What is Domain Drop Catching?
Posted on 2019-08-06, By Aaron Clifford.
Today’s blog is all about what happens when a.uk/.co.uk domain expires, it’s life cycle after it expires and what happens when the domain name then becomes available, the benefits to using a drop catching service, how the system works and the pricing structure of the website.
UK Domain Lifecycle
A uk domain expires when the expiration date is hit (the same day the domain was registered x the multiple of years it was registered for) at this point the domain does not become instantly available but for 30 days the domain will be in the expiration period at this point the website and email associated to the domain name will still work.
After this 30 days the website, email and nameservers will stop working and the domain will become suspended for a following 62 days during this period the domain can still be renewed by the owner, on the 92nd day from the expiry date the domain name will be deleted from the registry between midnight and 23:59:59 on the 92nd day.
What happens when a domain is deleted?
When a domain is deleted from the Nominet UK registry it will become publicly available to register, our system uses the Nominet domain availability checker to check throughout the day if the domain is available, once our system detects that the domain is available we use the Nominet EPP system to send create requests for the domain name and if successfully recovered the domain name will show as successfully registered in your account.
What are the benefits of using a drop catching service?
The key benefits of using a public drop catching service like ours are that we have direct integration into Nominet’s system allowing us to attempt to register the domain name that you are interested in within milliseconds of the domain name becoming available, if you need this domain name for a business venture, personal website or simply for vanity then this is the best way to increase your chances of acquiring your potential domain name.
What do we charge for drop catching?
We charge a base rate of £45.00 per successful registration, with a no win no fee model. This means there is no financial commitment from yourselves unless we register your requested domain name for you.
There are no direct additional fees from ourselves, we can offer a free tag release or a Nominet transfer where you’ll have to pay £12 to transfer the domain name to a new registrant, at this point you can also release the domain name to a different tag.