Hi,

I planning to contact the owner of the domain name that I am interested, currently his domain is for personal use, not much traffics, I am worry that once that I contact the owner he would think that he automatically became a millionair because some company is demanding for his domain name and jack up the price.

Please advise some strategy and what are some legal procedures to look-out for purchasing a existing domain name?

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

well there really isnt much strategy involved, its just a matter of negotiating.

Just contact them and make an offer....and make sure you purchase it through an escrow service (if they decide to sell)

Don't contact them directly. Use a certified offer by someone like Network Solutions. They will anonymously make the offer for you and be the escrow service as well.

Thanks for the advices guys, is very helpful
the domain will be expire in next year, but I don't want to be go over the hassels in snapping or bidding for it, most likely it will be renew.. so I guess the best option is to contact the owner and make an offer, my question is, if you are the owner of the domain and someone give you an offer, what are your reaction and how much are you expecting?

It would depend on what I was doing with the domain and how much I had put into it. If it's my business domain I'm probably not selling unless you really are going to pay me enough to either start my business over again or not have to start it again at all.

If the domain isn't anything I use a lot then I'd probably just want a little for my trouble. I wouldn't part with it for nothing, but it wouldn't be a lot either. And a lot about how much I would accept would depend on the communication I had with you.

I think if the offer was through someone like Network Solutions I might want more since I would think the domain would mean more to you. I'd probably agree to less if you contacted me directly. I can't say that's the case with everyone though. For me the personal contact would make it easier for me to see you as an individual who I'd sooner help over an anonymous business.

The sale should go through an escrow service for the protection of both parties.

BTW, just FYI, the chances in you snapping up a domain after it expires are next to zero...

There are a slew of companies around who snap up domains (regardless of the quality of them) AS SOON as they expire in the hopes they can either

a) resell them to a person (such as yourself) who has an interest in them for their name value
b) sell them back to the previous owner who simply forgot to renew in time
c) sell them to a webmaster who is interested in the traffic the domain receives

I'm not sure that's entirely true. Depends on the domain I think. In my last business the domain my partner and I wanted was originally taken so we registered one with dashes between the words. I knew when the domain we wanted expired though and the day it did (after the 30 day grace period) I was able to easily register it.

I'm sure that's not the case with all domains, but with some I think it can happen.

taras i agree, never do it personally .