logistics of buying domain from bankrupt company

[dag-uk]

We are in the process of buying the name,assets etc of a company that is in receivership. We also want the domain names and websites associated with the company. I'm trying to figure out the logistics of this !

If I was buying/transferring a domain and hosting from someone that would be straightforward but in this case the domain registrant is the company name. Ideally we want it in the name of our company owner. As the company we are buying no longer has any staff etc there is no one to sign over the domain. is there a process for this ? Google searches throw up loads about registrars going bust etc but nothing about this.

Regards,

David

 

[Clinton]

There is never only a company name, there is a person and an email account attached to the registration.

What's the TLD?

 

[Darren C]

There will be a nominet account (assuming it is a uk domain) linked to an email address which may the same as your target domain or may not be. Only the administrator of the domain would be able to login and transfer it to you.

The administrator could be anyone who worked for the company or it could be a third party (such as a web developer).

First step is to talk to the liquidator since the domain is a company asset. Beware though because this may signal the domain has some value (although a lot of liquidators are wise to this now).

Failing this you could just wait for the domain to drop (3 month after the end of the registration period) when it becomes available to anyone. But, if it did have any value, there is a chance it will be on the radar of a professional drop-catcher who will nab it to sell on.

That said, loads of domains don't get on the radar because they do not have that much perceived value in terms of goodwill or backlinks. In which case you have an advantage because you know the day (more or less) when it will drop.

Nominet may be able to advise you on the technicalities but I'd be surprised if they did much else.

 

[dag-uk]

Thanks for the replies, I suspected that I would have to go via the liquidator and nominet etc to find out who owns the domain. the whois info just has "acme 2 you" as the registrant so we will have to try and find who dealt with this within the company.

It's not one of great value so we could also wait.

David

 

[antropy]

It's not one of great value so we could also wait.

You might be able to see when it expires?