Hi, I've got my eye on this domain that expired on March 15, 2006. I really like the domain, but the thing is, it's currently in pending delete mode. In my opinion, it's not a very "hot" domain. It's a common word with an extra letter at the end. I've read the numerous horror stories of people trying to get expired domains, then at the last minute some domain snatcher co snaps it up. I really do not want to end up spending hundreds of dollars for a $10 domain name. The domain is registered at YesNic.com which is a company located in Korea. As I'm a recent high school graduate with a relatively low-paying job, i'm not trying to go broke :)

I'm probably overgeneralizing when I say that some have had success whereas most have failed.
Luckily, there was a coding flaw with my lone attempt and I got my namesnapper money back.
The recommended procedure around here is to sign up for several snappers starting with the name's registrar if possible.
But there are so many you can invent and tons being dropped everyday...
I've made up 2 and sold them right here. :)

Please read an excellent thread by Stu: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=477474

It entirely depends where it is currently registered. Are you saying you not prepared to make a free opening bid of $20/40/60? It does no harm. If there is no other bidder, you win. If there is another bidder, you know you weren't going to win, anyway. If you want free, then your only choice is to wait for it to drop. If it's not picked-up, you'll be able to register it. If it's picked-up, then keep checking for the next 10-14 days, because it might just drop again without anyone else noticing. Pending Delete status means it's going to drop real soon, in 1-5 days. Monitor it daily.

If it's .com, monitor it between 1:45 and 2:30pm EST the 6th day after it changed to pendingdelete.

yea happend to me a few times.. the wait was long and someone snatched it up before i did.. pretty frustrating

Forget about this - it is *IMPOSSIBLE* to register dropped domain manually. Every single drop is re-registered by robots, *IF* it drops at all (i.e. isn't auctioned earlier).

Well, there have been circumstances where drops occur, but they are few and far between, i agree.