The domain expired. Your client had no right to it once it expired. Registration of an expired domain certainly isn't "hijacking".
I am unclear on what you mean when you say "it only expires now in 2008". Are you saying that it DIDN'T actually expire?
[edited by: jtara at 8:55 pm (utc) on Oct. 16, 2007]
But my concern is, if I had to pay, what if they still refuse to release the domain?
Make the deal through a third-party escrow company. The other company will change the domain registration info to your info, when you confirm control of the domain, the payment goes through.
if I had to pay, what if they still refuse to release the domain?
Use an escrow service. We usually don't name names here, but I've seen this one mentioned several times without objection, so I'll mention it again: many here have had good experience with escrow.com.
The escrow service will not release the money to the seller until the domain is transferred (as verified by the escrow service using WHOIS), and the buyer confirms that they have access to the domain.
The person who registered the domain has no interest in the domain except to resell at a profit.... that is my problem...
Basically, I checked on the domain, it was available, and the next day when i wanted to register it, it was taken.
$700US is nothing compared to what some people would charge and much less than what a judgment w/ ICANN would cost.
Cut your losses and buy it back if it is that important.
Legal? Yes. Shady? Yes, but there's no law against being shady.
There is a good chance that it will be dropped if it doesn't get too much type-in traffic.
thanks so much for the information.
When you say "drop". does that mean that it there is still a dormant period before it goes onto the market? Will there still be reminders etc to go out?
If there isn't much traffic, they would cancel the registration (thus the drop) and it becomes available immediately. However, another taster will grab it within a hour or so, test it again for few days and the cancel the registration..
You can also try your luck every 3-4 days. Some of them may hold the domain for just 1-2 days. Of course there is also a likelihood that they hold on to the name. That is when you need to pay them the fee they are asking or start thinking of a new domain name to use.
When a person initially registers a domain, one does not need to pay for it immediately, but the expiration date actually shows as a year later..... In our country anyway.... So I do not know whether this is applicable to foreign domains....
In the U.S. you pay the registration fee when you register the domain. Some may have special arrangements for bulk domains, but that's more likely to go the OTHER way - e.g. you make a deposit in advance and in exchange get some discount.
And, of course, there is "tasting". But you still typically pay at the time of registration, and are refunded if you decide not to keep the domain.
But it should be irrelevant whether whoever registered the dropped domain paid for it in full or not.
Of course, you should check the specific law in your country - there could be some bizarre law saying that a lease is not valid unless paid, and the previous leasee then has an option to renew, etc...
It seems pretty simple, though - your client paid for a fixed registration period - that period expired - and the domain dropped. Somebody else registered it, and it now belongs to them. They have the right to charge whatever the traffic will bear, if they choose to sell the domain.
You might point-out to them that that's a lot of money in your country, and perhaps the traffic will not bear that price. ;)
i think we all have the wrong mentality about domains.
It's a fact of life that people develop unrealistic expectations, especially when
they don't either RTFP or ask questions for clarification. Unfortunately having
such can lead to otherwise avoidable problems.
Depending how they approach the matter, I might or might not sympathize. I
guess my sympathy's not needed or wanted in many cases, though.
David
