I'm sure many of you have logged onto your favorite domain registrar and searched without success trying to find a domain. You may have come to the conclusion that every single domain must have been registered.
Cyber-squatters have made it a complete nightmare to find suitable domains, even the complete abstract domains with random syllables are disappearing like hot cakes! These guys have no intention on creating a relevant website but hope to make a large profit when they resell the domain to the highest bidder. They also generate revenue from these domains with pages filled with advertising links and I'm sure you've all seen them when you have mistyped your favourite websites URL.
Back to the point, finding a domain name can be tough but not impossible! There are many tools online which can make your life much easier.
When you can't find the domain you are looking for generally have two options
Expired domains as you may have guessed have not been renewed and are available again for registration. One mans junk is another mans treasure! My favourite place to look for expired domains is at DomainHole.com. Click on the expired search link in the navigation, choose a short keyword and the maximum length of the domain if you wish and there you go! DomainHole will display a list of domains that have expired and which extensions are available. The only downside is that there is no option to exclude offensive words (DomainHole please take note), so be warned!
If you don't have any luck with expired domains, my new favorite domain name search is DomainsBot.com. They don't list expired domains but domains that are available or for purchase at a premium price. Don't run for the hills at the word premium, they really don't have to cost an arm and a leg. The sky's the limit when it comes to the pricing of some domains. Generic one worded domains can fetch tens of thousands of dollars but there are plenty that range from well below $100. When it comes to finding the perfect domain, paying a little upfront is worth it. Note, that this is a once off fee and you will be charged your normal domain registrars rate when it comes to renewal.
What I love about Domain Bot is that it lists so many relevant variations with the keywords you have selected. It's the perfect brainstorming tool if you don't know where to start. Just type in the keyword or if you want something a little more abstract, type in a bunch of syllables you would like to use in your domain. There a host of filters on the left hand side such as sorting by price and excluding hyphens & numbers all of which make it super easy to narrow down the results.
What to do when you've found that perfect domain?
Before you purchase that premium domain!
Before you whip out your credit card you can try contact the owner of the domain directly to try negotiate a better price.
You can do this by going to:
This will list the contact details. I've managed to save a third of the price for a domain I was interested in, so it's definitely worth it. You know what they asking so you can go in lower. Shifty maybe, but I say it's just being thrifty!
Good luck and happy domain hunting!
Often people will get billed (or overbilled) for products or services they didn't receive and then, to add insult to injury, will be harassed by bill collectors attempting to collect on the bogus debt.
If the erroneous billing involves a credit card, you may be in luck. Often credit card statements will include charges that don't belong to you, are for a dollar amount greater than you authorized, or are for goods or services you ordered but never received. In such cases, you have 60 days from the date of the billing statement to dispute the charge. (This is why the travel industry loves to bill far in advance of travel, since problems will often arise outside of this dispute period, leaving consumers with no recourse.) The technique for disputing a charge is known as a charge-back, and consumers are not responsible for items that the merchant cannot substantiate. Your bank will work on your behalf to resolve the issue, and the burden of proof will be on the merchant's bank to back up the charge. Further, once disputed the charge goes in stasis, the charge won't incur interest charges or show up on your bill until the matter is resolved. As always, send disputes to your bank using the insurance method. If you're outside the time nidpeople.com/ period allowed for a charge-back, then you'll likely need to use a court option to get the issue resolved, since the matter often will end up in collections and severely damage your credit.
As always, try to reason with the party who billed you (in person, if possible). If you are able to resolve the issue in a way that you find favorable, get the agreement in writing and make sure that you stipulate removal of bad credit, if any, as part of the deal. If the account has been turned over to a collection agency, try to have the matter referred back to the original creditor. Of course, if the collection agency has already purchased the debt, this won't be possible.
You have two options in the case of erroneous billing. One is to pay the bill under protest and then sue in small claims court to recover the money. The other is filing a declaratory judgment lawsuit. I like the latter option better, because it offers many advantages. First, if you sue first, then a lawsuit can't end up on your credit report, even if the defendant counter sues. Second, it puts the party that erroneously billed you on a defensive footing, made even worse by the expense that party incurs to defend its position in court. (Smaller creditors, such as doctors and small businesses, are billed by attorneys on an hourly basis in most cases.) Third, most erroneous billing cases are for small dollar amounts (less than $200), so they will likely go uncontested and you'll win by default.