Best way to buy a domain name that is soon to expire?

Question

I'm looking for some advice about this. There is a domain name that I really want. I just looked up the whois information for the domain and here are a few things that it says:

Sponsoring Registrar: 'Check Whois' (GODADDY) (GODADDY)
Status: client_delete_prohibited,client_renew_prohibited,client_transfer_prohibited,client_update_prohibited
Registrant Name: Domains by Proxy, Inc.

All the rest of the fields were "unknown". I'm not sure what most of this means but I know that the domain is soon to expire in a few weeks. I know GoDaddy has a feature on their site where you can pay them a certain amount to try and get the domain for you, but I know (or at least it appears to be so) that GoDaddy owns the domain, so I'm afraid if I try and get the domain from them, they will try to scam me and make me pay a lot of money, since they know I really want it.

What would should I do?

Answer 1

Here's the best article I've seen on how the process works and what to do to give yourself the best chance of grabbing a domain.

Its from a few years ago, but should still apply and is a nice writeup.

Answer 2

My experience with Godaddy is that when a domain expires they usually give the owner about 1-2 weeks(I'm not sure of the exact timing) to renew it before they take over. Next, depending on how popular they think the domain is it goes into a "holding" period. I talked to a CSR when I let one of my domains expire and he said this period can last as much as 3 months. During this time they try to sell it on their auction site.

They do have a backorder service where you give them some money (I believe it is $50) upfront and they will get you the domain when it becomes "available". I would call and talk to someone though because I am not sure when "available" is (i.e. whether or not it is before or after their holding period). They have really good customer service so I would expect you to find out everything you need to know.

Ultimately, I would say the backorder option is not necessarily a bad idea but you could end up losing $50. If you don't get the domain though they let you apply the money to the purchase/backorder of another domain.