Anyone bought a domain from company in liquidation?

[spunko2010]

A rival company is in liquidation (currently), I have considered writing to the official receiver to try to acquire their .co.uk domain, which has some value to me as it's a keyword match. It would also have some value if it went to the open market after expiry so I am trying to circumvent that (6 months away).

Has anyone ever managed to do this? Did you use the services of a solicitor or DIY?

 

[ian]

Many times, though with mixed success. It was discussed on here a while back, so definitely do a search, but the general opinion was yes, you can approach the liquidation agent direct, but for the most part, don't expect them to be interested for anything less than £750, "to cover their costs"!!!

 

[spunko2010]

Thanks. My budget is probably about that, as I think it's worth more on the "open market" but obviously would be looking to get a deal for doing the legwork.

How should I approach them? I was thinking if, by email or letter, something like "I am looking to buy some digital assets of XXX Ltd; I see you are handling the liquidation. I am particularly interested in the domain XXXX.co.uk, which I note is still registered with Nominet to XXX Ltd. Please will you get back to me with price expectations to acquire this domain which is a good match for my own business".

 

[RobM]

I wouldn't put 'which is a good match for my own business'. It won't make them lower the price and will only serve to inflate your interest in the domain. They don't need to know why you want it.

 

[ian]

Indeed, express your interest in a particular asset of the company; you don't necessary have to mention what asset, just get communication started, and down play the domain when you do, so not to increase its price. I've found that low balling liquidators tends to result in lack of reply, or a sharp 'no'. Offer just below your maximum and hope it is enough. Be mindful though that if you have a competing company, it may be that the owner doesn't want to sell assets to you; so consider using a third party name to remove that association.

 

[spunko2010]

Just to update, the official receiver replied finally today, telling me they aren't interested in selling the assets.

 

[Lovekraft]

I successfully acquired a 2 letter domain some years back from a company in liquidation. It was a punt but to my surprise the receivers did respond and put me in touch with the companies directors. I did make an opening £xxxx offer though so they knew I was serious.

To add the to the complications the domain was due to expire and the directors didn't know the log in details in order to renew it, and in trying to re-establish the identity Nominet became aware that the domain was still registered to a company in liquidation and locked it which meant they couldn't transfer it to me. It was quite a tense experience for me as I had paid for it by this point. In locking it this however did stop the domain from dropping.

It also didn't help that the company was Icelandic so communication wasn't always clear. And they all had mental names.

It took a lot of effort in the end we then had to go through a "dissolved correction process" meaning they had to get various signatures from people / ex directors in different countries, provide invoices of previous domain renewals etc to satisfy Nominet that the domain could be transferred to a current director before transferring to me. The poor guy I was dealing with had to put many hours into making it happen so hats off to him.

I've never done this since as it ended up being a lot of work although I did end up with a nice 2 letter as a result, one of the very rare Pre-Nominet 2 letters before they went onto release the rest of them.