I'm looking to grab a domain that is in the PENDINGDELETE stage at Enom. The end of the PENDINGDELETE stage is scheduled for 2006/4/21 12:00am PDT according to the whois.

So far I have only ordered a backorder with Godaddy as they appear to re-attempt getting the domain even after the delete date (according to the very informative discussions by stu2 and 4solutions- thx guys).

I take it that since this domain is registered with Enom the best bet would be ClubDrop. Is this the best choice? I imagine that the more backorder services I go with the better my chances but who to go with and how many?

At the time of the actual delete I will be giving it my all to also manually register it. Who knows, I have read of a couple of instances where people were able to manually outdo the backorder services. Would I be bestto try the manual attemps with Enom itself or would Godaddy be sufficient?

Am I missing any angles? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :)

http://www.enom.com/auctions/default.asp

Pre-Release Names

Get the names you want before they drop! eNom's NEW auctions of Pre-Release names enable you to bid on expiring domain names before they become available to the public. You no longer have to bid in the hopes that eNom will catch a dropping name. Now you can bid on names EXCLUSIVELY held at eNom before they are deleted and released to the public. We already have the name, which puts you one step closer to getting your ideal domain name. Now it's all in your hands.

I'd say its best to try to get the name via the above option at enom.

Good luck.

Have you searched ClubDrop for it? If it's there you should definitely bid on it, but I think it's too late. Assuming it's a .com or .net then Verisign have already flagged it for deletion. That means they'll be deleting it soon (as you said above). That means it's at the mercy of the dropcatchers. You should bid immediately at Pool/Snapnames/ClubDrop/NameWinner, in addition to your GoDaddy bid. I wouldn't waste your time and energy attempting to grab the domain on the drop itself.

Hi stu2. Yes, I searched Clubdrop and it is listed in there. I was worried that if I bid on it to early that others may join the fray and I didn't want to start a bidding war. I assume this was the wrong choice? :(

Thanks for the advice, though! Let you know how it goes.....I'm open to anymore tips if anyone's got'em.

If it has a buy now price, grab it while you can before it drops. Once it drops you need to already have bids in at all the above-mentioned drop catchers. The fastest one will grab it. Enom won't have any preference if it drops. So buy now, or bid at all the drop-catchers NOW. You need to bid at all because you have no idea if anyone else is wanting this domain and you have no idea where they are bidding. You need the bid everywhere, so that you can join the successful dropcatchers short auction. If no-one else bids, usually you win automatically.

To give an example. Suppose you only bid at Enom and backorder at Godaddy. Somone else bids on the domain at say SnapNames (and probably everywhere else). Nobody else bids on the domain at SnapNames before the drop. SnapNames catches the domain. Their bidder wins the domain immediately, and you don't get a look-in because you never placed a bid at SnapNames before the drop.

Best way to make sure you get it is to backorder it at as many places as possible.

Just wanted to update about my results. The actual drop date for the domain I wanted was 04/18. I was just overly worried about giving out the actual date before I got the domain...I didn't want to harm my chances by increasing interest in it.

In any case, the final outcome was: Success! :)


I managed to secure the domain! I am overjoyed. It was my first attempt to get a domain and I made it.

The domain was registered at Enom and I had been wataching it for some time.
Before it got near the expiration date I had only a fuzzy idea about how domain drops work (now it is somewhat less fuzzy but not 100% clear hehe).

When it was nearing expiration I considered contacting the original owner via the Privacy mail address to see if they were interested in selling. I was petrified about the domain reaching auction and getting into a bidding scenario.

I ended up opting not to contact the owner as I felt that if I showed interest they may:

1) jack up the price if they see my interest in the domain.
2) remember they were about to forget to renew it!

So, it went into REDEMPTIONPERIOD. I didn't realize that this was the period when ClubDrop holds auctions for a domain. So I waited for the next stage.

After many weeks of waiting along came PENDINGDELETE. I had my fingers crossed the whole time that it I wouldn't see a PENDINGRESTORE! At this point I was still considering a manual attempt believe it or not. I had not researched about drop catchers much as I thought it was all a scam and that they would steal any good names. Silly me.

As a first step I backordered the domain with Godaddy ($18.95US I believe).

After some research and forum advice (stu2!) I went to ClubDrop and Pool.
I figured ClubDrop would be the place to go as that's where the domain was originally regisitered. But then Pool is one of the top 3 drop catchers. So, I had my 3 sharks lined up for the kill (well, two Sharks and one Goldfish).

The fateful day comes. The drop time was 16:00PDT so from 15 minutes before to 30 minutes after I am manually attempting from both Enom and Godaddy. To no avail....sigh. But I didn't expect to get it that way...."trying to get front row tickets to a U2 concert at the box office 10 minutes before the show" :)

So, I let go and try not to think about it...just wait it out and see if my fishies have any luck.

So, I get 2 emails about 12 hours later.

Godaddy: "Domain Altert! Capture unsuccessful." (but thanks for your money).
Club Drop: Success!!
Pool: No reply....only a newsletter informing me of upcoming drops.

I verified the whois information and there's my info...yay!

I am ecstatic! Not upset about the backorder charge from Godaddy at all. It was worth it to have the extra layer of chance...every fish counts...even the goldfish :)

I'm still beside myself that I was able to secure this domain as it is a very common saying. Anyhow, just to let you all know....I don't plan on parking it or reselling it but rather creating a useful free site with it.

Thanks Stu2 and all for your valuable advice. You guys rock!!

Great news, ssway!

Pool was a good choice bcoz they have the most servers knocking on the registry's doors at the drop.

GoDaddy was a bad choice, all along. But you don't have to lose that money. Just put it on another dropping domain which is regged at GoDaddy. They'll use your backorder money as the first bid on the domain at tdnam, if it drops.

It's my believe that Club Drop don't have any preference over dropping domains, even if they were once regged at Enom. (I could be wrong). So it looks like they were just the first to grab the name. As I've said (as in my example) you were slightly lucky that nobody else liked your domain and placed a backorder for it somewhere else, or at Club Drop. They might just have been the only dropcatcher (other than Pool and GoDaddy) with a backorder trying to actually capture the domain.

Anyhow, well done!

Fully agreed. I will use the Godaddy back order on a domain already registered there. Too bad they don't allow you to use that credit towards buying a new domain (Godaddy dollars!).

In all my excitement with trying to procure this domain I completely forgot about another domain I had in my scopes since last week. It was one of those "I cannot believe it's not taken .com's". Well after finally coming to my senses today I went to register it and low'n behold someone grabbed it. Ugh!

You win some, you lose some + You snooze, you loose always apply. Life lessons.

Thanks again! :peace:

Same thing just happened to me too. On my birthday! Domain was regged 12hrs before I got around to registering it :( No conspiracy theories here, pure coincidence.

Oh I completely believe you. I have to admit (embarassingly enough) that this has happened to me already this year with several domains. I occasionally brainstorm in my idle time and maintain a list of the names I come up with. Then I tend to hang on the fence as to whether I should buy them or not.

So far this year I have seen about 5-6 domains from that list get taken. A were taken couple the day before I worked up the will power to reg them. Once again....you snooze, you lose I suppose. Gah!