There are various ways to approach a domain name purchase. Your choice will be tempered partly by what status the domain name is currently in (if you haven't yet read the overview of the different statuses, it's a good idea to look at it now)

Note that there is no single "right way" to approach a domain name purchase, so you'll have to choose the way that you feel more comfortable with, taking into consideration your situation and the status of the domain name you're looking into buying. The following should give you plenty of ideas you can draw on and adapt when making your own deals.

1. The Casual Inquiry

If you want to "flush out" a seller i.e. try to find out if they have an interest in selling their domain name, and if so, at what price, then a short email along the lines of the following may be all that's needed:-

Hello,

I see that you own the domain name Domain.com but that you are not using it for a web site, and I was wondering what plans you had for the name.

Regards,

FirstName

The approach email will obviously need to be different  if the domain name is in use for an active site, but the above covers most of the cases in which the domain name is not currently being used.

Notice that there is no mention of your interest in BUYING the domain name. As soon as you insert the word "buying" into your email, you'll find that you're magically inflating any price quoted to you. The word seems to trigger a reflex in people by alerting them that something they own may actually have "value" (since after all, somebody wants to buy it off them) and therefore the price they will quote to you will be higher.

	It's a good strategy to open a free email account which you will use specifically to initiate a first approach to a domain name owner, especially if you work for a large, well-funded company. Many sellers will automatically put the price up - sometimes way, way up - if they think a buyer has deep pockets. By approaching them from a free email account (don't set up your free account to send out your full name), and by signing your email with your FIRST NAME (so that savvy sellers can't research you on the Web), you're removing any "alert signals" that might cause the seller to start raising their expectations and their prices. Think of it like this: who would YOU expect to pay more for a domain name: John of Nowhere, Nebraska or Bill Gates of Microsoft? Plus this also gives you a way to make a more formal approach under your "corporate guise" at a later date, without necessarily needing to divulge that you've been in contact with the seller before.

There are two main problems that may arise from sending this  type of casual question.

Firstly, the domain name owner may not take the request for information seriously (precisely because it's worded so casually) and will therefore not respond to your inquiry.

Secondly, the domain name owner may respond with a hugely inflated price just to "test the waters" and see if the inquiry was real.

However, if you followed the advice in the "Help" box, you can wait a few weeks and approach the owner again, but this time under a different identity (possibly even under your own company's identity) and see if that can trigger a more positive response.

Of course, the owner may also respond without actually quoting a price... in that case, you can proceed with the dialog using one of the other tactics on this page (while taking into account that you're already in discussion with the seller.)

2. The Lowball Initial Offer

This tactic will generally only have a chance of success if the domain name is not currently in use. Instead of sending out a bland email, send out a very specific email and slip in a suggested price which is much lower than you are actually prepared to pay (though not so low as to insult the domain owner's intelligence - you're not going to buy the next Business.com for $100!)

Here's one way you could word the email approach:-

Hello,

I/We see that you own the domain name Domain.com but that you are not using it for a web site.

I/We are currently looking at acquiring a domain name for my/our business/website and your name, Domain.com, is on the short-list.

I/We have $500 budgeted for acquiring a new domain name and can close a deal quickly. Please could you let me/us know if Domain.com is for sale, and if so at what price?

Regards,

FirstName Lastname

The best thing about this approach is that you may get lucky!

If the seller doesn't have any particular use for the name, but the cash sounds tempting, you may well get back an email saying that the domain name is available at $500 (in the case of this example -  remember, generally nobody is going to accept less than you've already indicated you can spend!)

By making your initial offer at a level well below your real domain name purchasing budget, you've then left yourself with room to maneuver if the seller comes back with a response that they're interested in selling, but that the amount you're offering is too low. After that, it's all down to negotiation!

3. The Attractive Offer

If you have deep pockets for a domain name acquisition, and you really want to secure one particular name, you may close a deal very quickly by making an opening offer that will really get the domain name owner's attention, and backing it with your corporate credentials.

The downside of this approach is that you have destroyed any chance of getting the domain name "cheaply", and you've tipped your hand to the domain owner that you've got plenty of money to spend on the purchase.

On the other hand, the vast majority of domain name owners (when faced with a very good offer of cold, hard cash) are unlikely to turn it down... so you may ultimately end up paying less - and certainly spend less time over the deal - than if you'd worked your way through the negotiation starting at a low price.

Here's one possible email format, though of course this would have to be VERY SUBSTANTIALLY modified to suit your particular circumstances:-

Mr. X [See if you can find out the domain name owner's details from the Whois record]

I represent the company Large Company, Inc. and have been tasked with acquiring a domain name for our new business portal to be launched [date a few months from now].

Your Domain.com domain name is at the top of our shortlist of names, and we would be prepared to pay up to US$10,000 to secure this domain name.

Time is of the essence since we need to secure the domain name by [date much closer to now] so that our Corporate Communications department can prepare the relevant logos and letterheads.

I am available to discuss this transaction at the number listed below, and I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

FirstName LastName
VP Development, Large Company, Inc.
[Phone Number]

By combining an attractive offer with the pressure of a tight deadline to close a deal, you're effectively condensing the negotiation process to a few hours or days.

This approach won't net you the next "Business.com" for $10,000 even in today's depressed domain name resale market, but it should be sufficient to close a deal on 99.9% of currently unused domain names.

Whatever initial approach you take, this is just the beginning of the domain name acquisition process. You still have to negotiate an acceptable deal and work out the payment and domain transfer specifics.

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