Trying to buy an alternate domain name

newbie question

[dcheney]

First, sorry for the newbie question. I've been doing web stuff for a long time, but have not dealt much with domain name issues.

I've got an existing domain (example.org) that is well established. A variation of the name (example.com) has been available for purchase for several years at a rather large price.

Currently the whois records show that it expired as of 27 Jan 2011 (but is not yet available).

If I put a "backorder" in for the domain, will that alert the current owner that someone is interested? Or would I be better off waiting until it was actually available for regular purchase?

(The domain name is not competitive - the only folks that would be interested is me and someone else wanting to hold the name for later sale to me.)

[PascoalINC]

Well if he wants he will find out that you're hunting that domain. I would put a backorder, mostly if there are several brokers interested in it. I'm not sure if he gets any "ping" that you want to buy it though...

[creeking]

see if the registrar has a deal with an auction company. expired names are frequently sent to an auction site before fully dropping.

if so, you can buy it on the auction site.

[HuskyPup]

Currently the whois records show that it expired as of 27 Jan 2011 (but is not yet available).

Off the top of my head they'll still have the chance to renew for about 30-40 days or so, I believe it varies between registrars, and then its another 30-40 days before being released therefore the minimum is about 70 days and up to about 90 days.

Somewhere after 3rd/4th April up until 23rd/24th April.

You have to evaluate your own risk as to whether you want to place a backorder and almost be sure of getting it if, as you feel it's not worth anything to someone else, or to wait for it to drop at a regular price.

I have to say that some of these domainers are complete nutters with their values. I recently bought three identical keyword names in .co.uk, .de and .us for between USD 300-500 each, the guy who owns the .in wants USD 80,000.00!

Keep it I said:-)

[dcheney]

Thanks for the responses.

I think I'll just wait for now. Bottom line is I've done just fine without it, so I don't feel an urgent need to acquire it.