Purchased expired domain from competitor. Advice?

[Wilson006]

Purchased a local competitor's expired domain back Dec 2023.

The website is now online again as it was. Same pages, and content, links.

No information has been tampered with or changed. Same Website. The original owner's phone and email are all the same.

My goal after getting the website back on Google is to capture all form submissions and refer them to my business

In a way not ofc it's me. "Yes, I think the owner has found out his website online again."

Has anyone successfully done this before? Any advice on this matter? Hella sketch or take on the situation?

Should I just reach out to the owner? Ask him if he's interested pay me to keep it online or work a deal with leads off the site.
Maybe, offer to host the site till retires?

or should I stay lowkey? It's a local service small business. Owner in his 70s-80s in age.

 

[420lounge]

Before proceeding, consider the legal and ethical implications of taking over a competitor's expired domain without their

consent, there could be legal issues related to domain ownership, copyright, and business ethics....You can seek legal advice..

 

[hideath]

Owner in his 70s-80s in age.

We don't treat elders this way, sorry dude,
Just contact him and ask if he's interested in getting his website back,
Ask a fair price for whatever you spent on the website and give him back if want to,
Not everything about business after all, imagine this happening to one of your parent that have less knowledge in web stuff

 

[clubitvn]

I would say contact the owner and explain the situation what if they are aware of the site online an it may cause legal issues ,check the terms and conditions as well.

 

[pulkitseo]

it's not ethical ...contact owner if he isn't interested then you can continue else sell him on negotiation basis.

 

[Boeing787]

dont tell me u did his websites and when he decided not to pay for your monthly "maintenance" you grabbed his domain lol

 

[skaz97]

I think the same as these people. Ask for a cheap price to give it back to the previous owner, because in the end you have also invested time in recovering it, you are not going to do it for free either.

Or if not, you can tell him to go on commission with the potential clients that come to him through the website that you have traced. A WIN TO WIN.

 

[WebsiteDesignAgency]

I had a similar situation but with the owner's consent. After I was doing good it became a legal battle...

 

[Wilson006]

Appreciate the feedback, everyone.

Proceed to reach out to the owner here within the month. Probably just keep it online and offer assistance managing it till he's fully done. If not interested remove it completely. Yeah, not trying to get any legal issues or bad karma over it.