[thelist] Expired Domain Name

[Jay Dorsey]

I know as it used to be you could go to http://www.snapnames.com/ and
put a 'snapback' ($69)or http://www.namewinner.com/ and put a 'bid'
($25+) (I've seen other places worked similar to this).  I personnally
have picked up three domain names this way (I got them all for my
minimum $25 bid).

I say 'used to be' because the domain expiration cycle is going through
some changes right now.  As it was (and still may be - I don't know when
these changes are taking place exactly) a domain wasn't released back
into the pool of names until usually a *minimum* of 30 days after the
name has expired (varies w/ each registrar).  This would give the holder
of the domain a bit of a grace period to renew the domain.  Once the
grace period was over, domains were dropped basically 'whenever' (there
used to be a set schedule, then it started varying - I could always find
activity in the nwforum.com forums about when the next 'drop' was going
to happen, so there was a way to find out somehow).  This method of
releasing names could get quite expensive as people jacked up the bid on
them (the highest I personnally saw was 10k+ for one .com name).

ICANN (http://www.icann.org/) has just approved a WLS (Wait Listing
Service) that works similar to snapnames SnapBack service.  Basically,
you pay $X to 'get in line' for when the domain name drops.  This could
help out the 'little guy' such as myself, but there are guys out there
that are into the domain business big time (UltSearch comes to mind)
that could most likely afford to 'get in line' on hundreds if not
thousands of domain names for the price of what he probably normally
spends in a year.

I don't know where the system stands right now - namewinner is still
open, I believe - so you might be able to go there and put a bid in on
it (that's where I got all three of my names from).  It couldn't hurt
really - you only get charged if you win the auction, AND if namewinner
actually grabs the domain name when it expires (it competes w/ snapnames
and other similar services trying to snatch the domain name).

I'm not an expert on this subject per se - but I've read a bit into it -
I highly suggest reading Lee Hodgson's articles on DomainGuru
(particularly these on expiring domain names
http://www.domainguru.com/c/33).

Also, legally, the registrar can't 'hold on to it' until they get a good
offer (not saying it doesn't happen, but it's not supposed to).  That
would be a Very Bad Thing if they could, since it's often hard enough
trying to get names as it is anyways.

Jay

Timothy J. Luoma wrote:

> Kevin wrote:
>
>> I am interested in buying a certain domain name. The ownership of the
>> domain
>> expired a few days ago, but I am unable to register it.
>>
>> Is there anything that can be done to release the domain name for
>> registration?
>
>
> Nope... and if it's a desirable domain, they may hold it until they get
> a really good offer for it.
>
> The system is broken.  I saw a domain listed for $6,000 the other day,
> and I know others go for even more.  So we have a bunch of domains being
> wasted by vultures just looking to make a profit on reselling them.
>
> TjL
>
>
> --
> 30 Days to becoming an Opera Lover
>                                        http://www.tntluoma.com/switch
> Day 25: Opera does Plug-ins (better than the other guys) too
>                        http://tntluoma.com/opera/lover/day25-plugins/
>
>