After redemption?

[shadownseiko]

Ok, first, I am a complete newbie at this, if I were not, I would not be in this predicament. Here is my sob story, caused by my own ignorance, hopefully one of you kind souls can help me.
We purchased web hosting and registered our new domain with Siteground in July, 2010. There were some problems right away, and we didn’t know what they were. It turns out, that our ISP was blocking ports to get to our site (and others). It took us a long time to figure this out, sometimes it would open, sometimes not. Everyone in support of all companies involved pointed fingers at someone else. When we finally figured this out, we decided to let the site run until ready to expire, then transfer to another provider. Not so much because we had problems accessing it, but rather because many of our potential clients used the same ISP.
Fast forward to transfer time, (early July, 2011) we opted to go with Hostgator on the advice of a friend. Hostgator promised to do all transfer of site, domain, etc. This is where our problems REALLY started. We spent weeks trying to get it up and running on HG, their customer support was absolutely useless, one problem after another. After 4 weeks, it was finally up and running without problems. A week later it shut down again, the domain had not been transferred, and was now in redemption period. Redemption period is now coming to a close, we did not try to get it out of redemption because we did not have the funds. (We live in the Philippines on less than $300/month, and just do not have $199 to give to Siteground to get it out of redemption). Whois shows the registrar as Tucows, and the name server as Hostgator, although Siteground seems to have possession?
So will this go to auction? If so, where? (The site was getting about 30 hits a day when it shut down). Will it be deleted, and if so, will it be up for grabs again, meaning can I just re-register it?
Your input in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

Larry

 

[Ms Domainer]

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If the domain is in PendingDelete, it will drop within 5 days, and there isn't anything you can do about it. If it's a good name, it is likely that a drop catcher will snag it. If it's not, there's a good chance that the name will drop and you will be able to snag it. However, if this is a must-have domain, I would definitely backorder it.

Check the following auction sites: Namejet.com, Snapnames.com, Pool.com; if the domain is in pendingDelete, it will show an "order by" date, which is often the same as the drop date (within a day before and after). .Coms typically drop between 2:00 - 5:30 EDT (or in the winter EST). I would place a backorder at each of these places. You will pay a minimum of $60.00 for a backorder, but placing a backorder is free, pay only when you win the domain.

Also, if you can, place a backorder at DomainMonster.com (free), Name.com (fee required), and GoDaddy.com (fee required).

This serves as a cautionary tale for everyone else to own your domain (not your hosting company); that way, you can change hosts whenever you want and not have to worry about your domain being held hostage.

I wish you good luck.

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[shadownseiko]

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If the domain is in PendingDelete, it will drop within 5 days, and there isn't anything you can do about it. If it's a good name, it is likely that a drop catcher will snag it. If it's not, there's a good chance that the name will drop and you will be able to snag it. However, if this is a must-have domain, I would definitely backorder it.

Check the following auction sites: Namejet.com, Snapnames.com, Pool.com; if the domain is in pendingDelete, it will show an "order by" date, which is often the same as the drop date (within a day before and after). .Coms typically drop between 2:00 - 5:30 EDT (or in the winter EST). I would place a backorder at each of these places. You will pay a minimum of $60.00 for a backorder, but placing a backorder is free, pay only when you win the domain.

Also, if you can, place a backorder at DomainMonster.com (free), Name.com (fee required), and GoDaddy.com (fee required).

This serves as a cautionary tale for everyone else to own your domain (not your hosting company); that way, you can change hosts whenever you want and not have to worry about your domain being held hostage.

I wish you good luck.

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So if it drops, I can pretty much just re-register it?

Thanks,

Larry

 

[tricolorro]

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If it's a good name, it is likely that a drop catcher will snag it.

Actually since Tucows is the Registrar of record, if it's a good name they will not allow it to drop and in all likelihood would keep the domain for their YummyNames .com portfolio.

Here's an excerpt from DomainNameNews blog 3 years ago when YummyNames was unveiled:

"Tucows’ portfolio is estimated to contain more than 70,000 domain names." (as of October 2008).

"The Tucows (YummyNames) domain portfolio mostly consists of names that were not renewed by registrants..."

Source:
http://www.domainnamenews.com/registrars/tucows-launches-yummynames/3004

 

[Ms Domainer]

Actually since Tucows is the Registrar of record, if it's a good name they will not allow it to drop and in all likelihood would keep the domain for their YummyNames .com portfolio.

Here's an excerpt from DomainNameNews blog 3 years ago when YummyNames was unveiled:

"Tucows’ portfolio is estimated to contain more than 70,000 domain names." (as of October 2008).

"The Tucows (YummyNames) domain portfolio mostly consists of names that were not renewed by registrants..."

Source:
http://www.domainnamenews.com/registrars/tucows-launches-yummynames/3004

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I was under the impression that PendingDelete domains must drop.

???

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[Kate]

Jen, those names never even made it to redemption.
They are renewed and kept by the registrar as the registrants forfeit all their rights by not renewing (abandoning) their names.

