Domain backorders: how they work and when you need one
For most expired names you don't need a backorder: you can register them yourself at the normal price when they're released. For the few that several people want, a backorder is how you compete.
What a backorder is
Drop-catching services register expiring names the instant the registry releases them, sending many registration requests at once. A backorder is you asking one of them to try for a particular name. They are faster than any person at a keyboard, which is why, when several people want the same name, a drop-catcher usually gets it.
What it costs, and what happens when others want it too
Most services charge only if they catch the name. If you are the only one who backordered it, you pay the service’s fee — several times the price of a normal registration. If more than one person backordered it, the name goes to a private auction between them, and the price can climb a long way.
Backorder, or register it yourself?
Register it yourself when the name is one few other people would want — which is most names. Only about one in ten deleted .com names is registered again on the day it is released. Find the release day, be at a registrar at 12:00 UTC that day, and register it at the normal price the moment it shows as available.
Backorder it when the name is short, a single common word, had a busy website for years, or you can see that others want it. Drop-catchers registered most of the deleted names that were registered again, and for names like these they compete hard.
What happens at a real drop
In the Nov 14, 2026 drop, 116 of the 400 best-scoring names were registered the same day. The first went at 12:00 UTC, and half of those by 12:28 UTC. The other side of it: 279 (70%) were still unregistered that evening, free for anyone at the normal price. See every daily report.
Before you backorder
- A backorder only works if the name reaches the drop. One sold in a registrar’s own expired-name auction never does.
- Place it before the service’s order deadline for that day’s drop.
Where Domains Open fits
We do not backorder, bid on or buy names, for you or for ourselves. We show you which names are worth having, tell you the day each is released, and alert you the moment a watched name opens, with links to register it yourself. Check a name’s release day.
Related
How to register an expired .com · What pendingDelete means · How fast the best names go at each drop