Buying Domain Names

Doing due diligence is a very important aspect of the domain acquisition process. When you are in the process of buying a domain name in the aftermarket, it’s critical that you know the person from whom you are buying the domain name is the legitimate owner (or seller), and using the phone is one good way to do some of your due diligence.

In my opinion, there are two major reasons why you should do due diligence with respect to ownership before buying a domain name, although a domain name lawyer would probably cite other reasons in addition. Domain theft occurs rarely, but it occurs often enough that domain investors need to check on a domain name’s provenance before buying. In addition, rogue employees could potentially be selling a business asset they have no right to sell. In both cases, a phone call can help with due diligence.

Calling the current Whois registrant contact number may be

I inquire about purchasing many domain names, and the majority of these offers are made to people who aren’t involved in the domain space. Since I am generally making cash offers rather than simple inquiries about availability (probably 80% of the time), I receive a wide range of replies from domain owners.

Because I am not offering end user prices in most cases and because it’s almost essential to counter offer in my opinion, I receive all sorts of replies – from simple one word replies to extensive replies. The replies are either an attempt to get me to pay more, not contact the owner again, or tell me that my offer is far too low for some reason. Some people are better at crafting effective replies than others.

One thing I like to do is think about the reply emails I receive to see what I think is effective and what doesn’t seem to work, and then I use them for my own inquiry replies when I don’t send them to the brokers at DNS.

On occasion, I will receive a