Ok,

I've been told that I can't do anything, except pay Netsol the $80 or so to get this to work..

there's a domain name I want (it's not a popular one) that has expired, say the ownership expired in April 2002... but the thing is, it's still registered under that person's name on the whois...

so, how do i get it? is there anyway I can pry it from them? They no longer want the website, so it's just a case of waiting for the whois to drop the ownership i think...

anybody want to enlighten me on how the system works? cuz i really want it and don't want to pay the thick fees...

If you are the only person that want that domain than wait till it's free, but if you are not sure, than use Snapnames.com or Expirefish.com, snapnames got one domain for me but if domainis registered @ Netsol, dont use snapnames, they usually try to get someone to pay 79 $ for snapback and than let the old owner register it (allow up to 12 months to re-register it)

Option 1:
When you say, "They no longer want the website..." it seems to indicate that you've been in contact with the current registrant. Even though the domain has expired, they probably could renew the domain through NetSol (maybe). Then you could have them transfer the domain to you. A bit messy, but possibly one of the better ways to be sure you get the domain.

Option 2:
Are you able to pay NetSol directly ($80) and get the expired domain? If so, this would probably be the least painful method to obtain the domain, and the most reliable.

Option 3:
Let the domain drop (could be quite some time) and keep a free monitor on it, or just check it yourself and register it when the domain actually drops.

Option 4:
Use a service such as Snapnames.com or Expirefish.com as described above.

I am unaware of any such option as #2 :eek:

Does anyone else know if that is possible, please let me know if you have some inside information Raine ;)

I don't know if NetSol offers this. Companies such as Namezero seem to offer something like this. A domain that the original registrant failed to pay for is renewed and you can buy it from Namezero (I believe).

NetSol does auction off currently registered, but not paid for, domains though their greatdomains service (I think this starts at $300 though). They may just channel insterested buyers to that service, I really don't know.

Thanks for the info chicken, do you or anybody else happen to know the link to NetSol's live chat? I have been unable to find it anywhere on their site, but have heard people talk about it.

Thanks for anything you can provide!