Picture this. Twenty years ago, you had the opportunity to lease premium real estate - a massive storefront, open to billions of people - for only $10 a year.

Picture this. Twenty years ago, you had the opportunity to lease premium real estate - a massive storefront, open to billions of people - for only $10 a year. The catch? There's already an equally massive sign above the storefront - Accelerated Pneumatic Deliveries. You can't move the sign, cover over it, paint it, etc. But the lease was so low you couldn't help but purchase it, and now, as long as you pay your $10, each year you can own this storefront. A few decades later, Bill Pneumatic, the owner and son of the founder of Accelerated Pneumatic Deliveries, comes along. He wants to purchase your storefront. Here in lies the rub. You've put roughly $200 into your storefront at this point. Clearly $1000 - a 400% ROI - would be a fair price. But you know: 1. The value of the storefront to APD is nearly priceless. Your storefront is unique, but it will only ever have one interested buyer. 2. The downside potential should you decline is nearly nothing. Three less coffees a year, or skimping a bit one night out a year for the rest of your life, and you can keep that storefront until you're buried in front of it. Welcome to the world of domain ownership, where the owner has no rational basis to sell to you a domain for anything but a ludicrous price. I know of a handful of established companies that have changed their name over domain availability. I know about a dozen more that have paid thousands for a domain. If those purchasers make up only 15-20% of all businesses, the domain owners are making comfortable, easy money. ----- Do not go through GoDaddy or Namecheap. Their services are a flat fee plus commission - why would you want to pay someone commission to buy something for you that you already know is going to be unreasonably priced? Especially a company who specialized in commoditizing their services. I would recommend contacting the proxy and trying to make contact with the owner. It will take longer, but you have a much higher chance of success. But you should probably just find a different domain.