Drop Catchers

This should be old news to anyone using the internet but if you're in charge of registering domain names for your clients make sure they are aware that they know they have to re-register their domain name on a yearly basis. A common misconception by some is that they own their domain names. You're actually renting the right to use it from your registrar who brokers the deal between you and the governing bodies of the internet: ICANN. If your domain does expire, you have seventy-five days to re-register it before it goes up to grabs for anyone.

But what if you or your client don't already own the domain you want to use for an upcoming campaign or project? Well your first option is to contact the buyer and try to broker a price that will be acceptable to your client. The second? Convince them to hire a drop catcher.

A drop catcher is somone who attempts to exploit the three hour drop between 11 AM and 2AM Pacific on last day of the renewwal period. It's then that ICANN removes the registration from the database and they put the site up for grabs to the first company to claim it. The drop catchers attempt to buy specific domains requested by their clients who've backordered them before the names can be snatched up by someone else or the original owner.