How to purchase a domain that expires soon

[CactusWren]

Quick question. I am interested in a domain that someone else owns. Tried contacting the owner via email and phone (from whois) and they are both disconnected. Looked up another phone number for name online and the person does not live there.

The domain will expire in a few months. What should I do?

Thanks,

 

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[AroundTheWorld]

I believe there is a service on godaddy where you can do this.... put your order in now, then (if) it expires, you get first dibs at it.

 

[LightHouse]

Quick question. I am interested in a domain that someone else owns. Tried contacting the owner via email and phone (from whois) and they are both disconnected. Looked up another phone number for name online and the person does not live there.

The domain will expire in a few months. What should I do?

Thanks,

Find out where it is registered first. have you looked it up in the Whois? the thing about it expiring is that if the person does not have it on auto renew, the original owner has a few chances to get it back including a 45 day grace period usually with their registrar. After that the site will drop and become completely available again, best is to back order it from the registrar that holds it now as you will get first dibs if someone else does not already have dibs on it. You will know if it auto renews or not by finding out if it's in that grace period yet or its still in the term that the original owner registered it for.

Hope this helps a bit, I'm a little scatter brained right now, lol.

 

[Inphinity]

Two options. Wait until it's expired (which is, actually, well after the listed expiry date), or try to "backorder" it. Places like GoDaddy.com and snapnames.com offer this option. Some guy wrote a blog article about several of the companies when he registered an expiring domain, it might be useful to have a read.

 

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[CactusWren]

Awesome article! thanks.

 

[Jonleehacker]

I've used snapnames.com before and they work great.

Be warned though, if the name is popular or even just has a few good keywords in it, once a back order company like snapnames.com gets the name, you'll still need to win an auction for it (ie. pay more, sometimes a lot more).

 

[Luke12321]

What happens if several people are going after one domain, using different back-order services. Where would the auction be held then?

 

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[bflbob]

What happens if several people are going after one domain, using different back-order services. Where would the auction be held then?

GoDaddy has an auction site for expiring domains.

https://auctions.godaddy.com/trpHome.aspx?t=2

 

[Jonleehacker]

What happens if several people are going after one domain, using different back-order services. Where would the auction be held then?

Yes, it will go to auction.

I have used Snapnames.com in the past with good results.

 

[Luke12321]

Thanks Bob, I have checked them out awhile back.

Thanks Jon for the tip on using snapnames.

What I was trying to ask though, since they are similar websites to snapnames that offer the same service... If Joe Blow uses a different site and I use snapnames, where is the auction held then? How is that determined?

 

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[Jonleehacker]

What I was trying to ask though, since they are similar websites to snapnames that offer the same service... If Joe Blow uses a different site and I use snapnames, where is the auction held then? How is that determined?

I see now.

What happens is that all the backorder services compete, meaning there servers all start hammering the registrars when they domain drops... it's a battle of milliseconds.

You'll find all these services advertising that they are the fastest and have the most direct connection.

In reality most serious domainers, if they really want a domain, go and place their backorder with all of them to improve their odds... you only pay the one who gets it for you, so there isn't really any risk.

 

[sk24iam]

Let's say somebody has had their domain up for sale for a few years. It is supposed to expire soon. Wouldn't the best strategy be to buy it immediatly as it becomes available? If I make a bid, the owner will see there is interest in it won't he?

 

[Luke12321]

I see now.

What happens is that all the backorder services compete, meaning there servers all start hammering the registrars when they domain drops... it's a battle of milliseconds.

You'll find all these services advertising that they are the fastest and have the most direct connection.

In reality most serious domainers, if they really want a domain, go and place their backorder with all of them to improve their odds... you only pay the one who gets it for you, so there isn't really any risk.

So if I backorder with all services right now (domain in question does not expire until Oct) then let's say the domain gets renewed. Do I have to pay anything at all since nothing would happen?

 

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[Jonleehacker]

So if I backorder with all services right now (domain in question does not expire until Oct) then let's say the domain gets renewed. Do I have to pay anything at all since nothing would happen?

In any of the services I've ordered, you only pay when you win. But you'll want to check the terms before committing to each one.

 

[Luke12321]

Thanks for all the help Jon.

I signed up and back ordered with NameJet, Pool, and snapenames.

The domain is with enom. It was registered in 2001 and is set to expire in Oct of this year. The website was started but never finished. I e-mailed through the site but no response.

So, it may not even be dropped but if it does then I guess I should have a legit shot at it.

 

[Red]

Hey Cactus-

I used to work at GoDaddy (waaaaaay back in the day) -what JohnLee said was correct about it not being guaranteed and each vendor of the "backorder" competing and winning/losing by milliseconds is correct -no one can guarantee because it comes down to random server pings & who happens to be first.

To hedge your bets, as mentioned above, you can buy multiple backorders w/ multiple companies (and if you lose, you don't get your money back, per se, but you can apply that backorder to another domain name -so keep that in mind while spending). Also, if the domain name is already backordered, a perspective service provider (usually an accredited registrar) cannot sell a backorder for one domain name to multiple people -it can be used as a way to gauge interest in your particular domain -ie: if you can backorder a domain on major registrar's sites, there may be little to no interest from other parties since they will only sell one for that domain -it's just a mild warm & fuzzy, still no guarantee...

Another option you have is reporting incorrect WhoIs information -part of the terms of usage of owning a domain name is keeping accurate & complete ownership information (I've used this one before to obtain a domain ahead of it's time) -if the ownership information is found to be incorrect/missing, the registrar starts the "repossession" process to turn the domain free again for purchase. The standard redemption period time-frames apply, but more than likely the owner can't be contacted to update/verify the incorrect information and the domain expires early, therefore being dropped on the market for re-purchase early.


Hope that helps a little!


:smxB:

 

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