How can you take over someone's expired web address?

Question

There is a particular domain name I'm looking at and would really like to have but there is an owner who has let it expire on 7/7/08. How would I go about getting this domain from the person that currently has it (even though the site isn't up)?

I know nothing about this kind of thing, so if you could explain in dummy terms that would be great, lol.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I use hostmonster to buy my domains

http://www.hostmonster.com/track/hostmon...

Answer 2

As the other poster stated, some registrars (like network solutions) do some pretty under-handed stuff with expired domains.  Almost all will "hold" them for a while to allow the original owner a little time to realize their domain has expired and renew it if they wish.

Most registrars will allow you to try to register a site that is expired and will basically wait for it to become available and try to "jump on it" for you the minute it does become available.  They will charge you a "premium" for this service, and its not guaranteed that you will get it.  If someone else has already attempted to register the domain, there is a good chance they will get it first, but it's worth a try.

I'd suggest trying http://www.godaddy.com to do this with.  Godaddy is considered a "white-hat" registrar and doesn't employee under-handed methods (although they WILL try to sell you all kinds of "add-ons" during checkout!)

Answer 3

Some registrars will hold them for a long time before releasing them, some let them go very quickly.  Some transfer them to their own accounts so they can try to sell them back at a premium.