Quote:
Originally Posted by Squirtit
I don't see this as money vs ethics as you obtained the domain legally and without malice. So keep the domain and develop it and / or sell it 
Earlier this year I sold my Alphaflash.com domain for $xx,xxx
The domain had reached the final stage of the expiration process without my knowledge and was a week away from going up for public availability. I received a call at home from a woman with an accent who said she was interested in buying the domain. She said she'd been trying to contact me for months but my domain info was incorrect and this was her last effort to contact me. I thought that was odd.
I looked at my domain and realized it was expired so quickly spent the best $6.95 of my life to renew it. After doing a bit of research I found that this company was registering Alpha Flash as a service mark/trade mark in many countries with one pending in the U.S. The negotiation process was a few months but ended very well for me.
I bet many millions of dollars are lost every year by domain owners losing domains that others would pay them well for. It's just part of the business , not unethical IMO. |
the difference is the original owner didn't let it expire. It was paid for. The original owner *also* didn't do anything wrong. The register had no legal standing to sell it. The register can't touch someone else's domain unless it is expired.
Imagine your best domain, that your whole business revolves around is suddenly gone at not fault of your own because your register made a mistake. How does it feel. Do you really split hairs and say, ah well the new guy who got it is swell because he did nothing wrong. No, you want your fucking domain back. Sure you sue the register but that could take a long time to resolve and not 100% sure it even gets you the domain back.
Regardless I think the register would either have some type of recourse to get the domain back, or via lawsuit the rightful owner would get it back one way or another. The op might have to sue the register for taking it back from him for some monetary value/loss, but at the end I would be surprised the original owner doesn't get it back since the register messed up. A domain can't be replaced, but the money can and all the domain is worth to the op is the potential to make a fast buck.
It's basically stolen property. Your landlord goes into your house and sells your TV to someone else. It's stolen property, you should get it back and the person who bought it shouldn't be allowed to keep it. Is the person who buys property that they find out is stolen, then wants to keep it... is he really "playing by the rules". I don't think so.