Anyone know the cheapest yet good working snapnames style registrar?

I honestly can't afford to pay $60 to backorder a name. Are there any services that are more resonable in price and service?

The 2 biggest and most successful are SnapNames and Pool. Everything else is dwarfed by these 2. They charge and operate approx the same. There is GoDaddy, but they are a minnow compared to these 2 and you have to pay $18.95 up front which is non-refundable but can be used for another backorder, until successful. If a particular registrar has a backorder service of their own (very few do), then use that for the backorder of any domain registered at registrar. There is Club Drop for eNom registered domains, for example. They call themselves, amongst other things, a dropcatcher, but I've never found anywhere on their website where you can backorder a domain. They're more an auction house for expiring eNom registered domains. There is also DomainDirect.com for Tucows registered domains. They operate similar to Club Drop, but charge the minimum $60 (iirc).

if I went through say SnapNames, do I ONLY pay when they "actually" have caught the name? Also, say they miss it, am I able to change to get another soon to be dropped domain instead?

With both SnapNames and Pool you don't pay until you win the domain. The initial bidding is free. If you bid the $60 and nobody else backorders the name before it drops and SnapNames catches it, then you win the auction outright and immediately (at least at SnapNames. I'm not sure at Pool). You pay the $60 and they give you the domain. If there is more than 1 backorder on the same domain then there is a short 3 day private auction between those backorderers. Any desireable name usually has many backorderers, (who then go into the private auction).

If you tell us where the domain you are interested in is registered, we can give you more specific advice.

Well I had this domain, which RegisterFly took away from me. They sold it off to another client. I have tried to get it back, but they never reply to my tickets. The good news is I bought the .net version of that domain. However, they have the .com of it and I'm hoping to catch it this year.

So is it currently registered where? eNom? If it's at eNom then you might check Club Drop at around and after it expires next year, and then maybe weekly until it's either renewed or dropped. eNom's price usually drops at about the time it's about to drop.

eNom's price usually drops at about the time it's about to drop.

Could you briefly explain what you mean? I thought $60 was a fixed price to bid for Club Drop auctions?

That's for their Dropped Names. It's not exactly clear to me how it works, but their Pre-Released Names go down as low as $5 just before they are dropped.

Well I had this domain, which RegisterFly took away from me. They sold it off to another client.



If it was located at Registerfly and it was sold to an Registerfly client, it should at least stay at RegFly for the next 60days.

I dont know Your whole history in this case, but if RegisterFly was the real cause that You lost Your domain, I would have started to complain to their higher authority. Then they were selling stolen goods. At least in my country that is forbidden, and the buyer will loose it no matter how if You can prove it.

Don't know if it helps, but maybe here:
http://www.internic.com/problem_reports/p11.html

It will not cost You more than Your time.

Sammy :)

thanks for the link and yes I've been trying for a long time. I even talked to Regfly earlier and nothing was done about it. They said it was sold/auctioned to someone in RF.

they sold/auction it without expiring?