domain backorder

skater_kat

i am looking to backorder a .com name which expires in may. it was bought 10 years ago and the current domain simply forwards onto the company main website.

i see that there are various companies which will take a fee for backordering. how should i choose which one to go with? someone else could have already backordered it with any number of companies - does that mean they get in there first?

thanks

bod1467

You're presuming that the current owner WANTS to sell it in the first place, will will let the registration lapse. Just because the registration expires in May doesn't mean they won't re-register. MY domain registration expires every 2 years ... but I've had it since about 2003.

By all means engage one of these "backorder" companies, but IMHO they're selling fresh air - they can't guarantee to get you the domain, even if the owner is prepared to sell it.

S0litaire

If you put it on backorder, depending on the company you use they either just sit and wait for the registration to lapase then inform you that its available. Or they try and grab it as soon as the registration runs out and then auctions it off to those that have put it on backorder.

Check the history of the registration, do the owners renew it at the last min or do they do it a few months in advance? they may have bought the registration in advance (either in blocks of 2 or 5 years at a time).

I went with GoDaddy, they grab it as soon as it's available and auctions it off, if you don't get the domain, the fee's you paid can be reused for another backorder.

S0litaire

bod1467 wrote: »

You're presuming that the current owner WANTS to sell it in the first place, ...

...
By all means engage one of these "backorder" companies, but IMHO they're selling fresh air - they can't guarantee to get you the domain, even if the owner is prepared to sell it.

Actually it's NOT up to the owner of the domain if it lapses.
If the owner does not pay to renew the registration once it runs out in may it's open to ANYONE to buy it.

it's only upto the owner if you contact him BEFORE it runs out in May and ask to buy it from him. (At that point he either renews it early to keep it, or asks for a few +£100's to sell it to you.)

I got my domain via Godaddy Backorder. I noticed the domain was about to lapse in it's registration and I stuck it on backorder. 20 days' later i was informed I was the only person in the auction and I now own the domain ^_^

skater_kat

so i could take a chance a pay a fee to backorder. once the domain expires and the company puts it out to auction - that means i could have paid the fee but still end up having to pay hundreds more? not sure if i have understood that right.

I don't want to just contact the company direct to enquire about it as it is the great unknown: it could be totally off their radar to renew and i will have alerted them to this fact, and also i could then be at their mercy to ask hundreds for it. it's a gamble isn't it.

bod1467

S0litaire wrote: »

Actually it's NOT up to the owner of the domain if it lapses.

Actually it IS. The owner of the domain can re-register prior to the registration period ending. Which is exactly what I said in the post you quoted. (I suspect you've read my sentence in a different way - you're right that the domain owner has no rights if the registration lapses, but at that point they're not the domain owner anyway).

If the owner DOESN'T re-register (lets it lapse) then backorder companies (or anyone really) can look to purchase the registration.

WhiteChristmas

skater_kat wrote: »

the current domain simply forwards onto the company main website.

Are we to take it from this that the name refers to an established company?

If so,

(a) they (or their web presence provider) almost certainly haven't let it slip below their radar

(b) even if you do get control of it, they can take it back if you are trading on their name.

skater_kat

no the name of the domain has nothing to do with either the company name or the domain which it forwards to.

InsideInsurance

Most domain watchers/ backorder services simply wait for the domain to be released - it normally happens a couple of months after the domain lapses depending on which TLD it is - and then they try and buy it normally for you.

The challenge comes if multiple people are trying for it in which case it normally comes down to which company gets the request in first.

I have never seen any stats comparing the success ratios for different services to say if one is better than the other. Used the 123 Reg service once and secured the domain

S0litaire

use this site http://domaintools.com/
it has a option to monitor your chosen domain name for any changes (i.e. a change to the whois or register)

http://www.domaintools.com/monitor/domain-monitor/

It's handy if you want to grab a domain manually (without using those backorder sites!)

also check the Whois history (if it changes a lot then it's probably safe to say it will be hard to grab)
http://www.domaintools.com/research/whois-history/

skater_kat

S0litaire wrote: »

use this site http://domaintools.com/
it has a option to monitor your chosen domain name for any changes (i.e. a change to the whois or register)

http://www.domaintools.com/monitor/domain-monitor/

It's handy if you want to grab a domain manually (without using those backorder sites!)

also check the Whois history (if it changes a lot then it's probably safe to say it will be hard to grab)
http://www.domaintools.com/research/whois-history/

thanks for this info. i have registered for a free account and using domain monitior is interesting. i find it a bit hard to use (cant seem to add more than one domain to look at)

the one i am after now appears to have been bought by another.com - who regualrly ask upwards of £500 offers for domain purchasing. this was not the case last week when i viewed the whois report, it was still inactive in the forwarding to a small business website. does another.com monitor what people look at on WHOIS and swoop in to buy stuff up?!