Help! I need to defeat a cybersquatter!

[RachaelBachael]

Hey All,
I'm freshly out of college and since the economy sucks I've decided to work for myself and start a business. I have come up with a cute name, slogan, have all of my information, services, and pricing in order, and am ready to get to business.

However, I ran into a slight snag this morning. I would like to buy a website to promote my business. I looked at godaddy and the .com was taken, but the .biz,.info, .net, etcs were available. I bought 3 of the available sites thinking I could forward them to the .com if I can get the site. I checked out the .com and it was a basic squatter site. It had a few ads and then linked to other pages. I looked up the domain name on the site Wohis and found out my desired .com was owned by a man in Texas, his "hold" on the site expires in December, and he paid $20 for the site, which is hosted on GoDaddy.com. I also found his e-mail address.

I e-mailed the guy and he responded immediately saying he had "multiple offers" to buy the domain name and I should give him my best bid. I know that is bullshit so I told him I'd give him $100. He responded saying he wanted over $5,000. I am not able to nor willing to pay that.

Does anyone know a way to get the website without me having to sell my soul to this guy? Is there a loophole to get around or anything I may not have thought of?

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[Tech007]

- Build a major TV franchise.

- Make a major motion picture

- Petition WIPO based on obsure legal mumbo jumbo.

- Cut a cheque.

Voila! You have a url.


This is 2010 not 1996. Do you have the trademark? Do a title search for prior art in USA? Canada? Overseas? Seriously, get creative - add something zippy to the name you want. Do a blog version. Grab every version you can find. It's gonna cost. No way around it. Internet Biz = Moola. <see G-o-o-g-l-e>

Join your chamber of commerce and ask for help. Look for small business advice on-line and in local gov't and universities/colleges.

Get a lawyer. An accountant. Insurance. Line of credit. Advertising help. SEO advice. etc etc.

Allow 3-5 years to get on your feet.

Bonne Chance!

[picard102]

You're not likely to get it easily. He knows people want it so he'll be sure to renew it well before the expiry date.

[Malcolm Is Moore]

Can we get his email address?

[DWarrior]

Yeah, domains today basically don't just expire. Even if he lets it lapse because he forgets to renew after the 10+ reminder emails GoDaddy will email him, after the lapse GoDaddy keeps it on lock for ~30 days waiting for possible renewal (they'll charge him extra $ to renew after this expiration). Then if he decides he really doesn't want the domain, they may just keep it for themselves and put it up for auction.

The whole domain name thing is pretty ridiculous now.

[EastTexas]

I'm kind of on this guys side. Just because you decided now that you want to call your business that name doesn't mean he has to give it up.

Someone actually owns the domain for my name and has been sitting on it for 8 years and done nothing with it. I'd like to have it, but it doesn't mean he has to give it to me for the price I want.

[aptmunich]

Go to Domainr: fast, free, universal domain name search and pick a clever variation of your domain.

[1goodI]

I'm in a similar situation; where the name an associate wants is already taken and the holder isn't doing anything with it.

1. Up your offer with an explanation. If this guy is a business man he just wants to make a profit. Set your max you will pay and negotiate.
2. Pick a new name or some variation. Or better yet try something like my-new-site.com with the dashes. I've done this myself for my tax business.

All in all, this is just business not personal. Treat it as such and you should come out just fine. Good luck on your business.

[RachaelBachael]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys.


I did check out the .com and googled the name I thought of to make sure there were no conflicts before, the .com was a squatter site so I figured I'd get it easily. Guess not!

My company will be managing all facets of social media for local and domestic businesses as well as creating iPhone apps and basic websites. So if anyone needs that...

Oh and here is all the info I found on the guy:

Joshua Garrett
10223 Berry Hill Ln
Tomball, Texas 77375
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (Domain Names, Web Hosting and SSL Certificates - Go Daddy)
Domain Name: THESTATUSPRO.COM
Created on: 16-Dec-09
Expires on: 16-Dec-10
Last Updated on: 16-Dec-09

Administrative Contact:
Garrett, Joshua joshua@businessremedy.net
10223 Berry Hill Ln
Tomball, Texas 77375
United States
(832) 368-2629 Fax --

Technical Contact:
Garrett, Joshua joshua@businessremedy.net
10223 Berry Hill Ln
Tomball, Texas 77375
United States
(832) 368-2629 Fax --

Domain servers in listed order:
NS61.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS62.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

Thanks again for all of the suggestions!

[RachaelBachael]

Originally Posted by King of Assholes

He doesn't have offers, he's full of shit. Just find a cute way to let know that you're not retarded. You offered $100, he counters with $5,000, so now offer him $101.

I might just do this

Originally Posted by EastTexas

I'm kind of on this guys side. Just because you decided now that you want to call your business that name doesn't mean he has to give it up.

Someone actually owns the domain for my name and has been sitting on it for 8 years and done nothing with it. I'd like to have it, but it doesn't mean he has to give it to me for the price I want.

Luckily I thought of this and went ahead an bought my name.com

Originally Posted by Tech007

- Build a major TV franchise.

- Make a major motion picture

- Petition WIPO based on obsure legal mumbo jumbo.

- Cut a cheque.

Voila! You have a url.


This is 2010 not 1996. Do you have the trademark? Do a title search for prior art in USA? Canada? Overseas? Seriously, get creative - add something zippy to the name you want. Do a blog version. Grab every version you can find. It's gonna cost. No way around it. Internet Biz = Moola. <see G-o-o-g-l-e>

Join your chamber of commerce and ask for help. Look for small business advice on-line and in local gov't and universities/colleges.

Get a lawyer. An accountant. Insurance. Line of credit. Advertising help. SEO advice. etc etc.

Allow 3-5 years to get on your feet.

Bonne Chance!

This is great advice, I will definitely look into all of that!

Originally Posted by 1goodI

I'm in a similar situation; where the name an associate wants is already taken and the holder isn't doing anything with it.

1. Up your offer with an explanation. If this guy is a business man he just wants to make a profit. Set your max you will pay and negotiate.
2. Pick a new name or some variation. Or better yet try something like my-new-site.com with the dashes. I've done this myself for my tax business.

All in all, this is just business not personal. Treat it as such and you should come out just fine. Good luck on your business.

I will try the dashes, I was just trying to make it as easy on my clients as possible with a good old .com