Thread: Recovering a lost domain

In the past I've held domains for customers that no longer want their site, then a few months later they come back and want the same domain.

Having not paid out of my own pocket for such a domain it has expired and now hosts a advertising page. (standard holding page)

How would i get that domain back or is it not doable?

Hi,

Sometime you can buy the domain back from the new owner, Downside is that that want a ton of money if the site was any good.

Best advice I would have is to warn your clients that if they let go they will need to start from scratch or at a huge penalty cost to get the domain back.

:flower:

Sami

I don't think you can buy it again unless the domain expires again. Once it is expired you can backorder it from your registrar. And as said sami4u, getting back the domain from the current owner of that domain may charge you a lot fees. Thus, it is better to find another domain similar to the previous one.

If the domain is taken, you can try contacting the new owner via whois (to get their contact information) and if they say no, in many cases you are out of luck until they expire.

In many cases though, the new owner will take as much money as he/she can. So my advice I gotten from my registrar would be to offer a price and stick with it.

Originally Posted by donov

In the past I've held domains for customers that no longer want their site, then a few months later they come back and want the same domain.

Having not paid out of my own pocket for such a domain it has expired and now hosts a advertising page. (standard holding page)

How would i get that domain back or is it not doable?

Hi,

If this domain has been registered then you can’t purchase it until the domain will expire but one more thing it does depend on the new customer because he can renew it again.

It would be better to negotiate with this new customer and discuss the problem. It may be possible that he will sell this domain on a higher price etc.

If he will not agree then talk to your customer and discuss the situation.
Some domain register companies give couple of day’s grace period for payment of domain after due date, but not always.

Originally Posted by donov

In the past I've held domains for customers that no longer want their site, then a few months later they come back and want the same domain.

Having not paid out of my own pocket for such a domain it has expired and now hosts a advertising page. (standard holding page)

How would i get that domain back or is it not doable?

It is critical situation indeed if resell that domain. Because the present owner of that domain have purchased it from you and now he/she is legal owner of this domain. If you want back this domain the present owner did not agree to back you that domain, then you would have nothing to do.
But if the present owner of the domain scarifies for the previous owner of the domain then you can solve your problem easily. Try to pursue both about your situation.

For future reference, I would recommend just keep renewing the domain even if it expires and even if your client doesn't want it because 9 times out of 10, they will come back asking for that domain and you'll have it.

My personal suggestion would be to find a new domain name similar to the old one. It is better instead wasting your money in renewing the domain name as you don't know whether the client will ever ask for it again or not.