Just lately, I came upon a domain name that caught my attention. The domain was short, memorable and bound for big potential. It was, moreover, undeveloped, indicating there was little chance this domain will be renewed.  A quick check on Who.is database revealed its expiry date within 2 weeks. I was ecstatic. Opportunity of this nature rarely comes around.

Knowing that countless eyes would be watching for the domain expiry date, I placed a domain backorder through Domain Monster, thinking that this was all that was needed. Being such a naïve and expecting the domain in my possession, I had already drawn up project plans for it. Three month later, I lost the domain. This experience gave me a muse to write a blog post, explaining the domain expiration process and how you can maximize the chances of getting that expiring name you have spotted.

Domain Expiration Process

A domain does not expire on its expiry date! Sounds paradoxical? There is an expiry date on all domain names, but that does not mean that a domain name will be available for public re-registration immediately after the expiration date has been reached. As soon as the domain name expires, it goes in the “expired” state, also known as a grace period. During this 40 day grace period, all domain related services may be discontinued, but the name itself it still available for renewal by the current registrant, at a standard renewal fees. A domain entering the grace period may be the first sign of the owners’ reluctance in renewing.

After the grace period, the domain name undergoes a “redemption” period. During this time, Who.is information is taken off. Moreover, it will take an additional cost (depending on the registrar) to renew the domain name at this point. Failure by owner to re-register the domain during this phase indicates a real possibility of the domain name being deleted.

After the “redemption” period comes the “deletion” period; whereby the domain’s status changes to “locked”.  This lasts for roughly 4-6 days. During this phase, the domain name is dropped from ICANN’s records and is available for public registration.

Attempts at grabbing an Expiring Domain Name

After the whole process of domain expiration, the domain backorder process kicks into action. Just like your backorder on a domain, there are various other backorder services fighting for the rights to that domain name for their clients.

There exists another process, which lasts for a few hours between the deletion period and the availability of the domain name for public re-registration. It is called a “Domain Drop”. This is where the major players in the backordering industry “hammer away and lay down their nets” on VeriSign’s name servers to “catch the drop”.

You saw that flashy name expire. How to make sure you Snatch it?

This is where things become tricky, as well as costly. For a domain name that is sure to attract a huge snatch competition, employing the backorder service from more than one company is the way to go. Snapnames.com, Enom.com, and Pool.com and the big three in the domain backorder business. All of them operate in a similar fashion by querying the VeriSign name servers at regular intervals to grab the requested domain names.

So you may employ the services of all these three companies to up your chances of securing a domain name. Of course, only one company, out of all, will be successful in snatching your domain; therefore, you will be refunded by the other two. However, the process does not end there. There may be multiple clients who used the same backorder service for the same domain name. A bidding process, thus, starts on the domain name between the clients, and as usual, the highest bidder gets to take the spoils home.

In Summary

Domain snatching is a competitive arena, so the next time you see that splendid domain about to expire, do not expect it to fall in your lap that easily. Manual drop catching is no match for the lightening fast and resource intensive processes the domain snatching services implement in the quest to filch domain names. So if you are really interested in an expiring name, a little backordering investment might just give you the upper hand.

View Forsaken's Profile      Subscribe via RSS