Domain Life Cycle - because you wanted to know...
I'm often asked about expiring domain names. The most frequently asked
question goes something like this...
"I found a great domain that I want, and the current owner just let it
expire. When will I be able to register it for myself?"
ANSWER: From the time a domain name expires to the time it becomes publicly
available to register is normally up to 80 days.
Yes, that's a long time to wait! In fact, the expiration process goes through several
different phases before you can get your hands on the domain.
The current owner has several opportunities to re-claim the domain before it is no
longer in his or her control. This is good, because let's face it, you wouldn't want
to lose one of your great domains just because you were on vacation, would you?
The current owner is given ample opportunity to re-claim the domain name.
Here is an excellent illustration of the "life cycle" of a domain name:
ICANN | Life Cycle of a Typical gTLD Domain Name
As you can see, it's the very last phase that should interest you the most if you're hoping
to grab a domain name that is expiring.
If you look up a domain name at a "whois" website like http://iwhois.com and see a
notation that says "Pending Delete", that means it is in the last 5 days of the life
cycle. Watch it closely during this period, so you can snap up the domain as soon as it
becomes available (once it becomes available, it will say so).
Hope you found this information useful!
Gene
question goes something like this...
"I found a great domain that I want, and the current owner just let it
expire. When will I be able to register it for myself?"
ANSWER: From the time a domain name expires to the time it becomes publicly
available to register is normally up to 80 days.
Yes, that's a long time to wait! In fact, the expiration process goes through several
different phases before you can get your hands on the domain.
The current owner has several opportunities to re-claim the domain before it is no
longer in his or her control. This is good, because let's face it, you wouldn't want
to lose one of your great domains just because you were on vacation, would you?
The current owner is given ample opportunity to re-claim the domain name.
Here is an excellent illustration of the "life cycle" of a domain name:
ICANN | Life Cycle of a Typical gTLD Domain Name
As you can see, it's the very last phase that should interest you the most if you're hoping
to grab a domain name that is expiring.
If you look up a domain name at a "whois" website like http://iwhois.com and see a
notation that says "Pending Delete", that means it is in the last 5 days of the life
cycle. Watch it closely during this period, so you can snap up the domain as soon as it
becomes available (once it becomes available, it will say so).
Hope you found this information useful!
Gene