If you’ve searched for a specific domain name at Hover recently, you may have noticed a new option on the results page: Make an offer on this domain.

It’s something we’re trying out as part of our ongoing efforts to help you find the perfect domain name for your idea or project.

You may have noticed that other registrars offer a variety of services where you pay them some amount of money in return for them promising to try and grab a domain if it ever expires. The reality of these types of services is that the registrar happily takes your money and, in most cases, the current owner never lets the domain expire.

That’s why we don’t offer so-called “backorders” – because they rarely, if ever, result in you getting the domain.

Other options

Let’s say you came up with a idea and you wanted to have the domain “perfectdomain.com” for your new website. You head over to Hover and check to see if you can register it. Hover checks and tells you that perfectdomain.com is taken. No perfect domain…no site…no idea realized. Sad panda.

Sometimes the domain you want will be listed for sale, in which case you’ll see it listed in the search results with a yellow star next to the name and a price set by the current owner. We’ve been selling these “premium domains” for a few years now and tons of Hover customers have been able to get the exact domain they wanted for a fair price.

Of course, not all domains are for sale, and not all domain owners are willing to part with their domain at any price. But some might be if the price is right.

That’s why we decided to partner with a company called Domain Agents instead. They do things a bit differently and we think it’s a really nice fit with how we run our business.

With the help of Domain Agents, we now also provide you with an option to see if the current owner of the domain might be willing to part with it.

For $19.95US (a big discount off their regular fee of $49.95US), Domain Agents will do all the leg work to track down the owner of the domain and present your offer to them to buy the domain.

If the current owner isn’t interesting in selling, Domain Agents will let you know. But if the current owner is interested, Domain Agents will help facilitate a negotiation between you and the domain owner and hopefully you’ll be able to come to an agreement on a fair price for the domain.

The minimum offer you can present is $199. We recommend that you do a little research on comparable domains so you go in with a good offer. Domain Agents notes that shorter domains or domains containing fewer words are considered more valuable and single word domains can be very valuable.

They also operate a domain name sales site to provide some additional assistance to buyers. Check it out at NameBio.com

Why do we like this?

The reason we really like this is because it’s an open and honest approach. Domain Agents will do the work to track down the current owner for you for just $19.95. If they can’t get your offer to the current owner, they’ll give you a credit to try again on a different domain.

That’s unlike other backorder schemes that take money from you up front (often a lot more than $19.95) in exchange for what amounts to literally nothing in terms of helping you get that perfect domain name you want.

In fact, while other registrars will happily take your money for a backorder on a domain like Facebook.com or CNN.com, Domain Agents will instead take the time to provide some education and explain why you’d be throwing your money away by even trying to engage in a negotiation.

Domain Agents is truly interested in helping you get the domain you want. It’s their business to get deals done.

It’s one more way that Hover is helping you get the perfect domain for your idea.