

Ask HN: How do you go about asking someone for ownership of their domain? - spoiledtechie

I have this absolutely amazing idea I am going to run with, but someone owns the domain already and I want to get it from them for exchange of services instead of money.<p>I don't have any money, but I am willing to exchange services or even include the organization in my start-up idea.<p>The domain is www.tracklete.com.<p>Got any ideas how I could present it to the organization?
======
brk
From looking at the current site, it seems "the organization" is one guy who
never got any further than spending a saturday afternoon editing some html in
notepad.

I would argue that most "absolutely amazing ideas" can exist on any domain, so
there is no "the domain" in this case. There IS a domain currently registered
that is probably more fitting to your idea than registering some iteration of
"mydmnhsnvwls" or something.

If I were you, I'd probably start running with your idea and implement
whatever you're going to implement. Petition the current owner of this domain
to transfer it to you for a reasonable fee. Since the current domain appears
to be setup as some kind of track and field scholarship/fundraiser site, maybe
you could make an offer for $xxx.yy and a donation of $xxxxx.yy some time in
the future when you reach a goal of profitability or sales or whatever. Appeal
to what the current owner appeared to want to achieve, but never did.

~~~
spoiledtechie
Your right, but a catchy name does help. Like I said, I have no money, but
right now I do agree I should run with the idea and buy the domain alter from
him.

------
alecst
I work with a non-profit organization called Kate's Club (www.katesclub.org).
Until recently, however, www.katesclub.com was owned by a guy who was using it
for erotic images, and we received more than a few complaints about this. A
friend of mine emailed the site owner and said he'd like to purchase the
domain, and the guy responded with a relatively high price. The owner asked
what he needed the domain for, and when he told him, the owner gave him the
domain for 1/10th of what he originally asked.

I suggest you present your idea and motives to him, however you might not want
to mention that you're planning on making a whole lot of money or he may hold
that against you. Come at him with a price and see how he responds. It doesn't
look like this site has been maintained nor does it appear to be making any
money.

~~~
spoiledtechie
Thank you for this advice. I gave him my ideas, now im going to see what he
says.

