Should I buy it?

[Ian_W]

Hi,

I own the domain - 'my-domain.net' (as an example) - I have owned 'my-domain.net' for a while and have a live and active website running as a business.

Recently 'mydomain.net' expired - sadly someone else beat me to the registration - and now that domain is up for sale at $5,000.

Should I buy 'mydomain.net' - or continue to trade under 'my-domain.net'.

I am not sure if I have a case against this other person - but even to fight it would probably cost $2-3,000, with no guarantees

Problem is that if I do not buy it - someone else might and start to compete against me in my line of business.

I am probably in a no-win situation :(

I am in the fish industry - just in case anyone is thinking - is that the name I am trying to sell? ;)

[chicagohh]

Is your domain your company name? Is it trademarked? Is it generic?

If your not trademarked you will have a much less chance of having the name removed from the current owner (maybe zero chance). Especially if the name is generic.

The non hyphen name is *much* better for customers. One of my popular eComm sites is a keyword-keyword domain. Many customers have contacted the keywordkeyword site looking for customer service... this site is a parked domain with no plans to sell - so it is not as bad as it could be.

You *will* be sending the competition traffic.

To answer your question of should you buy the name...

> Yes, if your finances allow it.

[devildude8989]

If the company who owns it is "BD" call them up and offer them $3k for it. But if you do it 6 months from them catching it they will more likely take the offer rather than right off the drops.

[Ian_W]

'BD' - not sure who or what that is.

But thanks anyway for the tips.

:)

[chicagohh]

BD = BuyDomains

[netguy]

Ian_W, 5 grand seems high for a .net. I would guess they are either trying to steal some of your traffic, or they grabbed it hoping 'You' would be the one wanting to buy it.

As devildude said, I would offer them $3k (or maybe less), anonymously, and for goodness sakes, don't use your 'my-domain.net' address if you are emailing an offer - they may hold out for more!

[Edwin]

Why not see if the same $5,000 would buy you mydomain.com rather than .net?

[DomainAngler]

Good advice from Edwin - if you want to spend 5000!
And you probably do not have to pay 3000 for a .net.
It is hard to give you advice without knowing the domain name.
Did they approach you for buying the name? If not it must be either a very good name so they do not bother - or they are very unprofessional.
Why do you not trademark your name? Easy, than go from there.
Not very much names .net get 5000 US. I would not bother and just wait.

[domainsales]

Too late in this instance but generally a good idea to buy the com and net extensions in the beginning, especially if you are running a business, or have a really good name you want to sell in the future. Know one guy now who has a pending sale for $38,000 on a domain with the com and net extensions. Seller indicated the buyer would not have offered him near as much if he had not already secured the two top extensions. Food for thought.