Are you struggling to find a good domain name for your new site? If so you may wish to consider using a domain backorder service. This article introduces the basic concepts of domain backordering and lists some of the services available.
A domain backorder service allows you to submit a backorder for a domain you wish to purchase. At the time of your submitting the backorder, the domain is owned by someone else. By submitting a domain backorder, you are hoping that at the time the domain expires, and is not re-registered by its owner, the domain backorder service will register it for you. The domain backorder fees vary by domain backorder service. The following domain backorder services are some of the most popular domain backorder services out there.
SnapNames.com – one of the stronger services, affiliated with about a dozen registrars. They will attempt to register the domain name for you for a fee of $60. If however more then one person is interested in the same name and has attempted to backorder it via Snapnames.com, the domain name goes into auction. The SnapNames auction last for 3 days and is awarded to the highest bidder. Auctions for dropped names have been known to go into $xx,xxx easily.
Pool.com – is a strong competitor to SnapNames.com. Pool.com might have a smaller pool of registrars ( excuse the pun ), but they sometimes manage to grab some names quicker then SnapNames.com. Pool.com has a similar auction setup and also charges a backordering fee of $60.
NameWinner.com is another domain name backorder service. They are not as strong as the top two, and might not grab as many names, but they can be successful at times. They charge $30 per backorder.
Godaddy.com provide their own backordering service. They do not publicize how many registrars they are associated with, if any. Their charge a fee of $18 for a backorder and if successful the name does not go into auction. They are not as successful for popular names as the top two.
Enom.com is a strong competitor to Pool.com and SnapNames.com. Their fee is $30 and they seem to have been quite successful in backordering some bigger names in recent times. Do make sure you check them out for comparison.
Overall, when backordering a really special name, I cover all my bases and pick 3 or 4 from the list of big backordering services. I usually go with Pool.com, SnapNames.com, Enom.com and Godaddy.com. By backordering with a few companies, you are multiplying your chances of grabbing that all important name. Since each of the services is associated with varied registrars, by covering all bases you are getting more registrars to work for you.
Article by John Motson www.dnexpert.com
