How I Lost a Valuable Domain Name and What I Learned About Domain Renewals

Sometime ago, I made a huge rookie tech mistake. Now, in the grand scheme of things, it is not really affecting my life and probably not that big of a deal. However, in principle, and when it comes to “You never know,” I messed up.

So here’s what happened, I had a few domains expiring. I thought to myself, “Meh, I don’t use them anymore so I’ll just let them go, there’s no point in continuing to pay for these things annually.” So against my better instincts, I didn’t renew them.

Later that week I thought to myself, “You know what, I kind of like the names, I should renew them.” Not a few moments after I had that realization, some random guy emails me stating the following, “Hi, I am the new owner of the domain “hiddenreportdotcom” and I’ll gladly sell it back to you for 6k.”

What happened is that this person bought the domain within a day or so of its expiring and then offered to sell it back at a significant profit. I was surprised and a bit frustrated, but I understood that this practice, while aggressive, is legal and common in the domain market. It’s a reminder to stay vigilant. Well played, domain monitoring buyer.

After this wake-up call, I immediately went back and purchased all my other expired domains. I bought them back, including “thehiddenreportdotcom” and “hiddenreportdotnet,” along with a few others I owned.

This situation bothers me because I really want my old domain back, but I’m not willing to pay 6k for it. I own other valuable names and prefer not to spend such a high amount on one that may just sit in my domain manager. It’s just a lesson learned, and there’s nothing more to do now.

In an unrelated domain matter, I almost donated “aroddotorg” to a non-profit. You know I like to help where I can, and someone asked me to donate it. I almost did, but I’ve had that domain since 2001 and decided to keep it.

Anyway, I’m sure those of you with many domains wouldn’t make this mistake, but I wanted to share this story for anyone who might not realize this can happen. If your domains are expiring, especially one- or two-word domain names, it’s usually worth paying to keep them active. You never know—it might end up selling for a pretty good price someday.