What would you do? Money vs Ethics

It sounds like he wasn't using the domain. Maybe sell it and split the gross, minus reg fees?

If you didn't do anything wrong, just make him pay!

wait a second, you're coming on GFY to ask about an issue of ethics?

It wasn't yours to start with. It cost you zero time and a couple bucks, which I am sure you will be refunded. You have nothing invested in this. Its also very likely going to turn into a big lawsuit, which you will be dragged in even though you did nothing wrong. I would transfer it back to the owner, would be nice though if you could get some future business out of the deal from the owner or at least some free food for "doing the right thing".

It's the name of the guys business, put yourself in his shoes. Obviously the register fucked up. Now if the domain had expired then all bets off but the owner did nothing wrong (besides use a crappy register) it's the name of his business and he was paying his reg fees. To be honest I don't see how the original owners loses it. He will have to sue the register and at the end of the day I wouldn't be surprised if you have to give it back. How can the original owner get fucked out of his domain when he did nothing to lose it???

Do you really want to be involved with all of that when you have nothing vested into it? Going the good route could make you more money in the long run and save you a lot of head aches. Most people here are very short sighted. You even admitted that something didn't seem right from the start, if the domain is worth several thousand and the *register* decided to give it to you for free while someone else still owned it. You never did hear from or deal with the owner.... its obvious the deal was messed up to start with.

If you are a legitimate buyer you have nothing to worry about... but as a previous post says there are ways to settle it wiser...

Puma.nl?

First, what we do defines who we are. So in considering different options consider what kind of person you want to be.

I wonder if the host was playing "tech guy" and registered the domain in their name even though it really belonged to their customer? That happens a lot. If so, ethically and morally it's basically stolen property, but that could be a good thing. In that case, the owner is now pissed at their host / tech guy for selling their name out from under them and needs to start paying someone else to manage their site; someone who knows how to runs sites and will do so with integrity. Get them on the phone and find out what happened from their point of view. That could be a very profitable relationship.

Otherwise, talk to the restaurateur and find something that works well for both. Maybe they'd be glad to trade you a $100 gift card at their restaurant and you'd be very happy with that too. I'm sure you can figure out something that makes you both happy.

However it works out, do something that you feel good about, something that makes you like who you are.

I don't see this as money vs ethics as you obtained the domain legally and without malice. So keep the domain and develop it and / or sell it

Earlier this year I sold my Alphaflash.com domain for $xx,xxx

The domain had reached the final stage of the expiration process without my knowledge and was a week away from going up for public availability. I received a call at home from a woman with an accent who said she was interested in buying the domain. She said she'd been trying to contact me for months but my domain info was incorrect and this was her last effort to contact me. I thought that was odd.

I looked at my domain and realized it was expired so quickly spent the best $6.95 of my life to renew it. After doing a bit of research I found that this company was registering Alpha Flash as a service mark/trade mark in many countries with one pending in the U.S. The negotiation process was a few months but ended very well for me.

I bet many millions of dollars are lost every year by domain owners losing domains that others would pay them well for. It's just part of the business , not unethical IMO.

the difference is the original owner didn't let it expire. It was paid for. The original owner *also* didn't do anything wrong. The register had no legal standing to sell it. The register can't touch someone else's domain unless it is expired.

Imagine your best domain, that your whole business revolves around is suddenly gone at not fault of your own because your register made a mistake. How does it feel. Do you really split hairs and say, ah well the new guy who got it is swell because he did nothing wrong. No, you want your fucking domain back. Sure you sue the register but that could take a long time to resolve and not 100% sure it even gets you the domain back.

Regardless I think the register would either have some type of recourse to get the domain back, or via lawsuit the rightful owner would get it back one way or another. The op might have to sue the register for taking it back from him for some monetary value/loss, but at the end I would be surprised the original owner doesn't get it back since the register messed up. A domain can't be replaced, but the money can and all the domain is worth to the op is the potential to make a fast buck.

It's basically stolen property. Your landlord goes into your house and sells your TV to someone else. It's stolen property, you should get it back and the person who bought it shouldn't be allowed to keep it. Is the person who buys property that they find out is stolen, then wants to keep it... is he really "playing by the rules". I don't think so.

Do a poo in a box, and send it via post to the original owner. Tell him the domain name is in the box

OH SHIT!

I read the OP wrong I think.

So do I have it right now? This four letter .nl was registered to a host, on behalf of an owner, and the host sold the domain for profit without the owners permission or knowledge?

Give it back at cost. Very simple.

If you don't give it back ICANN will, as the domain is clearly owned by the owner, not the host. You contacted the host and asked them to contact the owner so you could buy the domain from the owner. The host did not do as you asked or intended. The host sold the owners domain without his permission or knowledge. ICANN gives the domain back to rightful owner if you don't. Case closed

Let him have it but have him pay whatever fees you put out.

you must do what you think is right luke

I'm not sure if I read that right. Is the previous owner the person whose the restaurant chain belongs to or someone who wasn't developing the domain but could profit from selling it to the restaurant chain?

You got it right now, except the register didn't even sell it for profit, just transferred it for the registration fees. So it had to be a huge fuck up on their end to basically give away one of their clients domains. I don't how how any competent company could do that.