Jump to content

Ripoff dot Co dot UK


Bill

Recommended Posts

Need to get this off my chest!

 

When I stated my current business eleven years ago, I wasn?t able to use a dot co dot uk web address because some bloke in London with a foreign sounding name already had it. Then six years ago, when it wasn?t renewed, I again applied to use it but this time a Mr Iqbal whatever beat me to it then demanded thousands from me to buy it from him.

 

This one was told in no uncertain terms what he could do with it and where he should sod off to because I wasn?t going to be blackmailed into paying to use what in my opinion was my own company name.

 

Yesterday the name again became available but this time I?d arranged for a top company to acquire it for me. Within seconds of it being released though, at three in the morning, some anorak nerd trading from PO Box bed sit nicked it again with the intention of selling it.

 

After several calls to Nominet who manage all the URL allocations and threatening legal action, I received a call from Mr Anorak who was very apologetic and offered to transfer the rights to use the name at minimal costs.

 

It?s impossible to estimate how much potential business has been lost over the last eleven years when people knowing we?re a UK business but cant find us with a standard internet search.

 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Shouldn?t be allowed!

 

Bill :redmad:

 

[ 21.02.2008, 20:40: Message edited by: Bill ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bill we had the same problem a few years ago but with a .com address. Not a foreign bloke but a Warrington bloke :wink: )

 

And being the proud official owners of both the .com and .co.uk you still have to be careful.

 

We were then approached by a different company at renewal time last year (who appeared to be genuine)requesting over ?200 to guarantee the renewal of our domain names... being the suspicious person I am I phoned them up and it sounded legit but after phoning Easyspace who our domains were origionally registered with it actuall cost us less that ?20 for a further 3 years !

 

So be warned the scam is bigger than you think and Companies House on-line business search gives easy access to these fraudsters to buy domain names for ANY new company... as does walking the local streets looking out for unsuspecting small or new businesses :o

 

Trouble is until you are caught out you are not aware of these scams.... I agree it should NOT be allowed.

 

[ 21.02.2008, 21:11: Message edited by: Dismayed ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don?t talk to me about scams involving Warrington Fraudsters. The Data Collection Agency (as opposed to Protection Agency) scam operated from an address just down the road from me. Hundreds of irate people would ring directory enquiries who would then give out our number as the only company in the area with the word data in the name. It went on for years and netted millions before they managed to shut it down.

 

The thing is with these name drop companies, they?re not actually breaking any law. Very unethical to my way of thinking rather like someone from United Utilities buying up all the bottled water knowing there?s going to be a major burst.

 

Still it?s all sorted now but for several hours this morning you wouldn?t have wanted to be anywhere near my office.

 

Right it?s beer drinking time! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

sorry but no, I completely disagree with you, you owned your company name not your domain name, and its done on a first come first serve basis, with the option to renew ahead annualy or bi-anualy in the case of .co.uks which is fair.

 

domain names are a commodity of great value and you should be prepared to pay a premium for the best ones that will help your business.

 

Im sure you are not the only company with your name (or the major aspects of it) www.smiths.co.uk for example would be of intrest to whsmiths, mrsmiths, smiths alchohol and whomever gets it first has the right to sell it for whatever figure they want to, if they want to sell it at all.

 

how many people have private reg plates, I do and if my reg plate was "BU51NES" for example I dont think that somone who ownes the trademark or company called "business ltd" should be able to come along and simply take it from me at costs.

 

 

I have several domain names registered that Im sitting on, many technologies and great company names, I invested in them like any other business, I thought of doing this first, I dont know what business you are in, but Im sure your intention is to buy low, sell high...whats the diffrence, its not our (domain traders) fault your slow on the uptake, maybe I should come into your business and demand that you sell me your stuff at cost price ???

 

hello, yes that lotery ticket you just bought, the winning one, well they happen to be my phone number so I demand you sell it to me for the ?1 you paid...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Legion

 

I can sort of see your point.

 

However, when it comes down to small family run businesses etc which have a name that has no relevance or interest to anyone other than themselves then I still think it is completely wrong for another party to intentionally jump in and register that businesses domain name just to try and make a few quid.

 

It took us 3 years to get our .com as we refused to buy it of the bloke so in the end he didn't bother renewing it and we jumped in.

 

Do you walk the streets looking for new small buisinesses to target :P

 

[ 22.02.2008, 10:23: Message edited by: Dismayed ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with your sentiment but a small business with an unusual name is unlikely to be registered by a "cybersquatter" as it is worth very little respectively.

Your only potential buyer is that specific small business (with low buying power) and therefor is not worth "whatever" you want to sell it for, but only what they want to pay.

Your also at the mercy of them being a little flexible.

 

For example, I decide to register poor old mrs wooleys shop from leonard street back in the 70s.

www.mrswooleys.co.uk

no one else is going to buy it, mrs wooley is only prepared to pay ?20..so the name is worthless, despite my demand of ?1,000. she goes and registers www.mrswooleysshop.co.uk and Im stuck with a worthless domain.

 

however if I have www.wooleys.co.uk you bet I'm going to want ?10,000 for it, and even if woolworths dont approach me, mrs wooley (god bless her...I assume shes dead now she was old back then)can shout trademark, law, sue all you like, I aint going to let her have it cheap.

 

I too have been at the mercy of a domain I desparetly wanted being pre-registered.

 

the .com did have virtualy no market value, however the seller wanted ?1,000 for it, I simply registered the same name under .org and continued.

 

and as for loss of earnings, I think Bill will find his new domain name...based hits by people randomly typing in the whole domain name directly into the URL box will be none existant even with a good name it takes a great marketing campain to establish a .com as a brand, and if he uses Search Engines and SEO to promote, then that could have been done with equal success had he registeredwww.billsbusiness99.com, any result by using search engines that exists already must have been created by the work of the previous owners of the domain name...thats the way it works you see

 

proof of this is www.google.com the word the domain name google, is effectivly worthless to all business, however thanks to the work of the owners it is THE most valuable domain name in existance and the most popular search engine in the world.

 

how sad for the owners of www.searchengine.com

who despite having the best name for a search engine in the world, their domain name has no comparative value.

 

[ 22.02.2008, 11:16: Message edited by: legion ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

a fairly stupid person based on the above example, being that theres only yourselves with any feasable use for it, a good example of why you get the upper hand in those situations, but I can see an increadible inconvieniance.

 

but your not going to escape withoput criticism...since he clearly registered it after you regisgetered the hyphonated version, surely it would of been pudent for the sake of ?5 to register the unhyphonated.

 

I recenly decided to set up a site for loan affiliation, there was two possible ways to spell this (although one incorectly but a common misspell) I registered both... didnt bother with hyphens though, and Im not bothered if somone takes them.

 

funnily enough, one of my other domain names I registered most of the suite (as it was available and a great generic name) .co.uk, .com, .biz, .org etc.

 

just to sell on later, somone has now registered the .CN (chinese) version and tried to sell it to me...he will realise his mistake as currently its only value is to me, if somone else takes it up as a brand name only then will his be worth anything, but they will come to me first.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...