Can I register some else's domain name when it expires?

Due to the policies governing how domain names are registered, an expired domain name cannot be immediately re-registered by someone else.

Instead, the existing owner of an expired domain name has about 75 days to recover the name; after that, the name gets released and becomes available for registration by a new party. Specifically, a domain name becomes available anywhere from 35 to 80 days after expiration. It always takes at least 35 days, and normally takes around 75 days.

Expiration timeline

Here is the timeline of an expiring domain name:

• 0-45 days after expiration: Grace period. When a domain reaches its expiration date, the "registrar" (the company that the domain name is registered with) has up to 45 days to ask the "registry" (the central organization that assigns domain names) to delete it. During this period, the domain name can be easily renewed by the original owner at no extra charge. (The registrar could delete the domain name immediately if they wanted to, but most registrars delay it for about 40 days so their customers can easily renew the domain name.)

• 30 additional days: Redemption period. When the domain name has been deleted, the domain name enters the "Redemption Period". During this 30 day period, the domain name will not work, but can still be renewed by the original owner by paying a fairly large recovery fee (often $100 or more).

• 5 additional days: Pending delete. After the "Redemption Period" ends, the domain name enters the "Pending delete" state. It will not work during this period, and nobody — not even the original owner — can renew or use it. After five days, the domain name becomes available for anyone to register.

As you can see, when someone else's domain name expires, you have to wait at least 35 days — and usually close to 80 days — before you can register it.

Our "watchlist"

If you are already a Tiger Technologies customer, and you would like to try to register an additional domain name when it expires at another company, please contact us. We can usually add the domain name to our "watch list", a free service that will try to register a desired name. The only charge would be our normal hosting or domain name account fees if we're successful.

Our system checks for domain availability once per hour (after the domain name has expired). If you're the only person trying to register the domain name when it becomes available, we'll almost certainly be able to register it for you. If other people (including domain name speculators) want the same domain name, then we're less likely to be successful. If a particular name is very important to you, then you may want to use a service such as SnapNames that offers a higher-frequency monitoring of domain names (for a fee, of course).