The domain name you want is already registered. That is not the end of the road — a large share of the best .com names change hands privately every year, often for far less than marketplace asking prices. But buying a domain from a stranger is the riskiest transaction in the domain world: one side usually has to trust the other first, and scammers know it. This guide walks you through the safe 7-step process, including the step almost every other guide skips — checking the domain's renewal price before you agree a purchase price.
Your two paths to buying a taken domain
Before you start, know that you have two fundamentally different ways to buy a registered domain:
1. Buy directly from the owner (private deal)
You find the current registrant, contact them, negotiate a price, and complete the deal — usually with an escrow service in the middle. This is normally the cheapest route: no marketplace commission, no broker fees, and motivated individual sellers often accept less than a listed price.
2. Buy through a marketplace or broker
Aftermarket platforms like Sedo, Afternic, and Dan list millions of domains with buy-now prices or make-offer options. If the name is listed, you can purchase or bid directly on the platform. A broker is a third option: for a fee (for example, Sedo's broker service charges an upfront fee plus a commission on a successful sale), a professional tracks down the owner and negotiates for you. Brokers make sense for high-value names where professional negotiation pays for itself — for a $500 domain, the fees would eat most of the savings.
The rest of this guide focuses on the private-deal path, since that is where the scams happen and where the savings are.
Step 1: Find the current owner
Start with a WHOIS lookup on the domain. WHOIS shows the registrant's contact details — but in most cases today you will find them masked by a privacy service, showing only an anonymized forwarding email or a contact form. That is normal, not a red flag. Use the forwarding address or form to reach the owner; privacy services do forward legitimate purchase inquiries.
If the domain has an active website, check the contact page, footer, or imprint for an email address. For brand-style domains you can also try the obvious addresses (info@ or contact@ the domain itself) — but the WHOIS forwarding address is the most reliable route because it reaches the person who actually controls the registration.
Tip: if you have talked about your project publicly, have the inquiry come from a neutral email address rather than one tied to your company. A seller who knows a funded startup wants the name will price it accordingly.
Step 2: Check the renewal price BEFORE you negotiate
This is the step that separates a good deal from an expensive trap — and almost no buyer's guide covers it.
When you buy a domain, you are not just paying the purchase price. You are signing up to pay the domain's renewal price every year, forever. Two traps hide here:
The registry-premium trap
Some domains are "registry premium": the registry itself prices the name higher — not just for the first registration, but for every renewal, and the renewal price is non-negotiable. A name you buy for $2,000 could renew at $500, $1,000, or more per year. Before you agree any price, ask the seller for the current renewal rate at their registrar, and check the same TLD's renewal price at the registrar you plan to use. If a seller cannot or will not tell you the renewal price, walk away.
The registrar-markup trap
Even for ordinary .com domains, renewal prices vary wildly between registrars. Prices checked 1 November 2026:
- Spaceship: $10.88/year
- Dynadot: $10.88/year
- Cloudflare Registrar: $11.17/year (at-cost)
- Porkbun: $11.81/year
- Hostinger: $19.99/year
- Namecheap: $19.98/year
- NameSilo: $19.99/year
- IONOS: $20.00/year
- GoDaddy: $22.99/year
A $2,000 domain kept at GoDaddy for five years costs $114.95 in renewals; moved to Spaceship it costs $54.40. Factor that into your offer — and plan to transfer the domain to a cheap registrar the moment you own it (see Step 7). Note that wholesale .com pricing rose on 1 November 2026, so every registrar's renewal floor moved up with it; always re-check current rates before you commit.
Also check the expiry date in WHOIS. Any time remaining on the registration is yours free, and if you transfer the domain to a new registrar, ICANN rules add one extra year to the existing expiry (up to a 10-year maximum). A domain expiring in 9 months is worth slightly more to you than one expiring next week.
Step 3: Run due diligence on the domain
A domain is not just a name — it carries a history. Before money moves, check four things:
- Trademark conflicts: search the name (and close variants) in your country's trademark database. Buying a domain that infringes an existing trademark can cost you the domain plus legal fees. If the name matches a known brand, do not buy it.
- History: use the Wayback Machine to see what the domain hosted in the past. A history of spam, scams, or adult content can mean lasting search-engine penalties and blacklist entries.
- Blacklists and reputation: check whether the domain or its past IP appears on major spam blacklists. A blacklisted domain can make your future emails land in spam folders.
- Traffic claims: if the seller claims the domain gets traffic or revenue, ask for verifiable analytics. Unverified traffic claims are one of the most common ways buyers overpay.
Step 4: Verify the seller actually owns the domain
Never pay anyone who cannot prove they control the domain. Verification is simple:
- Ask the seller to email you from the administrative contact address shown in WHOIS (even through the privacy forwarding address — the forward proves control of the registration).
- Ask for a screenshot of the domain in their registrar's control panel, or a short screen recording — harder to fake than a static image.
- For higher-value deals, ask the seller to add a specific TXT record to the domain's DNS. Only someone with real control of the domain can do this.
A legitimate seller will complete at least one of these without complaint. Refusal to prove ownership is the single clearest scam signal — end the conversation there.
Step 5: Negotiate — and let the seller name the price first
Set your maximum budget before you make contact, based on comparable sales and what the domain is worth to your project — not what the seller asks. In negotiation, whoever names a number first usually loses leverage, so let the seller state their price. Then:
- Counter with a reasoned figure tied to your research (comparable sales, renewal costs from Step 2).
