maz

I would use this service a hella lot if I knew the answer to this.

Obviously they charge a fee, but how does that work?
What I mean is, lets say I want to win a.com and b.com and c.om

a.com expires and I win it, I would obviously pay the fee
b.com just got renewed for x years, and I dont feel like waiting
c.com goes into a bidding war, and I lose the bid war.

Is that how it works? or is it a flat fee, where I pay xx$ for each domain, regardless of outcome?

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asdf

Nerz

Basically thats correct. You pay a minimum $60 U.S for domains you win. Keep in mind that yes if there are two people with the domain on backorder, the domain will go into a short auction. From memory i think its 3 days. This is where timing is all important...quite often domains are "sniped" as it were at the end of the auction, unless of course its very good domain in which case it will quickly climb, or even start higher than $60.

Domains that get renewed still stay on your list, so its good to clean them out now and again if you have a large list backordered.

Good points about snapnames:

- probably still the best snap service available
- you dont pay for what you dont get..it doesnt cost to backorder a domain

Bad points:

- its good, therefore its VERY popular, your chances of getting a really good domain on the cheap are pretty low..but because its free to backorder, its worth a shot.

maz

Uh, is there some alternative im missing?

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asdf

Nerz

not really . Id suggest you check this out though:

http://whois-search.com/deleting/who.php

Thats one very handy listing right there..

There are a number of drop services, and snapnames doesnt cover them all. Pool and Enom are probably the next most important, and if the domain your after is registered with enom or one of its many resellers, you should join the enom drop club.

Pool is pretty good also, check that list out...they cover heaps of registrars.

Namewinner is another service, particularly for dotster which seem to have a lot of domains registered with them.

Snapnames, Enom, Pool & Namewinner are the 4 most important services.

I also keep an eye out for dropping godaddy domains because they capture there own domains, and dont yet have an agreement in place with those other servicers as far as im aware (and they have over 500k domains registered with them)

In this age of domain auctions, rather than genuine standard backorder services, be prepared to pay a premium for anything "good"...unless like i said in the previous post - you get lucky