Progyny.ca, cannot find owner (1.Viewing)

I guess we all have dropped a domain that we wish we had kept.
Mine is Progyny.ca.

1. Shows on whois as registered at 10dollar.ca.
2. I have sent messages via the CIRA contact form twice but no reply.
3. New owner bought March 2021, no archive.org info.
4. I expect it was a domain investor buying from TBR and holding at 10dollar.ca. Do you know other investors who buy there? Message me at dave@silent.domains

I hope this thread will be valuable for others who are also looking for a .ca.

Hello Dave

The Canadian domaining scene is not huge so chances are we will get to the bottom of this for you.

Good luck

I much prefer the real word, Progeny.ca.

Maybe you meant Progeny.ca - the proper spelling? That would be a nice, generic and safe domain to invest in. That misspelling is just going to bleed traffic to the proper spelling.

BTW, there's a newly formed Ontario corporation, Progyny Canada Inc, just about 6 weeks ago, not to mention their 6 year old trademark.

So whoever bought progyny earlier this year might be getting a CDRP any day now... You may have dodged a bullet.

rlm and Maple,
Thanks for your info.
In general, if:
1.the CIRA message does not get a reply
2. There is no info on the current website
3. archive.org has nothing
What other suggestions do you have in these days of 'Privacy' being the default for whois listings? How do you find the owner?

bluegill said:

rlm and Maple,
Thanks for your info.
In general, if:
1.the CIRA message does not get a reply
2. There is no info on the current website
3. archive.org has nothing
What other suggestions do you have in these days of 'Privacy' being the default for whois listings? How do you find the owner?

Click to expand...

Maybe the owner doesn’t want you to find them. They don’t have to respond to the CIRA messages.

theinvestor said:

Maybe the owner doesn’t want you to find them. They don’t have to respond to the CIRA messages.

Click to expand...

Exactly. If the owner isn't responding to CIRA emails then he or she doesn't want to be found.

It is possible that the domainer who owns it realizes you are a domainer and is simply going to ignore you and wait for the real buyer to show up.

I know if another domainer contacts me about a domain, my first thought is always, "what do they know that I don't??"

I don’t understand why some ignore inquiries. If it’s not for sale I can understand but to be honest domainer or not. Why ignore it? I’ve purchased domains from many domainers way above TBR prices. In some cases they were high enough to be end user prices. Although we are domainers it doesn’t mean we can’t also be able to pay end user prices.

MapleDots is a great example of that. Look what he has done with DN.ca. Back in the day I also paid quite a bit to acquire dnc.ca and other related domains. Ilze and I have done many transactions together and we all know she doesn’t sell any domains cheap.

Wow! Haven’t heard Ilze’s name in a while…thanks for mentioning her. *THUMBSUP* She was a pioneer in .ca.

theinvestor said:

... and we all know she doesn’t sell any domains cheap.

Click to expand...

And the winner of the 2021 Understatement of the Year Award goes to....

theinvestor said:

I don’t understand why some ignore inquiries.

Click to expand...

Because very few domainers actually develop anything. And if a domainer wants it, its because they're hoping to resell it higher and grab it before anyone else does. Been there done that myself and had success with that strategy. So when a domainer comes knocking, the first thing I always think is, what do they know that I don't?

So although _I_ would likely still respond, I'm saying I would understand if others wouldn't, as its likely a waste of time. Its also a passive negotiation strategy to not respond. Money talks, bull[crap] walks. So if you really want a domain, throw out a number big enough to get their attention and I'm sure they'll respond. Until then, you just don't have their attention. The bigger the portfolio you have, the more likely you like that strategy - just out of necessity.

And as a buyer, I always _know_ they're getting the message (unless the owner is dead or something, and if that's the case it doesn't matter). It just forces me to throw out legit offers sometimes to get a response.

In the case of DN, I am sure that the seller didn't _want_ to sell it at that price, they were motivated. DN is now listed for $1.25M on Dan. Many LL are listed for 6-figures. So I don't see that or others as being what I'd call end user sales or even close. That was a motivated seller, Frank is not. So it really depends on the seller. If they need to pay the bills, they're going to respond. If not, maybe not responding is just a "show me the money!" strategy.

rlm said:

DN is now listed for $1.25M on Dan

Click to expand...

It's really the same as saying dn.ca is not for sale.

We all know anything is for sale but when I had it at 250k I thought what if someone grabs it, then I would have to change the board URL. So to be safe I moved it to 1.25 million, so chances of it selling are pretty well NIL at this point.

MapleDots said:

It's really the same as saying dn.ca is not for sale.

Click to expand...

I do realize that, which is why I pointed out that many LL are still legitimately listed at 6-figures. But I still would call your acquisition price as being more like a high-liquidation price than a low end-user price, and I'm sure I wasn't the only other domainer mulling it over at that price.

There are a couple of potential reasons the new owner, who more than likely did pick up the domain via TBR, has not responded:

1. They are a domain-savvy lawyer representing the trademark holder, and they picked up the domain for their client, and there is zero chance their client wants to sell that domain. I know of several Canadian-based, domain-savvy lawyers who know how to (and do) pick up domains via TBR. So they aren't going to reply because that is not what they were paid to do and/or they don't want to reveal the fact they were involved in the acquisition. Also, if they think you are a domainer, they may not reply just because some domain lawyers are not fans of domainers.

2. They are a domain buyer broker (like yours truly) representing a buyer client, and they picked up the domain for their client, and there is zero chance their client wants to sell that domain. So they aren't going to reply because that is not what they were paid to do and/or they don't want to reveal the fact they were involved in the acquisition. They want to keep things in stealth mode.

Personally, as a courtesy, I try to reply to folks who inquire about domains I own or have acquired for my clients, but I will still only reply to the folks who are polite and seem serious. I probably won't reply to some random dude with a hotmail.com address asking if he can buy the "URL" for $20. Those inquiries are a waste of time. ;+)

And no, I didn't pick up this domain for a client.

Tip: If you have or can make friends with the folks who work at the specific registrar, you could ask them to reach out to the registrant (their customer) on your behalf with a serious offer. Some registrars will do that, if you ask nicely and your offer is realistic (fair market value).

Domain owners not responding to serious purchase inquiries, including sometimes even six-figures offers (for .com, not .ca), is the bane of my existence as a buyer broker. I don't keep track, but I would guess that at this point there are over $10M in domain deals that have not happened because domain owners never replied to me. And that's just me and my boutique firm; imagine the hundreds of millions of dollars of deals that have never closed because some domain owners would not or could not reply.

Good luck with your quest!

Bill,
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. What a great industry we are in where people help each other so much!
Dave Chandler