Question
I've been waiting for a particular domain name to become available. The person who owns it did not renew the registration. However, it still shows up as not being available. I've been checking every day since the registration expired. I did a "who is" on it and it too shows it's expired. I had a domain name once that I didn't renew, and it was made available to others the day after it expired. This one I want has been expired for over a week. Does anyone know how long it usually takes before it becomes available if the person doesn't renew?
Answer
It depends on the Registrar.
I was trying to grab a certain domain name that expired. It wasn't released for over 6 months. http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_frown.gif
Answer
Drop dates vary widely and depend on the registrar with whom the domain was registered. If NetSol is the registrar, it could be years before the domain actually drops (though that's usually the exception). Most other registrars drop names between 30-60 days after expiration on average.
Have you considered using a drop catching service to get the domain for you? Is it a name that would be popular and others might want it too? There are "domainers" out there who watch for dropping domains they consider to be of value and snag them as soon as they drop.
If the name is important to you, you may want to look into a service like www.namewinner.com (run by the Dotster registrar -- I've used it before, and their minimum bid for a name is $15). Snapnames.com is another site with a good track record of grabbing desirable domain names, but their service is more expensive (flat $69 fee -- I've also used this one but not often because of the cost).
Answer
This one is registered thru Yahoo. I don't think it's worth it to pay to have a service snatch it for me. It's not a very popular name, so I'll just keep checking every day until it's released. If someone else snatches it first, no biggie. I already own a variation of it. I just wanted it because it's shorter than the version I have.