Pre-Selling Domain Names?

Allnighterking asks: "Within the last 24 hours I've been the unwitting victim of a new practice by any number of domain registrars. The concept of pre-selling domain names before they expire. Go to any of the more popular domain registrars and start searching for domain names. You will find dozens of them for sale -with the date they will expire clearly listed-. In my case yes, I was negligent in not renewing. I also did not receive notice that it was to expire either. The day after it expired (or more like 8 hours after). I found out that I was no longer the owner of a domain I've owned for over 3 years, that this domain is now the 'property' of a domain squatter selling google adds on my hard earned search engine status. What can be done? Do we have any recourse?" "Perhaps this is just another case of ICANN , you can't.

Apparently, the sale of expired domains is big business. See this google search for more. It leaves one to wonder what would have happened a few years ago when Hotmail expired. Would Microsoft have been stuck? Or would they be doing what I've been asked to do: pony up 20k to get my domain back!"

Comments

Network Solutions just screwed us too

[dtfinch]

Our business name is "ICW International" and they stole icwinternational.com from us by refusing to let us pay to renew it, even before it expired. Now it's still under their ownership, but they've turned it into ads. Their phone support has refused to help us. They'll give it back for several hundred $, but they've cost us a great deal more over their rotten, criminal business practices.

Re:Network Solutions just screwed us too

[dtfinch]

I attribute it more to incompetence than malice. They had it locked so we couldn't transfer it. Backordering hasn't worked. Their last response was to use their "make a certified offer" and offer enough to make them want to switch it back. The root of the problem was that the original developer of the site registered the domain several years ago, forgot the login password, changed his home address and phone number, and changed his email address. This is just enough to break all of Network Solutions' procedures for verifying that it's our domain. We've been fighting with them a couple months, calling several times a week. It should be bloody obvious to them that it's our domain. If it wasn't, it's already expired so they could just sell it to us. If they don't let us buy it back, we'll file a UDRP complaint, which'll cost us a couple thousand $ more.

From "How To Snatch Domain Names"

[Goo.cc]

Here is a quote from an excellent article from Mike Davidson's Blog where he talking about how domain names expire:

"Contrary to popular belief, domains do not expire when they say they do. If the owner of a domain does not renew by the expiration date of the domain, the domain goes into "expired" status. For 40 days, the domain is in a grace period where all services are shut off, but the domain owner may still renew the domain for a standard renewal fee. If a domain enters this period, it is a good first indicator that it may not be renewed, but since the owner can re-register without penalty, it can also just be a sign of laziness or procrastination.

After 40 days are up, the domain's status changes to "redemption period". During this phase, all WhoIs information begins disappearing, and more importantly, it now costs the owner an additional fee to re-activate and re-register the domain. The fee is currently around $100, depending on your registrar. When a domain enters its redemption period, it's a good bet the owner has decided not to renew.

Finally, after the redemption period, the domain's status will change to "locked" as it enters the deletion phase. The deletion phase is 5 days long, and on the last day between 11am and 2pm Pacific time, the name will officially drop from the ICANN database and will be available for registration by anybody."