I have domains that I don't use. People have contacted me, made a decent offer, and I've sold the domain to them. So, if it looks like the domain is held by someone who just isn't using it (like me), then you may be able to make a reasonable offer.
I experienced this once. Someone contacted me about a domain I had no use for with a pretty good story about why they needed it. He even showed me his work as a small timer in the entertainment industry with an interesting sounding project he had in mind for it. He offered a small sum and I decided to just avoid the hassle and give it for free as I probably would of let it expire in a year. I even paid the small fee yahoo wanted to transfer it.
I was curious and went to the site a few months later. The fucker is a domain shark on the side and the sites a parked page with a forsale contact on it.
Moral of the story is to google their name and spend a few minutes before giving/selling domains.
I had registered getwellconnected.com, which I had vague plans to use for a nonprofit idea to let sick kids in hospitals connect together.
I got an email from someone claiming to be a consultant working for a small hospital. They were building a site and wanted to use that domain name. They offered a fair but relatively small price, and since I didn't have immediate plans to work on my idea, I agreed to sell at the offered price - no higher.
A year later today, I see that the domain is parked. It's quite a good and general domain name. I registered it with plans to use it. What a ploy.
I have domains that I don't use. People have contacted me, made a decent offer, and I've sold the domain to them. So, if it looks like the domain is held by someone who just isn't using it (like me), then you may be able to make a reasonable offer.