stu2 - 4:31 am on Mar 9, 2006 (gmt 0)

It is ESCENTIAL that you place a bid with the auction house affiliated with that domain's registrar. The registrars often refer to them as their preferred auction partners, the preferred auction partners thank the registrars for their business :) You'll get an opportunity to bid against others if there is more than one bid offered, else you immediately get awarded the domain. It's prudent advice, basically insurance, to bid at all the dropcatcher/expiring domain auction houses, but in most cases they won't ever get a sniff, because it will never formally drop from the existing registrar; who will have sold it (hopefully to you) at auction with their preferred auction partner.