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I would like to set up an internet tool to automatically buy back domain names that have just expired.

I saw on the internet that there are several steps before the final deletion. There is the grace period and then the deletion period.

I would like to take care of buying back domain names in .fr.

  1. How can I first know the date to the minute near the availability of a domain? The whois does not give this information.
  2. Do I have any chance against backorder services like snapnames or namebright? Do I need to have my own Registar ?
  3. Technically, it is enough to spam a registrar API to hope to be the first to get the newly expired domain name.
Alexis Wilke
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Pixel
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1 Answers1

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You need to have access to a registrar API to accomplish this. I have a script that does it, but it is only semi automatic. I have to edit it and insert domain and registrant details every time I want to use it.

The answer to 1) is that you can't know, and it is deliberate. Domains are released at a random time within a window of (for example) 24 hours. Since I have my own server, with my script I run a cron job every 1 minute.

2) Yes, you absolutely have a chance against backorder services, but only if you automate the process. You don't need your own registrar, but you do need access to the API of a registrar of which you would almost certainly need to be a reseller with credit in your account.

3) As long as you have an account with a registrar that doesn't have a rate limit and you are making legitimate calls to the API it is not spamming or DDOSing or anything like that.

I am a domain reseller, I do this for customers. So far I have had 100% success rate, but generally I am not trying to grab a popular expired domain for them.

Steve
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