 

[Ms Domainer]

Jen, those names never even made it to redemption.
They are renewed and kept by the registrar as the registrants forfeit all their rights by not renewing (abandoning) their names.

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I know that registrars can and do snag domains before the drop period (40-70 days after expiration), either for themselves or for auction.

But once the name hits the 5-day period before deletion, it is my understanding that the name must then drop.

It sounds like OP's name may still be in redemption, so if that's the case, it is likely that Tucows will keep the name for itself, unless it's not a good investment name.

But OP needs to check the status of the whois and calculate how many days since expiration and let us know (without revealing the domain itself) the actaul expiration date.

That way, we can better help him or her.

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[tricolorro]

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I was under the impression that PendingDelete domains must drop.

???

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Ms Domainer,

What should be vs What is.

Here's an excerpt from a 2009 DomainNameWire
blog post:
"What Should Domain Registrars Do with Expired Domain Names?"

"We also have some registrars that keep domains for themselves. GoDaddy did (past tense) it with Standard Tactics. Tucows currently keeps domains it wants for itself, sells some to an unnamed third party, and then sends the rest to NameJet."

http://domainnamewire.com/2009/03/06/what-should-domain-registrars-do-with-expired-domain-names/
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Here is a link to a 2010 April Fools parody DomainNameNews did on Tucows hoarding of their customer's expired domains:
"Tucows Hoardes 1 Millionth Domain"

http://www.domainnamenews.com/up-to-the-minute/tucows-hoardes-1-millionth-domain/7429

---------- Post added at 06:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:04 PM ----------

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I know that registrars can and do snag domains before the drop period (40-70 days after expiration), either for themselves or for auction.

But once the name hits the 5-day period before deletion, it is my understanding that the name must then drop.*

Yes.

Those domains never reach Deletion stage.

 

[Name Trader]

I 100% agree with Ms Domainer, if it reaches Pending Delete, it will drop on the 6th day after it enters Pending Delete Status. The Registrar can no longer recover the domain, and it's a free for all, for anyone to grab, including the OP.

I also think that although Tucows can keep the domain before it reaches Pending Delete, it is unlikely to do so unless the domain is worth substantially more than the redemption fee. Their best chance to grab this domain was whilst it could still be renewed for RegFee.

 

[Kate]

If the name is in redemption status, then it means it's no longer controlled by the registrar. But the holder can still redeem it for a fee.
If the registrars wants to keep the name it will not let go into redemption.

 

[shadownseiko]

A big thanks to all who replied. Here is the whois info;

Status: redemptionPeriod
Updated Date: 19-aug-2011
Creation Date: 08-jul-2010
Expiration Date: 08-jul-2011

The site does not have a name that would be in demand, it is very specific, and would be of interest to just a few people in the world. As of now I have started working on a new site with a similar name, and will probably pick the old one up just to make it redirect to the new one. Now, some more questions, if I may;

Do I have to pay for hosting in order to make it redirect to the new site?

What happened to my old work, and is there a way to retrieve it? I have about 50 pages of valuable information on the site, and if there is a way to retrieve the actual layout and pages that would be more valuable to me at this point than the name itself. It was all on a Joomla template.

Unfortunately, I think I already know the answers to these questions, but would much appreciate input from you guys.

Thanks,

Larry

 

[DU]

1 year old domain. 30 hits a day produced on a developed site.

Unless the name is a good one it's unlikely to get backordered, but who knows. I registered more than one recently with a worse track record..lol

Do I have to pay for hosting in order to make it redirect to the new site?

There are free services available but yes.
A domain is simply a name. Nothing more. What you do is then associate that name to an IP address (usually via a Nameserver at a hosting company).

What happened to my old work, and is there a way to retrieve it? I have about 50 pages of valuable information on the site, and if there is a way to retrieve the actual layout and pages that would be more valuable to me at this point than the name itself. It was all on a Joomla template.

Unfortunately, I think I already know the answers to these questions, but would much appreciate input from you guys.

Thanks,

Larry

Rule 1 of Website Development.

Test major changes (template/plugins etc) on your own local copy. It also provides you with a local location to have a copy.

Rule 2 of Website Development.

ALWAYS backup your own work AND store it on multiple servers.

Unfortunately your site was probably deleted. You could ask the Siteground if they have a copy of your site. If you canceled 2 months ago? It's unlikely.

You may be lucky and have some google caches or archive.org data; however, you'll only be able to rescue what you can see - and no the actual site setup.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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If the domain does not get backordered, it will drop (according to my calculations) around September 20-24; if it's a .com (I don't know about country code domains), expired domains are deleted from the registry 75-76 days after expiration date.

Good luck! I hope it all works out for you.

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[shadownseiko]

Thanks everyone. I do have most of the content backed up, I was just hoping there was some way around setting the whole thing up again from scratch. I knew better through.

Thanks again!!!!

Larry