Buying a Domain name from someone...

[AlexMoPhotography]

Hello. I was wondering if anyone has had experience in buying a domain name from another photographer that had registered it but never used.

I e-mailed a photographer recently that owns a domain name I want. He hasn't had a chance to do anything with it, but he said he doesn't want to let it go for cheap. And he wants to know if I had an offer. If anyone has any personal experience dealing with this, I'd like to hear about it. I don't have too much experience in this sort of thing. Thanks!

[tim]

Domain names can go for $10 to $10M. Decide what it's worth to you, then make an offer. How you actually make sure you get the domain after you've paid is a good question, some kind of escrow service probably, i'm sure it's been thought of and done before.

[Todd Lambert]

Tim, pretty much nailed it.

Be aware that many people think domains are worth more than they actually are. I recently sold a domain that was pretty decent, and got nearly a thousand for it when all was said and done. I've also sold others that I got a couple hundred bucks for tops.

I had a photographer in San Diego whose name was also Lambert and wanted to buy my domain name lambertphotography.com. Even though I do not currently have anything on there, I do plan to and it has a considerable value to me. I told him that I'd let it go, but it would be in the neighborhood of $5k. He obviously balked at the price, but to me, it has a definite value so I think it's appropriate. Other domains which are much better names, but don't have as much meaning for me, I've sold for considerably less.

Once you have the sale price agreed, use a domain escrow service. Most of the larger registrars offer these, and the one I've used in the past is part of GoDaddy. Register.com's name service is also decent.

Good luck.

[Jon Foster]

Tim and Todd's responses are about the best answers you'll get.

Jon.

[tim]

Tim and Todd's responses are about the best answers you'll get.

So situation as per normal then? ;)

[jcav]

yup...my 2 cents is I agree with previous posts. FYI -- be careful...we had someone come and recently offer us money (10K) & when we replied that we were interested in selling a domain name..they back out of the deal...conveniently all their money got "tied up" in another deal. (10K is probably high for most domain names, but it's a 3 letter domain and they run more expensive than others...hubby has owned it since '96 -- lots of sentimental value, so we wouldn't sell for less than 5 figures anyways...) Good Luck! I hope it works out for you!

[HastyPhoto]

escrow.com

[Metalphotographer]

escrow.com

I second that. I sold a domain for 40k (bartered up from an original offer of 1k) several years ago and used them. Fortunately the buyer was an Internet venture capitalist pro and took care of all the details without taking advantage of my naivety.

[Michael_Lambert]

I had a photographer in San Diego whose name was also Lambert and wanted to buy my domain name lambertphotography.com. Even though I do not currently have anything on there, I do plan to and it has a considerable value to me. I told him that I'd let it go, but it would be in the neighborhood of $5k.

Humm... Like there is more than one Lambert on this planet :P

[Todd Lambert]

Hehe... true true... I actually acquired the lambert domain from another photographer who retired.