Okay, hoping someone can answer this for me. How do you go about finding names that are about to drop and then snapping them?

Also, and unrelated, when parking it says that you can forward your domain to the parking company or change your nameservers. I forward them, but is there an advantage to changing your nameservers?

Thanks,
Chris

Major online registrars like godaddy.com provides this service. Check for a name that you wish to buy and they would charge some money for tracking that particular domain. Once its available they would promptly contact you... Simple.

That I know. I'm talking about lists that I could get of soon to be or recently expired and deleted domains.

Don't rely on the lists. They are widely circulated and you wouldn't be able to book any of them for the simple reason I have already mentioned. Instead look for the names of your choice and pay to the registrar for their services!

you can get a list of expiring domain names..but it wont help..its advisable to see which domain you want first..then place a back order or something similar..you can try snapnames or pool.com for backordering services..

There's Expiring.In but it hasn't been updated the past few weeks.

For general info about expiring Indian domains, see: Indian Domainers: How does the process work for dropping domains?

Pool.com provides a downloadable zipped txt file with all the domains deleting in the next 5 days. Click the "Download the full list" at this link...
Backorder For Free

It depends on whether you have a particular name in mind or just want a general list.

Things you can do for the major TLDs, viz. com, net, org, info, biz, mobi, us, in - when you have a particular name in mind.

Do a check of the whois at
"www.who.is"
using a TLD "not" of interest to you.

It will show all the expired names as available. But don't use the purchase link right away. Now check each TLD's whois and you can see the current status like redemption, pendingdelete etc.

Remember NOT to do frequent/excessive whois searches of the exact domain name you are eying!

Note the expiration date. Not all domains are released at fixed schedule after the expiration date. About a week or 10 days near the probable release date go to the Name.com delete listing utility at (they call it the domain nabber)

"www.name.com/delete_list.php"

You can directly come to this list if you are just looking generally (instead of a specific keyword). The page there is quite user friendly, just remember to uncheck the "data analyzer" for TLDs other than COM.

Also remember to do a general search with options like
"all dates"
"all" losing registrars
search term "begins with" / "ends with" etc.
(never do an exact domain name search)

If you find the name you like - don't click around it - just note the release date. Now go back to who.is and find the exact release time.

Come back to the delete list page on the release date about an hour or two before the impending release. Go ahead and do a back-order.

I have picked some nice names in the past. Name.com also has a deleted names list which they run continuously. Explore around the Name.com portal for a lot of goodies.

You can find some good, already deleted names from PremiumDrops.com. I picked up a PR5, 2 PR4 and quite a few PR3 and PR2s from their lists in the past.

JustDropped.com too has given me some good names.

Another place you can find some good names for cheap are the GoDaddy $5 sales/closeouts. Become a TDNAM (Godaddy domain auctions) member for $4.99 a year and browse their lists.

And the daddy of them all are the downloadable appraised drop lists available at: "http://www.estibot.com/drops.php". Please note you must be a member to view these lists (membership is free).

By the way, there still are a lot of good 2 and 3 keyword domain names available for registration. You can find names that match your required keyword(s) using the "domain idea tool" at:
"www.estibot.com/longtail.php"

Best of luck!
Sri.

Very valuable info, itssri. Thanks a ton!

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Best place to get a .in/co.in/net.in/org.in drop list? Preferably in CSV?

Pools excel list doesn't include them.