Whether you own an online enterprise or a domains investor, it is important to understand the process through which expired domains become available for re-registration. It is indeed a great opportunity to find some really great domains this way. In many cases, domain owners simply stop re-registering their domain names due to one reason or the other. Lack of interest in domain trading activities, losses in business or mere lack of attention can lead to the expiry of a domain. On such occasions, you can make a smart move by re-registering the domain on your name before somebody else does!
Understanding the complete process is important because a large number of internet users think that just any domain can be purchased if it has an expiry date. This is not the case. Even popular domains like Amazon (dot) com and Yahoo (dot) com have expiry dates. It does not mean that these domains will ever expire and be available for someone else to register! Every domain registrant gets enough time to re-register a domain name with an internet domain registrar company. A series of reminders are sent to the domain registrant for renewing the registration. Therefore, the only domains that become available after expiry dates are the ones that are not re-registered by their owners. Here are a few steps that you can follow to know when the desired domain ‘might’ be available for re-registration:
- First of all, you need to visit a website like AllWhoIs (dot) com to find the essential domain information.
- Search for the desired domain name on the website.
- Find the expiration date of domain owner’s rights.
Do not let yourself assume that just any domain can be registered this way. A domain name will become available only after the domain owner fails to re-register it within 14 days of time. This is the time given by the domain registrar to the previous owner of a domain name to extend his or her rights. Failure to do so would make the domain name available for re-registration to everyone on the internet.
Even partially active website domain names are not going to expire any time soon. If the desired domain name under consideration is hosting an active website, there is no point of waiting for its expiration date. If you just want that domain name, you can just get in touch with the domain registrant and make a reasonable offer. Make sure you research asking prices of similar domains in the online marketplace before making an initial offer. This is the best way to get your hands on a desired domain name. If you just want to buy potentially profitable domains for higher returns through domain sales in future, you need to find inactive websites and parked domains. There is a high chance that an inactive website’s domain will get expired. So you can keep an eye on such domain names. Keep your funds ready and buy them when they are available.