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Expiring domains that stay 'pending delete' forever

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aramyus

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While looking at expiring domains, I often find domains that are in pending delete long after the grace period (DateExpired + 2 months).

What mechanism allows that ?

- inaccuracy of the expired domains source (I use pool.com) ?
- inaccuracy of the whois record ?
- drop catching effect ?
- registrar policy (allowing a much longer grace period)
- an other mechanism ?
 
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If I had to guess, I'd say you're referring to some gTLDs. I know of some in particular that have a pendingDelete phase of about a year. The domain life cycle differs from registry to registry.
 
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no no, I am talking exclusively of .com domains

As a rule of thumb, top quality expired domains seem to stay longer in pending delete, and eventually, they become 'taken'. So, I'd imagine they were drop catched and there is some flaw in the drop catching process that delays whois update. May be it has to see with the fact that several people tried to get the domain through drop catching and it resulted in a private auction.
 
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...I'd imagine...there is some flaw in the drop catching process that delays whois update,,,.

There is no flaw in the process. However, maybe the WHOIS service you're using is only providing you cached data, instead of live data. This is somewhat common practice, as many WHOIS calls are frowned upon by registries. Without knowing an exact scenario, though, I can't give you an exact reason.
 
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maybe the WHOIS service you're using is only providing you cached data, instead of live data

It does not match my observations: In most whois records, there is a last updated date. This date is typically 'today' (the day I search it) or only a couple days before.
 
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It does not match my observations: In most whois records, there is a last updated date. This date is typically 'today' (the day I search it) or only a couple days before.
If you want to provide an example, maybe we can help you.
 
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There is no flawless process for this just like you can have a domain expire then godaddy smacks premium on it for 5k.
 
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Here is an example:
totalshortcutnow.com
It has expired on 19 nov 2016 (over 6 months ago) , it's in pending delete, but still not available to be purchased (I checked several whois utilities). Records were last updated on 30 July 2017.

It's just an example. I do not intend to buy this domain.
 
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Anyone has an explanation ?
 
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totalshortcutnow.com is available today based on who.is
 
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While looking at expiring domains, I often find domains that are in pending delete long after the grace period (DateExpired + 2 months).

That is not uncommon. Grace and Redemption can both be up to 45 days I think or at least one of them can be longer than 30 days. it's possible that domains drop 2.5 months after expiry.
 
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totalshortcutnow.com is available today based on who.is
Correct. Most likely the OP is not using a live whois service, but seeing some kind of cached data instead.
 
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It has expired on 19 nov 2016 (over 6 months ago) , it's in pending delete, but still not available to be purchased (I checked several whois utilities). Records were last updated on 30 July 2017.

It's just an example. I do not intend to buy this domain.

Are you from the future?

Correct. Most likely the OP is not using a live whois service, but seeing some kind of cached data instead.

I like this idea of caching in the future for the past. That's amazing and will certainly help identify decent domains to buy!

Actually -
Looks like it was set to expire Nov 2016 but was deleted early for some reason.
 
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@DU I think these are better examples

0-health.com
DateCreated: 5/28/2006
ExpirationDate: 5/28/2016
LastUpdated: 8/9/2016

alohamoku.com
5/26/2015
5/28/2016
LastUpdated: 8/7/2016
It's unlikely anyone tries to dropcatch this last domain
 
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last time it was updated was 9 aug. It has likely been in pending delete status for 3 days and will drop on aug 15.

Domain Name: 0-HEALTH.COM
Registrar: WILD WEST DOMAINS, LLC
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 440
Whois Server: whois.wildwestdomains.com
Referral URL: http://www.wildwestdomains.com
Name Server: No nameserver
Status: pendingDelete https://icann.org/epp#pendingDelete
Updated Date: 09-aug-2016
Creation Date: 28-may-2006
Expiration Date: 28-may-2016

Both domains were likely in pending delete status for not more than a few days. I think you mean that some domains stay in Redemption and Grace period for a long time. Redemption + Grace period can be up to 75 days long I think. Maybe even more.

If you add 75 days to 28-may you get 11 aug. Nothing unusual going on here.
 
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Redemption + Grace period can be up to 75 days long I think. Maybe even more.

Thanks. I was wondering if it could have something to do with dropcatching, but my sample domains are unlikely to attract buyers, so this is unlikely.

I'll post again if I find domains expired longer than 90 days (I think once in a while, I come accross something like 120 days or more, but I didn't keep track if them)
 
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