[CPWG] Reminder: ACTION/CPWG by Today 23:59 UTC: Comment on Metrics

[John McCormac]

On 25/09/2020 16:26, Lutz Donnerhacke wrote:
> The main purpose of registering deleted domain names is to resell them to a previous owners, which missed the renewal dates of the registry. Recovering a accidentally lost domain name is paid very well by those who want to stay in business.

That might have been the business model twenty years ago before the 
various grace periods. The reality is that some of the deleted domain 
names are valuable because they are generic high value keyword domain 
names or short domain names.

Most domain names that are deleted are not reregistered or targeted by 
dropcatchers as they are often one year wonders registrations that are 
registered for one year and not renewed.

There is a natural attrition in domain names that most people never see. 
Businesses close and domain name owners leave domain names drop. The 
bloodtrails on domain names that are likely to delete can appear months, 
or even over a year before the deletion date. It is easy to confuse this 
with accidential deletion but many of these businesses have already 
closed long before the domain name is deleted.

The Secondary Market is quite large and many of these reregistered 
domain names are valuable because of their link profile or type-in 
traffic. People will still visit some of the deleted/reregistered domain 
names expecting the same website but instead getting a page full of PPC 
advertising. A few PPC clicks can cover the cost of a year's 
registration. Domain Tasting still occurs on a much smaller scale.

Then there are private blog networks that snap up deleted domain names 
to promote various sites in search engines. Some people just want to buy 
a domain name that had been previously registered and is a good fit for 
their business or brand.

Many of the domain names that go to auction do so through the auction 
site's affiliated registrars. This is done by breaking the natural 
domain name lifecycle and instead of allowing a domain name with a 
strong backlink profile or traffic to delete normally, the registrar 
will send it to auction.

The millions of domain names on auction and sales sites would indicate 
that the days of dropcatching being mainly about the recovery of 
accidentally expired domain names are long gone. There are some 
registrars that specialise in domain name recovery but they are eclipsed 
by the auctions/sales operators.

A whole industry has developed around reselling previously deleted 
domain names and many of these drop caught domain names have sold for 
high prices. A domain name that might cost about $10 to register could 
resell for $10,000 or more.

Regards...jmcc
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