

Ask HN: Best way to backorder a soon to expire domain? - vdimarco

Whether it's a service, website or otherwise, please inform.
======
ohashi
Here is what you need to know:

What status is the domain in (expired, rgp, pendingdelete). Expired means the
registrar has renewed it for free for X days (it lasts up to like 45 days I
think, it depends on registrar's policy). RGP is expensive expired, the
registry charges I think $50 and registrars generally charge $100+. Then
pendingdelete, means it DELETES in 5-6 days depending on registry
(verisign/pir... not sure on neustar).

If its just expired and NOT RGP, then you have to check for registrar
relationships. Most places call it something like pre-release and have an
agreement with a dropcatcher/auction site. The most popular ones being
NameJet, SnapNames, Pool. Figure out which one has pre-release rights and
backorder there. IT WILL NOT ACTUALLY EXPIRE IF SOMEONE HAS BID ON PRERELEASE.

If its hit RGP (redemption grace period) it is going to drop eventually unless
the owner renews it. You can try to contact the owner and buy it that way,
it's risky, but it's the only thing happening at that point.

PendingDelete means it's expiring. It will be delete from the registry and
whomever orders it fastest will get it. The original registrar has ZERO
advantage at this point. big companies like namejet/snapnames/pool have a ton
of registrar partners who they use all of their connections at once to try and
grab these domains. Most of them allow you to backorder for free and if they
catch it, it goes to auction between those who ordered it. Backorder it for
free at ALL of them. Hopefully one of them catches it and not a private
company investing in domains for themselves.

Good luck. If you have any questions I am happy to answer more.

------
mikejarema
It is also helpful knowing if any of the drop catching services have "first
dibs" on the name you're looking to acquire. Most (all?) drop catchers have
registrar relationships, so it may very well be the case that one service has
a huge advantage over the others.

Personally I don't know if these lists are published (a quick search yielded
nothing current), but I would do a bit of research to see if the registrar of
your desired domain does have a drop catcher partnership. Failing that, I
would put in a bid on all the services you've mentioned.

Godaddy backordering is a special case, as you have to buy a credit upfront
(whether or not the name is secured). If the current registrar turns out to be
GoDaddy or one of its subsidiaries (eg. Wild West Domains, there may be
others), then be sure to buy that credit. Otherwise, I'd advise against it.
I've never seen GoDaddy's drop catch come out on top (granted its a small
sample size, I've used dropcatching to secure approx 10 low-competition
domains).

EDIT: A quick WHOIS on the domain will tell you the current registrar. I'm
sure you don't want to share the specific name, but sharing the current
registrar here may help out.

~~~
vdimarco
Currently in redemption period (details below), although it has been more than
75 days. What gives?

Is my best bet paying $49.95 for the Name.com "Domain Nabber" service since
they are the registrar?

Status: redemptionPeriod

Registrar: NAME.COM LLC Whois Server: whois.name.com Referral URL:
<http://www.name.com>

Expiration Date: 2012-03-26

~~~
mikejarema
Looks like name.com refunds your $ on unsuccessful drop catches.

[http://support.name.com/entries/21336448-how-does-domain-
nab...](http://support.name.com/entries/21336448-how-does-domain-nabber-work)

So I would use their service for sure, plus Snapnames, Pool and Namejet.

A redemption period of 75 days is quite long, but the link above mentions a 77
day window before deletion, so i think youre up to bat very soon for
this.domain.

Best of luck!

------
vdimarco
It would be great if people could speak from experience, rather than citing
"Pool.com, Namejet.com, Snapnames.com"

~~~
vdondeti
I have tried both Namejet and Snapnames recently. I used Namejet two times to
try to get domains that expired and were under redemption. For Namejet you
need to place a backorder and state the amount you are willing to pay, though
I believe there is a minimum of $70. You do not need to pay upfront and pay
only if you win the domain. You just place the backorder wait until the domain
is released, when it is released if Namejet is able to get it, Namejet will
charge you, provided no one else is bidding on the same domain name. If
someone else is bidding on it, the domain will enter an auction. In my case,
Namejet was successful for the first domain I backordered. No one else bid on
it, so I got it right away. Namejet transfered the domain to eNom, paid the
registration fee for 1 year, and gave me the login. The second time I tried
Namejet, it failed to get the domain I wanted when the domain was released. I
immediately found out that the domain was acquired by Snapnames based on an
updated whois entry. Snapnames was conducting an auction on the domain I
wanted, which they just acquired. I bid on it and the auction lasted for 3
days. At the end of the auction, there were no other bidders and so I got my
domain for the low price of $19, Snapnames' minimum bid for this particular
domain. My suggestion would to be to try both Namejet and Sanpnames, since you
don't have to pay anything unless you win, though you do need to provide you
credit card number. Also, you want to follow the whois records carefully for
your domain of interest. I find GoDaddy's domain monitoring service very
useful for monitoring whois records for domains I own and for domains I may
want to own. It is quite affordable and a very good service. Hope this helps.

------
wilfra
Where is the domain registered now? You can find this in the WHOIS.

Most registrars either own or have a relationship with a service which
auctions off all of their dropped domains several weeks before they have even
expired (if they are renewed the auctions are voided). If the domain is with
one of these registrars, join the auction on their site (or partners site) and
hopefully pick it up for the minimum bid.

Here is a partial list:

GoDaddy --> tdnam.com Moniker --> snapnames.com Fabulous --> namejet.com eNom
--> namejet.com tucows --> namejet.com

