Here are the emails I've exchanged with that guy so far. The only thing that has been changed or edited is the last name of the guy whose name downsouthbmx.com was originally registered to. I don't know if he'd want his full name floating around on MySpace.
Me (9/26/05 8:08pm)
According to whoisid.com, you have purchased downsouthbmx.com. Is that true? If so, are you willing to sell it?
Him (9/26/05 8:48pm)
Yes I purchased it in an auction to use for pay per click revenue generation. For the right price though I would sell it though that was not my original intent. I will need a few days to monitor it to see what its ultimate value is but it would not be really cheap if that is what you are hoping.
Me (9/26/05 10:50pm)
Well I was the webmaster of it for years. Originally, I had my webhost register it for me, so it was registered in their name instead of mine. My webhost went out of business, then later the domain name expired. So I've been waiting and waiting for months, checking it almost every day on register.com (that's who it was originally registered through) for the "30 day" grace period to run out so I could register it in my own name. It took more like 60 days, and apparently the instant it became available, you somehow managed to get it. It was a great non-profit website for me and my friends to keep in touch and share BMX news with each other. I never used any ads, or made a single penny off of it. I always paid for the domain and hosting out of my own pocket. It was my, as well as many (55, to be exact) of my friends who helped make it possible, pride and joy. It would be very decent of you to give, or at least sell, it back. Please consider it. Thank you.
Him (9/26/05 11:07pm)
First I did not somehow manage to get it. It was acquired by a service that registers names that become available.
I bought it in an auction from that service.
Second, there are ways you could have proved you should have had the rights to the name.
Third, while I tend to believe you, some variation on this story is told by everyone who wants to get a name from someone, and I really have no idea if what you say is true.
Fourth, I paid a lot for it, so I am certainly not giving it away as I do have my own family to raise.
I looked at the old site. Somebody obviously cared about it and I assume that was you giving the benefit of the doubt.
I paid $460 for the name. I have put some time into it. I will consider a minimal amount over my hard costs. If $460 is already too high
then I am afraid I can not help you.
Me (9/27/05 12:41am)
Well I'm relieved that you'll at least consider breaking even on it. $460 is absolutely insane, and there's no way I could afford that, but I know enough people to raise that much money. So... sure, a base price of $460 sounds good. It's actually kind of funny that some company sold the name to something that I created and only lost money on for a few hundred dollars. Irony at its finest.
I did not have the rights to the name, that was the problem. I paid my 1st webhost, KRP Internet for the hosting and the domain name. They then registered it to themselves (Kevin ______, specifically) through register.com. They went out of business many months before the domain expired, so I simply switched hosts. I tried getting a change of registrant, but register.com wanted like $200 just to change it from Kevin ______ to me. There was supposed to be a 30 day grace period after it expired, for Kevin ______ to renew it. But it actually took about 2 months after it expired for it to become available again. Eventually, I stopped checking it every morning and night, until I was only checking it once every 2 or sometimes even 3 days. Then of course, as soon as it became available the company that auctioned it off must've snatched it up, because I noticed when it was no longer registered to Kevin ______. As soon as it wasn't, I tried to register it, but every registrar I tried said it was taken, but the Whois had no record of who had it. But now it does, and that's how I got your email address.
If you saw the old site, I can easily prove that I was the previous owner. 2 months before the domain name expired, I purchased a year's worth of hosting. So I still have full control over the actual content of the site at its previous host. Here is the link to the site on its server:
http://dominica.globat.com/~downsouthbmx.com/
If you really want me to prove it, just tell me a change to make to it, and I'll make it. I can also get the original official registrant, Kevin ______, to vouch for me if necessary.
Him (9/27/05 12:46am)
Go to this link and you will see how conservative this price actually is these days.
Me (10/06/05 11:05am)
Have you determined its ultimate value yet?
Him (10/06/05 11:20pm)
Its value is out of your reach. I will let you have it for $475. I need payment by paypal which requires the cash to be in the sending paypal account as my account can not take CC payments. If you do not want to create and fund a paypal account for this, we can use an escrow company but that will add their $60 fee to the price.
---My comments (just here on MySpace)---
I love how he told me that it was out of my reach and assumed I, Anthony Lizana (holder of perfect eBay feedback and a PayPal account that does accept CC payments), don't have a PayPal account. He's obviously underestimating my abilities. I can't wait to raise $475 in like 3 seconds, just to spite him.
---End comments---
Me (10/06/05 11:43pm)
$475 in only temporarily out of my reach. I've had a Premium PayPal account for over 2 years, so the payment method won't be an issue. I'll have to whip up some sort of fund raiser. I'll get back to you as soon as I have $475. Thanks for the cooperation.
Him (10/06/05 11:49pm)
Ok, I will hold it for you. What I meant about value is its value is closer to $700. Under the circumstances I am letting you have it for cost plus lunch basically. Good karma and all that.
Me (10/06/05 11:56pm)
Ok, thank you. I appreciate your willingness to basically give it up for $15.