Hey all,

I'm just wondering what your opinion would be about the following:

I want the name atcom dot ca, and the current owner (a domain name pirate) wants $500 for it. Is that a reasonable price?

Of course it's not reasonable. That's like asking if ticket scalper prices are reasonable or if Vinney is giving you a good rate on your "loan".

Choose another name or domain. I wouldn't give the AH the time of day.

-Hal

yes

You really think that's a reasonable price?!


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We got ours from GoDaddy.com for their standard domain name price, but saw others that "squatters" wanted to sell (similar names) for around $100, which was unreasonable. $500 is WAY unreasonable!

I would suggest getting another name that is close or change the TLD suffix :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains

as to the 500 being reasonable that's a question you need to decide for yourself the developers of the bush library site recently had to pay 35k to get the name back

I was in a similar situation on one I wanted so I got the .net and waited and was able to grab the .com when it became available

Thanks guys! This process is a new one to me...

The practice of "squatting" should be made illegal. If you own a domain name you should be required to have an active site up on it relevant to the name or lose it.

Works with radio and TV stations. If they go off the air for more than a certain amount of time they lose their rights to that frequency spot and it becomes fair game to anybody interested.

-Hal

The practice of "squatting" should be made illegal. If you own a domain name you should be required to have an active site up on it relevant to the name or lose it.

I agree, we were asked to pay $3K for LSCG.com.
As you can see we have LSCG.net, I wouldn't give them 3 cents.

Yup. Its just like real estate, its only worth what someone is willing to pay. ATCOM, is a 5 letter, hardly random, domain name, which essentially all are spoken for with similar names. Its a one time fee (besides the yearly $8) that you are going to build your companies web presence around and may be the best move he makes. I guarantee if he paid the $50 analysis fee from go-daddy it would come back with a 300-600 value, so 500 is not totally off the charts.

I've seen that with phone numbers too. I have a friend who was offered $500.00 for his cell phone number by a local real estate agent. It wasn't even one that spelled anything (XXX-2121), but I'll bet that she worked for a Century 21 office. He sold it to her and ended up getting an even better new number.

Great analogy, I never thought of it that way.

I didn't exactly word the question correctly either. I should have asked if the asking price was "typical" - of course it's not reasonable!

If I wanted to fight the battle, I could trademark the name and apply to Internic for a transfer of the domain name registration. I just don't want the hassle...

I guarantee if he paid the $50 analysis fee from go-daddy it would come back with a 300-600 value, so 500 is not totally off the charts.

I completely disagree. That might be true if someone were actually using it. Problem is it's way too easy in this country for opportunists to make money by doing virtually nothing to earn it. It's true of this situation all the way to commodities and the patent office.

This is one of the reasons we are in the pickle we are in today. I have absolutely no sympathy, the guy is slime and belongs in jail for extortion.

-Hal

If I wanted to fight the battle, I could trademark the name and apply to Internic for a transfer of the domain name registration. I just don't want the hassle...

At this point I don't blame you. It's probably good reason to register your name and logo as trademarks at the get go though. Then when something like this comes up you can enforce your rights.

-Hal

With the importance on linking and ranking with google searches I would worry more about that than the name I pick for my domain.

It's actually not all that complicated. Because this is a .ca domain name, you would deal with CIRA. Check out their procedures for filing a complaint. https://www.cira.ca/en/cat_Dpr.html

The only sticky point will be trademark. If you didn't already have a trademark on the name before the name was registered, it won't make any difference if you file a trademark now. If this is a sole proprietership, you may be out of luck. If this is the name of an incorporated business, you may have a case. Here is the relevant part of the CIRA policy:

4.1 Onus. To succeed in the Proceeding, the Complainant must prove, on a balance
of probabilities, that:
(a) the Registrant’s dot-ca domain name is confusingly Similar to a Mark in which the Complainant had Rights prior to the date of registration of the domain name and continues to have such Rights; and
(b) the Registrant has registered the domain name in bad faith as described in
paragraph 3.7; and the Complainant must provide some evidence that:
(c) the Registrant has no legitimate interest in the domain name as described in paragraph 3.6.

Anyone interested in registering a .ca domain must meet the CIRA's presence requirements too. So if you think the squatter doesn't meet those guidelines, then you could notify the CIRA, and see if they take action. Maybe the domain would become available and then you could scoop it up.

https://www.cira.ca/en/document/CPR.pdf

Also, keep an eye on the registration date. If it expire-delete, grab it. Often times the squatters give up on keeping a domain if they believe no one is interested it it anymore.

https://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php


Pretty interesting story regarding nissan.com. I like the part how they changed Mississippi law in order to tear down some homes just so they could build their plant. Kind of puts an ironic twist on that nissan commercial... You know the one where the guys driving along in his "nissan" truck, leans over to his son and says, "See that, I built that house."

Or was that toyota?

I know of a guy who sold his old domain name for mid 5 figures (or was it mid 6 figures?) 10 or so years ago..

The company that bought it was a well known graphics card manufacturer, and they really wanted that domain name.. unfortunately the guy who owned it had had it in active service since the mid 1980's, and really didn't want to sell for any price..

the company that bought it tried every trick in the book to take the name from him, but he had a solid claim on the name, and probably was using it before the graphics card company was incorporated.

They finally waved enough money in front of him, that he sold the name to rid himself of the hassle..

The domain name: ati.com

I actually spoke to the domain owner of Nissan.com after the lawsuit was finished. He was just a small computer company who happened to have a last name of Nissan. The judge ordered he keep the domain. Last time I looked, Nissan car company now owns the domain.

^ nope: https://www.nissan.com/

That is not only overcharged, it's overpriced and it is unthinkable and superbly out of this world! Squatters suck!