selling a domain to another company

[shoutingsteve]

So. I bought pilighting.com about 20 years ago or so and have my lighting portfolio on it.  there is a much larger company that started up after that, and their website is pi-lighting.com.

 

I no longer wish to keep my website as I switched career focus, so I reached out to them to see if they want to buy the domain.  The only problem is: they are in Switzerland.  If they were here, I could draw up a contract and have the legal protection behind me, but I have no idea how to sell something internationally.

 

What should I do?

[Robchil]

contact your domain shop

[Agall]

16 minutes ago, shoutingsteve said:

So. I bought pilighting.com about 20 years ago or so and have my lighting portfolio on it.  there is a much larger company that started up after that, and their website is pi-lighting.com.

 

I no longer wish to keep my website as I switched career focus, so I reached out to them to see if they want to buy the domain.  The only problem is: they are in Switzerland.  If they were here, I could draw up a contract and have the legal protection behind me, but I have no idea how to sell something internationally.

 

What should I do?

Whoever hosts the domain should be able to provide assistance, whether or not we can here is questionable though.

 

Its also worth considering if you think they'll actually buy it or pay enough to make it worth the hassle. If they haven't tried to contact you to buy it, they might not care.

[Mark Kaine]

57 minutes ago, shoutingsteve said:

have no idea how to sell something internationally.

well it it works the same way.  you must specify location of jurisdiction in the contract (so probably the USofA) if they agree its legally binding.  if there are issues you have to sue for the money.* same as you would otherwise. 

 

not a lawyer but that's how that usually works.

also contacting your domain name provider beforehand wouldn't hurt i guess

 

*ps: yeah,  they can just not show up tho lol... that's what you have a lawyer for ... but unless someone here's a lawyer nobody can tell you for certain i suppose

[Kilrah]

IIRC from such a sale about a decade ago there are domain escrow services around that you can transfer the domain to and set the price, then once the buyer pays they transfer to them and send you the money minus a commission. 

[Mark Kaine]

4 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

IIRC from such a sale about a decade ago there are domain escrow services around that you can transfer the domain to, then once the buyer pays they transfer to them and send you the money minus a commission. 

which is just how all and any sales work, money first then the goods (because its usually relatively easy to get the money back, but once the goods are out of your hands they're tougher to get back, they could be consumed, resold, etc, etc) 

[OddOod]

IANAL 
The most important question is Is there an offer on the table? If not, that's the first step. otherwise diving into writing up a contract that's valid internationally is a blind alley.
If there is, and it's a sum you're okay with, I'd ask their legal team to send over a contract for you to review, then read the bejeezus out of it. There are sample contracts out there that are very straight forward. Most nations treat domain names as property and most nations have pretty reasonable laws around this type of property and this should be reasonably straightforward to litigate should it come to that.  
However, a contract is only as good as the trust the two parties have in each other and, conversely, their willingness to fight it out in court. It is highly likely that as the purchaser any dispute would be settled in Swiss courts and unless the amount of money is worth *that* hassle, I'd either walk away, or read the contract and hope they abide by the terms. If it's a big chunk of change, I'd see about escrow. 

[Kilrah]

FWIW I looked in my old emails and the intermediate used was sedo.com, can't vouch for it more than "they were there in 2010 and it went smoothly", could put it on there and they or anyone else could buy it.

Unrelated but damn looking at those old emails makes me feel like I'm not in the same life as back then....

[OddOod]

On 4/10/2024 at 1:19 PM, shoutingsteve said:

What should I do?

Did you end up doing anything?