Domain Back Order

[ChicoWeb]

Does anyone have any experience at domain back ordering? I have a domain that I really want to get my hands on that is about to expire, however I don't know what is the best service to use? Or should I hedge my bets and do more then one? I know there are some services that grab it the second they come up for renewal, I just don't have any first hand experience with them. Anyone?

 

[maflynn]

I believe it gives you the ability to try to snag it before it goes back into the pool of available domains. One thing to keep in mind is that even if you see a domain near expiration, the owner has quite a while after expiration to renew it. I've had domains sit in my account for something like 45 days. My point is that you cannot assume that it will expire especially if its pointing to a site.

If its parked then that might be different.

 

[FourCandles]

I've successfully used Godaddy's back ordering service for a .net domain.

You've not mentioned what the domain TLD is, but be aware that different TLDs have different rules/possibilities.

And maflynn is correct, it's not available the day after the renewal date, there is a grace period (which again depends on which TLD and which you can look up).

These domain snagging services generally work by querying the register's database as frequently as they are allowed and thereby registering the domain as soon as it drops; much more quickly than a human can by sitting querying a WHOIS service. For that reason, having the domain back ordered with more than one of these services just means that you're competing against yourself.

 

[ChicoWeb]

Right, it's not my domain, it's something that I'm looking to pick up. It expired in April, so the grace period should be up any minute. I guess I"ll just stick with the one for now and cross my fingers.

 

[retty]

Personally, i've used SnapNames which has been pretty successful.
After asking a few people it came out as the most highly recommend for picking up dropping domains

 

[ChicoWeb]

Update: the domain was released on June 17, and around 2 pm, snap names emailed me that I won. But about 3 pm it was in my possession for $69.

 

[maflynn]

Congrats, its nice to see someone who wants a domain get it, and not one of those squatters

 

[jtara]

I've actually been able to pick up desired domain names that had squatters when they went back to the registrar, without having to use a backorder. But glad this worked for you!

Once upon a time, I had one of the first outdoor web cams, which I called the San Diego Baycam. I say "called", because it was actually hosted at live.net (since sold, for a pretty penny).

Of course, squatters then set-up on "SanDiegoBaycam.com" (and .org). So, when I sold live.net and wanted to have a domain to possibly host the webcam again (I haven't done so, and doing so at this point would need a camera update) I noticed the squatters.

So, I registered SanDiegoHarborcam.com (and .org) which never really resonated with me since nobody calls it San Diego Harbor here. (Just like nobody talks about South Detroit, except in that popular Karaoke song... But Downriver just doesn't rhyme right...)

Anyway, SanDiegoBaycam.com/.org eventually just went back and I picked them up for the registration fee. But perhaps only happened because the original site went dark and there was no reason for the squatters to stay.

More recently, I picked up a 5-letter pronounceable .com for $450 from Sedo for development. This is the ideal situation - listed at a fixed price with an ad right on the parking page. Smooth transaction, if a bit drawn-out. (Took a few days, but at least no weeks of endless email negotiation and/or lack of response by the owner.)

It was a no-brainer to buy. Good deals are out there!

(For the curious, it was a "r" site - common word with an "r" ending that should be an "er". Think Flickr. But one letter shorter since the base is a 4-letter word. Couldn't get the "er", no response from the owner. But that can be bought later if the project is a success. I protectively registered as much as I could for both spellings to keep out squatters, including the .mobi and .co.)

P.S. Just researched the history, and this is just what Flickr did. When they started, the owner of flicker.com wouldn't sell, so they registered flickr.com instead. They've since bought flicker.com to pick up the misspelled (or correctly-spelled, depending on your viewpoint) typed-ins, maintaining the Flickr branding.