do I have a chance?

Do I have a chance getting my dream domain?

[Jeiara]

Hello all,
I've been tracking a 2 letter .com domain for a while. From the whois it has been registered for five years so far, but hasn't been developed. The site just shows a place holder page. It expires next year and I would love to have it, since it's the initials of my name! I don't have much $$ (still in college) and after looking at all these appraisal sites, the price just seems so steep for that type of domain. I don't think it would be likely for the owner to sell the domain for $100 or less to me. =)
So, I wanna try getting it the expired domain route, but I don't know how I'll get it for sure.
Snapnames is expensive! $69 bucks. Then there is ExpireFish $10 bucks, and I did some more searches and NameWinner seemed to be recommended a lot. I found a bunch of other expired domain services, all much cheaper then snapnames. I was wondering if they (snap) are the best or do all the others just have the same chance? Would it be better registering for $10 at a bunch of other small services or go with snapnames?What else can I do? What steps would someone take to try to do it manually?
Well, I do have about 1-2 years to wait =), so maybe I can save up so more money. I don't want to spend an arm and leg for it (I'd just use it for email and my blog journal), what would be the lowest amount I could offer?
Thanks for any suggestions.

~Jeiara

[EliteWeb]

Theres domain squatters out there using those services like snap to snag the names. I wouldnt be surprised if there were 3000 people planning on taking the domain =/

[Lisa]

I stalk all two-letter domain names. Sorry to say I have lots of competition.

I am afraid you are way out of your league here. Don't waste your money on any back-ordering product.

I can guarentee places like Snapnames will not be able to get popular choices like that.

[Jeiara]

what are domain squatters? i guess I'd actually have to buy if i really want it huh?

[buckworks]

For what it's worth, I recently wanted an expired domain, and I set both SnapNames and ExpireFish to watch and pounce on it when it became available. SnapNames won the showdown and got it for me.

Now I just have to figure out how to develop it ...

A great name is only a beginning, it's what you DO with it that makes it worth something!

[Hunter]

Theres domain squatters out there using those services like snap to snag the names

It's not the folks that use snap or any other mainstream commercial services that you need to worry about. If the domain you want is being watched by the hardcore buyers out there, then you stand little chance because they are all well equipped to grab it before you even know it's released. If, on the other hand, the domain you want is mainly just being watched by the general public then you do have a chance using snap and others.

[Lisa]

Jeiara,
Yes, your only chance at the name is buying it from the current owner.

If I see any two letter drop I will out there pounding on it.

[Jeiara]

Yah, I would've used a 3 letter one (I think read that these type are easier to get) but my nick name was also taken: jei.com/.net/.org They also seem to be active sites, so I didn't want to bother them. I was thinking I had a chance with the 2 letter one since it didn't seem like the owner was using it for anything. Oh well, maybe I'll go with jeiara.com or something. I'm just a big fan of having short addresses. Tired of [e-mail], would be so cool to have [e-mail]. Same with webpages, free hosting is really horrible with addresses xyz.com/somenumber/sectioname/username/index.html.
Hmm... well I'd really like it, so I guess I'll email the owner to give it a shot. How would you write the email? Would it be really simple, like:
Hi,
I saw your domain __.com is not being developed and was interested in using that domain for my site. Would you be willing to sell it?
Guess I'll work on that, make it more professional sounding I think. Thanks for all your input everybody.

[Mardi_Gras]

Jeiara - to see just how hard people are working to snap up domains like the one you covet, check out:

[webmasterworld.com...]

It may be depressing, but it will be enlightening :)

[Great_Names]

Snap a name.

Watch who gets all the good names, 2 major players.

buydomains, and Yun Yee,