I’ve seen a few posts on domain forums where people are asking for a free boiler plate domain sales agreement to use. In my opinion, if you feel you need to use a sales agreement in the first place, you should probably contact a domain attorney or other local IP lawyer and pay for one. It’s likely the cost will be less than you think since most will be able to customize a standard agreement based on your needs.
So why do I think you should have a custom agreement drafted? The primary reason is that different countries and even states have different regulations when it comes to contracts and possibly even the parameters of your sale. In addition, your sale may have special circumstances (using Escrow.com, paying via wire transfer, Paypal payment) or it may have other non-standard issues that need to be considered.
If you use a boiler plate agreement and run into troubles, it would probably be fairly easy for an opposing lawyer to pick that apart, which could cause complications for you. If you have an issue with an agreement that you purchased from a lawyer, you should at least have support from that lawyer to help fend off any dispute.
At least in my opinion, if you are concerned enough about a domain sale that you want to use a sales agreement/contract (I recommend using one unless there’s a good reason not to use one), you should pay the few hundred dollars to have it created for you and specially tailored for your company’s needs. It would be a shame to have a false sense of security to save a couple hundred dollars.
This is another post for the Elliot Archives of Good Advice!
If there is a problem with the transaction then you have to make a decision to sue the other party for damages.
Now you have to go to a lawyer with your “boilerplate” contract and say “can you help me sue these guys?”
What’s he going to say?
He’s going to tell you “sorry, you’re out of luck because the contact didn’t have XYZ wording” or maybe he’ll have to charge you more to clean up/defend a messy contract.
Maybe one of the domain attorney’s can post their pros and cons for do-it-yourself contracts?
My suggestion from my experience… If you do your own contract, be sure the jurisdiction is set to your state otherwise you have to go to their state to sue. Make sure you define what a breach is, what the remedy is and what the penalty is for breach of contract.
Think you can do all that and get it right so it stands up in front of a judge and get a verdict in your favor?
If so, then you’re hired to be your own attorney. If not, seek professional advice. 🙂
Usually a professional will pay for themselves, probably many times over in savings or profit and/or avoiding or reducing inconvenience whether he/she be a lawyer, broker, accountant, carpenter, etc.
Man up and hire a professional.
Do you have any standard Excel spreadsheets that help show payback periods and ROI for a company buying a domain?
In other words, a spreadsheet that has the calculations all set-up, the inputs just need to be plugged in …
Direct navigation traffic is usually x% of Google exact traffic. Average CPC is y, etc.
I think everyone who uses tools like that wouldn’t give away their proprietary info.