If you backorder a domain and nobody else backorders it, will you automatically win it? Or will it still go to auction?
You first have to wait until the domain expires Once the domain is expired, if you backorder it and nobody else does It's yours, in theory
Well, it's actually already in pending delete status. It officially gets released tomorrow. So if I wait until tomorrow to register it, then someone could potentially backorder it and beat me to it right? But if I go and backorder it myself, then I force it into a public auction right? Which means I could lose it there?
Well, that depends on the domain registrar Some of these companies set a redemption period (30 to 60 days) after the renewal date If the domain name is attractive they could even pay the renewal price (about 4U$) and sell it afterwards on auction Believe me, some of the domain registrars are tricky Read the TOS of the backorder service What's the registrar company of that domain?
For anyone else who might come across this issue, I did some additional research. I found out that if you backorder through GoDaddy, they will indeed place the domain in a public auction even if you're the only one who backordered it. That's ridiculous in my opinion. However, if you backorder through pool, namejet, or snapnames, the domain will only go to auction if others backorder it as well. Otherwise you automatically become the new owner.
Well, GoDaddy is tricky Some past domain names that I bought through them and let expire, are still "frozen" (using domain parking) 4 years later If the domain name is unattractive for them, they just leave it in expiration If the domain name is attractive (let's say that it gets some web traffic or it's a keyword combination that sounds good), they freeze it or sell it on auction for years Good luck
go with a service like moniker Backordering works but you should invest in your own domain and then plan on purchasing that domain another time