Domain Redemption Period
Domain Name Redemption Period
When a domain expires, it is not immediately available for someone new to register it. There is a grace period of about a month after it expires, when the original owner can simply pay the normal renewal fee to reclaim the domain. After this grace period expires, the domain goes into the Redemption Period, for about one month.
During the Redemption Period the original owner still has priority and can reclaim the domain through the Redemption process. The cost of Redemption varies depending on the registrar, but is generally about $120. The registrars say that the redemption cost is high because it is a manual process, as opposed to most other registrar/registry interactions which are automated.
If the original owner does not reclaim domain during the redemption period, the domain is released into the wild for anyone to register. This release is called "The Drop". The Drop happens approximately 75 days after the domain expiration date.
If the domain name is obscure and you are the only person interested in it, you can just wait for the drop and register the domain for yourself. But if the name is perceived as valuable, there will be contenders for the domain. The Drop happens during a 3-hour window each day. There are a few companies who specialize in pounding on the domain registries' computers to snatch up desirable names as soon as they drop, before their competitors can get them.
So what should you do? That depends on the situation at hand, and how much the domain is worth to you (and how badly you want to keep it out of other peoples' hands). Here are some scenarios to consider:
Your domain expired, and you want it back
Maybe you missed the renewal notices from the registrar, or maybe you just changed your mind. If you were the original rightful owner of the domain, you can remove all uncertainty by paying the redemption fee to recover the domain. If it's not worth that much and you're willing to risk losing the domain to a domain parker, then wait for the Drop and try to register the domain then.
How SWCP can help: If you want to pay the redemption fee, SWCP can manage that process for you and charge the amount on your SWCP bill. If you want us to watch for the Drop and register the domain when it is released, we can do that. We will check once per day to try to grab the domain when it is released. Note that if ANY domain parker with dedicated drop-watching systems has "back-ordered" the domain, they will get it before we can.
A domain name you want has expired and you want to register it
As above, you can wait for the Drop and then try to register the domain. As long as nobody else is interested in the domain this can work. But you can never know who else might be interested so this is risky. Since you aren't the original domain owner, you cannot use the Redemption process to take the domain. Also, at any time before the drop, the original domain owner can change their mind and recover the domain for themselves.
Another option is to back-order the domain. SWCP works with SnapNames to back-order expired domains. SnapNames has a "drop-watching" system which tries to grab domains as soon as they are released. There's a catch though: SnapNames will accept back-orders on a domain from multiple parties. If they successfully grab the domain, it then goes into an auction with a minimum bid of $60. Whoever wins the auction gets the domain.
How SWCP can help: We can manage the SnapNames auction process for you. For $40, we will back-order the domain and bid in the auction for the domain (up to the limit you specify to us beforehand). If successful, the minimum cost to get the domain is $60 + $40 = $100. It's also possible that you won't get the domain and you're out $40. The possible ways to lose the domain are: original owner recovers it through Redemption; SnapNames fails to get the domain at the Drop; you lose it in the auction to a higher bid. If any of these things happen, you don't pay anything to SnapNames, just the $40 to SWCP.
You may also sign up with SnapNames (or one of their competitors) on your own to manage this process yourself.
