Glossary

The words you'll meet around expiring and dropping domains, explained plainly. For the full story, start with how domain drops work.

Aftermarket#: Buying and selling domains that are already registered, as opposed to registering a free name. An expired domain that is sold before it drops never reaches the open market.
See also: Expired domain auction, Domainer
Auto-renew grace periodautoRenewPeriod#: The period right after a generic domain's expiry date. The registry renews the name automatically and the registrar can undo that for a refund for up to 45 days. How long the registrar actually keeps the name, and whether the owner can still renew at the normal price, is the registrar's choice.
See also: Expiry date, Redemption grace period, clientHold
Backlink#: A link from another website to a domain. Expired domains sometimes keep backlinks from their earlier life, which is one reason people seek them out; check the links are relevant and not spam.
Backorder#: A request to a drop-catching service to try to register a domain as soon as it drops. A backorder does not guarantee you get the name, and if several people backorder it at the same service, there is usually an auction.
See also: Drop-catching, Domain drop
ccTLD#: Country-code top-level domain, such as .uk or .de. Each ccTLD sets its own expiry and deletion rules, which can differ a lot from the ICANN rules for generic TLDs. DropTicker covers generic TLDs only.
See also: TLD, gTLD
clientHold#: An EPP status set by the registrar that stops a domain resolving: it is removed from the zone file, so its website and email stop working. Registrars often set it after expiry; it is also used for unpaid or disputed names.
See also: serverHold, EPP status codes, Zone file
Domain drop#: The moment the registry deletes an expired domain at the end of pending delete and it becomes available to register again. Names that drop are often registered again within seconds by drop-catching services.
See also: Pending delete, Drop-catching
Domainer#: Someone who buys, holds and sells domain names as an investment or business.
See also: Aftermarket
Drop-catching#: Registering a domain the instant it drops. Drop-catching services connect to the registry through many registrar accounts and send registration requests as soon as deletions start, which is far faster than a person can.
See also: Backorder, Domain drop
EPP#: Extensible Provisioning Protocol, the system registrars use to register, renew, transfer and delete names at a registry. Each domain carries EPP status codes that describe its state.
See also: EPP status codes, Registrar, Registry
EPP status codes#: Short labels on a domain such as clientHold, redemptionPeriod or pendingDelete. They show where a domain is in its lifecycle and what can be done with it, and you can see them in an RDAP or WHOIS lookup.
See also: clientHold, serverHold, Redemption grace period, Pending delete, RDAP
Estimated drop date#: DropTicker's best guess at when a domain will drop, worked out from when it left the zone, its RDAP status and the usual lengths of redemption (30 days) and pending delete (5 days). Registry timing varies, so treat it as an estimate.
See also: Domain drop, RDAP
Expired domain auction#: A sale run by or for a registrar during the auto-renew grace period. If an expired domain sells, it is transferred to the buyer and never reaches redemption or the drop.
See also: Auto-renew grace period, Aftermarket
Expiry date#: The date a domain registration runs out unless it is renewed. It appears in RDAP and WHOIS as the expiration date; for some registries it moves forward a year during the auto-renew grace period even though the owner hasn't paid.
See also: Auto-renew grace period
gTLD#: Generic top-level domain, such as .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz or .xyz. gTLDs follow ICANN policies, including the redemption and pending-delete steps described in DropTicker's guides.
See also: TLD, ccTLD, ICANN
ICANN#: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the non-profit that coordinates domain names and sets the contracts and policies that gTLD registries and registrars follow.
See also: ICANN CZDS, gTLD
ICANN CZDS#: The Centralized Zone Data Service, where approved users can download zone files for participating gTLDs. DropTicker compares these daily files to spot names leaving a zone.
See also: Zone file
Pending deletependingDelete#: The last stage before a domain drops, lasting 5 days for the gTLDs DropTicker covers. Nobody, including the previous owner, can renew or restore the name; at the end the registry deletes it.
See also: Redemption grace period, Domain drop
RDAP#: Registration Data Access Protocol, the modern replacement for WHOIS. It returns a domain's registrar, key dates and EPP status codes in a structured format. DropTicker uses RDAP to check where a domain is in its lifecycle; a 'not found' answer after a name left the zone means it has dropped.
See also: WHOIS, EPP status codes
Redemption grace periodredemptionPeriod#: A 30-day period after the registrar deletes an expired domain. The name doesn't resolve, but the previous owner can still restore it through their registrar, usually for a restore fee on top of the renewal.
See also: Restore, Pending delete
Registrant#: The person or organisation a domain is registered to: its owner, in everyday terms.
See also: Registrar
Registrar#: A company accredited to sell domain registrations to the public and manage them at the registry. Your registrar sets your renewal price, its own post-expiry rules and the restore fee.
See also: Registry, Registrant
Registry#: The organisation that runs a TLD's central database and zone file, for example the operator of .com. Registries sell names wholesale through registrars, not directly to the public.
See also: Registrar, TLD, Zone file
Restore#: Bringing a domain back out of the redemption period so the previous owner keeps it. Only the previous owner's registrar can request it, and registrars usually charge a restore fee.
See also: Redemption grace period
serverHold#: An EPP status set by the registry that takes a domain out of the zone file so it stops resolving. Names in redemption normally carry it, which is why they disappear from the zone.
See also: clientHold, Zone file
TLD#: Top-level domain: the last part of a domain name, such as .com in example.com. TLDs are either generic (gTLDs) or country-code (ccTLDs).
See also: gTLD, ccTLD
WHOIS#: The older text-based lookup for domain registration data. Many registries now offer RDAP instead, which returns the same kind of information in a structured, consistent format.
See also: RDAP
Zone file#: A TLD's list of every domain that currently resolves, with its name servers. A name missing from one day's zone file that was there the day before has usually been put on hold, entered redemption or dropped.
See also: ICANN CZDS, serverHold