Ask HN: Buying unused domains from big corporations

[ziggamon]

There's a couple of domain names that would be great with the startup name we're working with, that are registered by big corporations (in this case two, one belonging to IBM, and one to AOL).

The domains in questions aren't being used, they are leftovers from past projects or acquisitions, and just redirect to the mother corp index.

Anyone here have any experience whether or not it'd be possible to get them somehow, if so who to talk to etc, or should we just move on with our lives as if the domains never existed?

[czbond]

Don't expect them to move quickly. If they do agree to sell, I would personally plan for it to take close to 5 months. (Decisions and actions don't happen quickly at IBM or AOL).

Options to make it go faster... 1) Start with a similar domain (eg: getProduct.com) simply to get started 2) Use Linkedin to find a first or second degree connection in the company in IT Operations, or Legal. 3) Contact that person on Linkedin and try to get a phone number of the right person to talk to OR 4) Ping them directly from a non-gmail account (ideally a personal business sounding domain). (expect a 2 week time for them to respond). 5) Follow up consistently. It will get dropped. 6) Legal will say "No" at first, bc that's what they do. 7) Try try again.

hope it helps

[jimymodi]

I think if ant of the time these domains were the face of the awesome things they done in the past then they won't.

If it were used to host some of their internal app then they might give you.

I suggest to find some personal contact (ofcourse from some middle man) with some Manager level in the IS department.

[ziggamon]

Thx for input.

It's mainly from past acquisitions. One is from a company acquired in 2004, the other a past unused name of an acquired company that was acquired in 2006.

Do you happen to know if there are legal reasons they might be scared of doing that?