| We've all been a part of this scenario. You put your | | | | make his fortune with it also. No, you either have to |
| dream domain name into a search box and it comes | | | | approach him with an offer or wait until he lets it |
| back registered to someone else - and you just | | | | expire-which he isn't likely to do if it's really as |
| knew you'd make your fortune with this name for | | | | valuable as you think it is. |
| your business website. Now the registrar wants to | | | | But let's just suppose that the old owner died the |
| know if you want to backorder it and you don't | | | | day the day his domain name expired. You've got |
| know what to do. | | | | him, right? Wrong. His estate can still re-register the |
| As a rule of thumb, it makes sense to backorder | | | | domain for something like 45 days depending on the |
| only under two conditions: one, you've got all the | | | | registrar. The actual "gotcha" time is still a month or |
| time in the world; or two, the domain name is already | | | | so in the future. But at least there's a chance the |
| expired--and you've got all the time in the world. | | | | domain name won't be picked back up and you can |
| Keep in mind that backordering a domain name isn't | | | | get it-if you're real, real lucky. Not necessarily |
| like back ordering most consumer goods. A domain | | | | winning-the-lottery lucky, but certainly a |
| name is a one-of-a-kind thing; the domain registrar | | | | good-day-at-the-track lucky. You've still got to get it |
| can't simply order another one from the domain | | | | before the other two hundred people that are |
| manufacturer in China. Somebody already has the | | | | already standing in line waiting to get their hands on |
| name and he probably thought he was going to | | | | it. |