- Stay polite and unhurried. Domain sellers who sense desperation raise the price; many private sellers are simply happy to sell an unused name.
- Get the final terms in writing — price, what is included (the domain only, or also content/accounts?), payment method, and who pays the escrow and transfer fees — before any money moves.
Step 6: Pay through escrow — never wire money directly
This is the step that makes the whole deal safe. An escrow service acts as a neutral third party: your payment sits with escrow until the domain is confirmed in your control, and only then is it released to the seller. Neither side has to trust the other.
The standard flow:
- You and the seller agree on terms and open a transaction with the escrow service (Escrow.com is the best-known service built specifically for domain deals).
- You send the payment to escrow — not to the seller.
- Escrow confirms the funds and instructs the seller to start the domain transfer.
- The seller unlocks the domain, gives you the authorization (EPP) code, and you initiate the transfer at your registrar. Escrow can verify the domain's ownership records directly.
- Once you confirm the domain is in your account, escrow releases the payment to the seller, minus its fee.
Escrow adds a fee — typically a small percentage or flat amount, which you can negotiate to split with the seller. For any deal above a few hundred dollars it is cheap insurance. As a rule of thumb: if the amount is more than you can afford to lose, use escrow. Never send a bank wire, crypto, or gift-card payment directly to a stranger for a domain.
Step 7: Complete the technical transfer and lock it down
Once escrow confirms your payment, the seller unlocks the domain at their registrar and provides the authorization code. You go to your registrar, start a "transfer in" with that code, and approve the transfer — usually by clicking a confirmation link sent to the admin email. Standard inter-registrar transfers complete in about 5 days (some registrars release faster), and the transfer fee — typically around one year's renewal price — includes one extra year added to the domain's expiry.
If you and the seller use the same registrar, ask for an internal account push instead: it is usually free, completes in minutes, and skips the transfer fee. Note that an account push does not add the free extra year that an inter-registrar transfer does.
The 60-day lock rule: ICANN policy means a change of registrant usually triggers a 60-day lock during which the domain cannot be transferred to another registrar (the seller can opt out of this lock before the sale — ask them to). Plan accordingly: if you intend to move the domain to a cheaper registrar for renewals, either have the seller opt out first, or buy at a registrar you are happy to stay with for 60 days.
The moment the domain is yours: enable the registrar lock, turn on auto-renew, enable two-factor authentication on the account, and — if you bought at an expensive registrar — start a transfer to a cheap one (Spaceship, Dynadot, Cloudflare, or Porkbun, all under $12/year for .com) as soon as any lock period allows.
Red flags: when to walk away
- The seller refuses to use escrow or demands direct payment by wire, crypto, or gift cards.
- The seller cannot prove ownership (see Step 4) or gets evasive when asked.
- High-pressure tactics: "another buyer is about to pay," "price goes up tomorrow."
- The deal is far below market value with no plausible explanation — stolen or hijacked domains get sold cheap and fast.
- The domain was registered less than 60 days ago — it cannot be transferred yet, which complicates escrow verification.
- The seller will not disclose the renewal price, or the WHOIS expiry date looks recently and suspiciously modified.
Quick safety checklist
- Find the owner via WHOIS (use the privacy-service forwarding address if details are masked).
- Check the domain's renewal price and registry-premium status before negotiating.
- Run trademark, history, blacklist, and traffic-claim checks.
- Verify ownership: admin-contact email, control-panel proof, or a DNS TXT record.
- Agree price and terms in writing; let the seller name the first number.
- Pay only through escrow — never wire money directly to a stranger.
- Transfer via auth code (or same-registrar push), confirm receipt, then escrow releases funds.
- Lock the domain, enable auto-renew, and move renewals to a cheap registrar.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to buy a domain from someone?
There is no fixed price — private deals range from under $100 for unused names to six figures for premium .coms. Budget for the purchase price plus the escrow fee, the transfer fee (roughly one year's renewal), and ongoing renewals at your chosen registrar.
How long does the whole process take?
Finding and negotiating with the owner can take days to weeks. The technical transfer itself takes up to about 5 days between registrars, or minutes with a same-registrar account push. Allow 2–4 weeks end to end for a typical private deal.
Can the seller take the domain back after selling it?
Once the registrant change is complete and the domain is in your registrar account with the lock on, the seller has no technical way to reclaim it. This is why verifying the transfer completed — before escrow releases your payment — matters.
What if WHOIS privacy hides the owner's identity?
Use the anonymized forwarding email or contact form the privacy service provides; legitimate purchase inquiries do get forwarded. If there is no forwarding contact at all, the domain's website contact page is your next best route.
Do I pay a transfer fee when buying a domain this way?
An inter-registrar transfer costs roughly one year's renewal at the gaining registrar, and it adds one year to the domain's expiry — so it is not wasted money. A same-registrar account push is usually free but adds no extra year.
Is it safe to buy a domain from a stranger?
Yes, if you follow the process above: verify ownership before paying, pay only through escrow, and confirm the transfer completed before funds are released. Every domain scam story you hear skipped at least one of those steps.
Prices in this article were checked on 1 November 2026. Renewal prices move with Verisign's wholesale changes, so always confirm the current rate at your registrar before you commit to a purchase.