advice Is it possible to lease an ICANN accredited registrar these days?

[Dave]

I remember services like this existed years ago. I'd be interested in using my own custom developed catching software, that actually uses the EPP protocols and such (not one of those desktop catchers using API's) and literally having a go at catching in the .com world but the cost of getting ICANN accreditation and all the other fiffle faffle that is required (having a company, $xxx,xxx amount of capital etc) feels like too much for one guy to take on.

I guess even if I have only access to one registrar the odds of catching worthwhile domains will still be very slim right? Maybe this is all in vain.

 

[Kate]

I remember services like this existed years ago.

Yes, rebel.com but it could not be used for dropcatching...

I guess even if I have only access to one registrar the odds of catching worthwhile domains will still be very slim right? Maybe this is all in vain.

That's right, the big players own hundreds of registrars, in the case of HD: something like 1200 if I remember correctly. Other dropcatchers also set up partnerships with other independent registrars to increase the pool of connections to the registry.
With one registrar, you will catch very little statistically, even if you are after just a few names.
And we know that few valuable domains are dropping nowadays.
There are still valuable domains in the pool of prerelease domains, but only a few registrars really benefit a lot.

 

[Dave]

Thanks a lot Kate. I knew it was a long shot but I had nothing to lose by asking.

 

[Weber]

Yes, rebel.com but it could not be used for dropcatching...

Speaking of rebel.com, do they have pre-release sales of expired.domain names? If so, where do they list them?