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How much should my opening offer be for a domain name on namecheap?

I just want to buy [my name] dot com, but somebody already owns it. Yes, I could do a variation of my name and there is something available. But, if I make an offer to buy the name I really want, how much should my opening offer be? How much should I expect to pay for a simple [myname].com domain?

Namecheap uses domainagents.com as its broker site for purchasing already owned domain names.

2 Answers

Unfortunately, the chances that an established business would give up their domain name for less that a couple thousand dollars is slim. Your best options would be the following:

1: Contact the domain owner yourself and see what they'd like for the domain, if it's even for sale. There's no need to pay a third party (name cheap or domain agents)

2: Pay $10 for a variation of your name

3: Be creative. if you really have your heart set on benjaminpiper.com, buy maninpiper.com, create the subdomain 'benja' and tell people to visit benja.minpiper.com

@Noah Thank you for the quick response. The domain I want is actually benpiper.com. You are right, benjaminpiper.com is the website of some kind of already established business (photography?). benpiper.com, does not appear to be the website of any business. When I do the namecheap who is lookup to see who owns it, I get the following:

benpiper.com

Domain Name: BENPIPER.COM Registry Domain ID: 1556990705_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.enom.com Registrar URL: www.enom.com Updated Date: 2012-04-25 22:33:09Z Creation Date: 2009-05-26 06:04:00Z Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-05-26 06:04:00Z Registrar: ENOM, INC. Registrar IANA ID: 48 Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@enom.com Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4252744500 Reseller: NAMECHEAP.COM Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited Registry Registrant ID: Registrant Name: BEN PIPER Registrant Organization: Registrant Street: 5101 OLD HWY 5 Registrant Street: #595 Registrant City: LEBANON Registrant State/Province: GA Registrant Postal Code: 30146 Registrant Country: US Registrant Phone: +1.6785614236 Registrant Phone Ext: Registrant Fax: +1.5555555555 Registrant Fax Ext: Registrant Email: HOSTED@BENPIPER.COM Registry Admin ID: Admin Name: BEN PIPER Admin Organization: Admin Street: 5101 OLD HWY 5 Admin Street: #595 Admin City: LEBANON Admin State/Province: GA Admin Postal Code: 30146 Admin Country: US Admin Phone: +1.6785614236 Admin Phone Ext: Admin Fax: +1.5555555555 Admin Fax Ext: Admin Email: HOSTED@BENPIPER.COM Registry Tech ID: Tech Name: BEN PIPER Tech Organization: Tech Street: 5101 OLD HWY 5 Tech Street: #595 Tech City: LEBANON Tech State/Province: GA Tech Postal Code: 30146 Tech Country: US Tech Phone: +1.6785614236 Tech Phone Ext: Tech Fax: +1.5555555555 Tech Fax Ext: Tech Email: HOSTED@BENPIPER.COM Name Server: BART.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM Name Server: BETTY.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM Name Server: NS13.ZONEEDIT.COM Name Server: NS9.ZONEEDIT.COM DNSSEC: unSigned URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/ Last update of WHOIS database: 2012-04-25 22:33:09Z

How much do you think my opening offer should be for this domain name, given that it doesn't appear to actually be connected with any hosted website?