Domain Sniping

[mofo]

There's a catchy domain name i would like to get my hands on. Looking up the registry, i see that it will expire next week. Can i grab it the minute after it expires or is there a fixed amount of ime i must wait before i can purchase it? The plan is not to re-sell it back to the owner, but use it for myself. Anything i can do to ensure i will get it as soon as possible?
TIA.

[mairving]

It depends on who the registar is. Some like NetSol will hold it for up to 90 days before it is released. Once it is released doesn't mean that you can get it. If the domain is good enough and has enough traffic or the domain name is valuable then you don't have a chance in getting it as it will be scooped up by someone that wants to increase their site traffic or sell the site at a premium.

So the answer is that generally no you can't buy it when it expires.

[mofo]

well how do these people who want to "scoop it up" do it? that's what i wanna do! are they using special software or websites like e-snipes does for ebay auctions?

[mairving]

Most registars now have domain services where you can attempt to buy domain names once they expire. I suppose if you are big enough then you can get in cohoots with some of the registars to get priority over domain names. If you are an individual attempting to buy a domain name and it is a good domain then you have very little chance.