I found the perfect domain name for a site idea, but as usual, someone else already snatched it up long before I did. Normally I'd just move on and look for another, but this one appears to be parked. I checked it several months ago and it had a page up saying "hey, I'm working on this site, it'll be up soon! 6-7-05." I bookmarked it and left it alone, mainly out of curiosity of what they were going to turn the site into. I went back a few days ago to see if there were any updates, but now there's a generic "this page is under construction" page from Yahoo Hosting.

It doesn't seem like the owner has any intentions of ever turning it into a usable site, so should I approach them with an offer to buy? How would I go about doing that? I've always just bought fresh domains. It has no page rank, so there's nothing beneficial there, but I could really make the domain name work, so I'm willing to put out some effort...and money.

Is there nothing on the page that says it's for sale?

I would check the whois record on the domain and then contact them directly. If they are not doing anything with it, they might release it cheap.

It can't hurt to try.

If they know that you want it bad enough, they may intentionally jack up the price!

I mean, it's certainly worth a try to buy it at least...but I wouldn't be surprised if they ask for some outrageous price if they think they can get away with it. Many domain name squatters have the names for the very intention of keeping others from having them, and may not even be open to sales at all.

And they probably will.
Arch, I have been in your position 2 years ago, also for the very first time. The key is to show interest, but not be desperate.

In my case, I approached a known squatter for a domain that was truly perfect for my company. I had about 50 proposed names on the list - all available, yet I would always come back to this particular .com. I knew I wanted it, even though it wasn't available. So I took a risk and emailed the contact on domain Whois. I sounded interested, but I lied and told him that we are having a local school program that is called the same name and we wanted to have the domain to represent it. He came back with a staggering $2,700 price tag for a name that is not even a dictionary word. I told him the price was too steep for a non-profit and told him I could potentially raise just around $400-500, best case $600 for it. He rejected and said there were other interested parties. Instead, I decided to play a waiting game, knowing damn well nobody was after the name except for me.

A couple of weeks later I registered both .net and .org versions of the same name because they were available. What do you know, a couple of days later I receive an email from the same guy telling me that whatever it is I am planning - I really should also have a .com to be able to fully represent the program. Here I took an even bigger risk and pretty much told him that there is nothing that I could do with a .com that I couldn't do with .net and I reminded him it was a non-profit, so I wasn't interested to pay. Its well known that domain value decreases if you don't have a full roll registered (.com/.net/.org).

Another 2 weeks later, when his hopes for a sale vanished, and he was stuck with a .com without backup .net/.org names, I emailed him and told him I could theoretically offer $500 (less than what I originally offered). He came back with an amazing $650 and the deal was done through Escrow. The price I paid is amazing, below the budget and I managed to bring the guy down 75%.

Arch, if you are really interested in that domain and if, as you say, it is perfect for your business, I suggest trying to follow the similar formula. I'd say you will have better chances if the .net and .org are presently available so you could register them after, showing him that just because he has a .com - it doesn't change anything for you and he is not in any position of control.

Good luck!

Well by golly, Art, I think you're onto something there, haha. And that certainly was a great deal! I just checked and both the .net and .org domains are available (lucky me). I hadn't really thought about them because there seems to be such a push for .com addresses, and really that's what I wanted (still do). I think I'll look into seeing if he/she is willing to sell and what they are asking for it, though, and maybe I'll be able to follow a similar route that you did. Thanks for the help!

I think you should absolutely follow the same route. What do you got to lose? $15 on .net and .org? If you are ready to pay big money for a .com, $15 wouldn't make a difference to complete the trio.