Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Help! Domain Was Taken After Years Of Owning It!

Posted by Anonymous on 2/23/2010 at 9:29 AM ET 250 Points
ok, I made one of the biggest mistakes ever but timing is everything. I lost the domain name after having it for years. I have contacted the person who bought it ($10 from go daddy). He is a online marketer and is in the business of buying and selling names. After pleaing my story and asking for a fair price (haven't heard back from him after my last email), I am thinking I need to be prepared to create a new name.

So, the name was THE INTERIOR DESIGN CO.
I have everything (FB, all business materials, email, etc w/ this name).
I would like to stay as close to this as possible. I thought of using my name and addind Design Inc.

IF he will not sell back to me for a good price....any thoughts on a new names??? WHAT PRICE would be too high??? I am getting anxious as I have a business expo in 2 weeks to promote my business and need to buy new materials asap!

Thanks for all of your help.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 2/23/2010 at 11:14 AM Accepted
    The risk you have is one of your competitors taking over the domain name and redirecting people to their website. How much is that worth to you?

    As a minimum, talk to a lawyer and ask them to send a letter to the person based on legal rulings....

    As far as your 2 weeks away problem, create a new domain ASAP as a placeholder, for example: InteriorDesignOfAmerica.com (available domain).
  • Posted by thecynicalmarketer on 2/23/2010 at 11:25 AM Accepted
    Cyber-squatters are evil. They are like leeches except they contribute nothing to society. Before you pull the plug on your current domain, consult with a lawyer with subject matter expertise in the area of domain name rights. Just because you leave your wallet on the counter at a store doesn't mean someone can take it and use it.

    Follow this link https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1622396820100216
    It is a Reuters story from yesterday about Bank of America winning a court case against a cyber-squatter who grabbed one of their domains. The key part of the judge's ruling, "... (the leech) had no legitimate interest in the names and had registered them in bad faith." You should prevail for the same reasons.

    Best of Luck, JohnnyB.
    The TCM Blog, https://bit.ly/75KkSG
    https://twitter.com/tcmblog
  • Posted on 2/23/2010 at 11:33 AM Accepted
    It hurts, I can imagine. But the deed is done, and you need to do whatever you have to do in order to recover.

    First, your trade show: Get a new domain name and activate it ASAP. Use whatever is available, but do it NOW! Jay's suggestion is a good one.

    Next, the longer term issue: You need to figure out what the old name is really worth to you ... and to keep it out of the hands of a competitor. If your business is a local one, the risk is probably much smaller than if you were national or international. That means you probably won't want to spend a lot to get the old domain name back. Go instead with something like InteriorDesignCoDallas.com (or wherever). You'll have to re-educate your customer base, but if they are really good customers, they'll figure it out.

    And if someone in another city/state/province uses your old name, it probably won't really hurt you. At least not enough to be worth paying a king's ransom for the domain name.
  • Posted on 2/23/2010 at 11:44 AM Author
    you all are amazing and I love being a part of this great marketing source. If you remember me from before, I am also creating a marketing and business consulting business.

    As you can imagine, I am just so mad at myself for letting this happen. But life and circumstances happened and I lost it. Still no word from him on my reply to his first email.

    I am not a national but have expanded in the state. I think if I use my name that is how most people know me anyway. I'll just create it now to move forward and then if he will release it, then I'll have both! I have moved around a lot due to military husband and I always have to recreate myself. So, no harm in that. I have a great reputation and followers and previous customers.

    Thanks again and keep any info coming!!!
    Christa
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 2/23/2010 at 1:27 PM Accepted
    On price to pay, I would determine what it will directly cost you to change the name (new web address, new business cards, etc.). If he asks for more than some percentage of what it costs you, you should change names.

    Of course, customer good will and how well people recognize your company name is not easy to value. You can try to estimate a value based on how well people find you through the web site, and how much lost business you may think will happen if you change. Also, add in a cost of informing people of the name change - the cost of mailings or time to announce and things like that.

    One thing that I am wondering about - when a name expires, I thought it it is normally held for 3 months as a window of time for the original owner to re-register it before someone else can buy it. During this time, the URL does not work (and your emails should have stopped coming in). If you went 3 months without the web site working, this would point to there not being a lot of value in the current name, so changing to a new name won't cost you much in regards to customers looking for you at the old name.
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