Support Start > Domain Name Watchlist

We can sometimes help you register an expiring domain name.

However, keep in mind that an expired domain name can't be re-registered as soon as it expires. Instead, the existing owner has a couple of months to recover it. Only then is the name released and made available for registration by a new party.

A domain name generally becomes available between 35 to 80 days after expiration. It always takes at least 35 days, and normally takes around 75–80 days.

Expiration timeline

Here is the timeline of an expiring domain name:

• 0-45 days after expiration (variable): 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 either renew or delete it. Most registrars wait for about 40 days and allow their customers to renew the domain name at no extra charge within this period.
• 30 additional days (mandatory): 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 and cannot be registered by anyone else. However, in the event of a mistaken deletion, it can still be "retrieved" by the original owner by paying an extra fee.
• 5 additional days (mandatory): 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 register it.
• Domain name becomes available. After the "Pending Delete" period is over, the domain name becomes available for anyone to register, through any domain name registration company.

As you can see, when someone else's domain name expires, you have to wait at least 35 days for the redemption and pending delete periods to expire — 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 "watchlist", a service that will try to register an expired name.

The watchlist service is free. The only charge would be our normal domain name registration fee if we're successful (which isn’t guaranteed — see the warning below). If you later choose separate hosting service for the domain name, we'll apply the domain name fee as a credit toward future hosting fees.

Note that because we don't charge you anything unless and until we successfully register the domain name for you, you'll need to keep a valid credit card on file with us. The card will be automatically charged if we succeed. If your credit card doesn't work, we'll send you an email message asking you to provide us with a new card number within 72 hours. The domain name will be released if you don't reply.

How often does the watchlist check?

Our system checks for domain availability at least once every hour.

If you're the only person trying to register the domain name when it becomes available, we'll probably be able to register it for you. If other people such as domain name speculators want the same domain name, then we're less likely to be successful. We can never guarantee that we’ll be able to register a particular name.

If a domain name is 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.