Every auction house, one table
GoDaddy, Namecheap, Dynadot, DropCatch, SnapNames with NameJet, and Sedo each auction a different slice of the names that expire every day. They differ on what you pay to bid, how long you have to pay, and whether the old owner can still take the name back after you win.
Prefer to skip the bidding? Checked domains at a fixed price, membership $24.50/mo billed yearly or $49/mo, one listing unlocked free when you open an account.
| Domain | DR | Backlinks | Ref. domains | Age | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
cus*****nce.io
Technology
|
51 | 214 | 164 | 12 years | $1,800 |
|
por*****hub.io
Premium SEO domain
|
42 | 626 | 228 | 7 years | $2,400 |
Names are masked until you open an account. Full figures are on the catalogue page.
The short answer
Expired domain auctions come in two kinds. Registrar auctions (GoDaddy, Namecheap) sell names that expired with that registrar, about 26 to 30 days after expiry, for a small yearly membership, but the old owner can still renew for a while. Drop-catch auctions (DropCatch, Dynadot, SnapNames and NameJet) start with a $24.99 to $79 backorder and turn into an auction the moment a second buyer wants the name.
None of them checks backlinks, spam or history for you. Right now the catalogue lists 2 checked domains at $1,800 to $2,400, Ahrefs DR 42 to 51, with no bidding and no renewal race.
Ending soon
Live bidsgarden*****ide.com
14 bidders
$1,140
00:04:12
legal*****hub.net
6 bidders
$385
01:37:50
trail****ics.org
1 bidder
$69
2d 03h
The name with links draws 14 bidders. The one nobody wants closes at the opening bid.
Illustration of a typical auction board. Not live listings.
Each row comes from the auction house's own help pages and terms, read when we wrote the linked review. The last column is the one most bidders find out about only after they win.
| Auction site | Cost to bid | Where the names come from | Auction format | Time to pay | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoDaddy Auctions | Yearly Auctions membership (about $5) | Names expiring at GoDaddy, listed around day 26 after expiry | 10-day auction, then a 5-day closeout falling to $5 | 48 hours, plus a 1-year renewal and ICANN fee | Old owner can renew until about day 29, even with bids on it |
| Namecheap Auctions | $5 a year Market subscription, phone verified | Names expiring at Namecheap, about 30 days after expiry | Proxy bids, 5-minute anti-snipe extension | 72 hours, then the second bidder gets 24 hours | Owner can renew through the whole post-expiry period and cancel the win |
| Dynadot Auctions | $5 of account history (balance or a purchase in the past year) | Names expiring at Dynadot and Partner registrars, around day 40 after expiry | 7-day auction with a 5-minute extension, then a 3-day falling closeout | 48 hours, then the second bidder gets 24 hours; first year usually included | Rare owner renewal after the win (refunded to balance); 15-day lock, up to 60 days on Partner names |
| Dynadot backorders | $24.99 .com backorder, charged only on a catch | Names that drop and Dynadot catches | Public auction of 7 to 10 days once 2+ users backorder | 47 hours, then the second bidder gets 24 hours | You wait about 75 days from expiry to the drop |
| DropCatch | $59 .com backorder, charged only on a catch | Names that drop and DropCatch catches | Public auction of 3 to 5 days, ends 1 p.m. MT | Card on file charged automatically after the win | A name worth having nearly always goes to auction |
| NameSilo Marketplace | No auction fee; winner pays the bid plus a 1-year renewal | Domains that expired at NameSilo, listed about 5 days after expiry | Runs to day 41; a NameSilo max bid cannot be outbid | Taken from account funds, then card, then PayPal | The owner can renew through day 30 and cancel the auction |
| Park.io (country codes) | $99 backorder for .io, .co, .me and other ccTLDs, charged only on a catch | Country-code names that drop and Park.io catches; no .com backorders | Auction among backorder holders, ends 12:40 p.m. ET, 1-hour extension | Card charged on the win; registration included | New users wait 2 weeks for the auth code; some registries add a 60-day hold |
| SnapNames and NameJet | $79 backorder, charged only when acquired | Expiring names fed by partner registrars | About 3-day private auction among backorder holders | Per the auction terms, shortly after the close | Only names from partner registrars reach the auction |
| Sedo expiring auctions | No membership; bids from $79 | 2,000+ new names a day from registrar partners | 7-day auction with proxy bidding | Wire free; card or PayPal 3% over $500 | Every bid above the reserve binds you to the end |
| SEODomain (no auction) | $24.50/mo billed yearly or $49/mo, one listing free | Expired and aged names we have already checked | Fixed asking price, or an offer to our brokers | You buy when you are ready | Small catalogue; far fewer names than any auction house |
The backorder services are compared in more depth, fee by fee, in the domain backorder service comparison.
The day count starts at expiry. Registrar auctions run while the old owner still has rights; drop-catch auctions start only after the registry deletes the name, which on a .com is usually around day 75.
Approximate, for a .com. Registrar grace and redemption periods vary by registrar and extension.
day 29
Until then the old owner can renew a GoDaddy name, even with bids on it.
$24.99 to $79
The backorder fee, which becomes the opening bid when a second buyer appears.
48 to 72 h
How long GoDaddy, Dynadot and Namecheap give a winner to pay before it goes to the next bidder.
The hammer price is the line everyone looks at. For a domain bought for its links, it is rarely the largest cost, because the checking has to happen before you bid, on every name you consider, including the ones you lose.
For price benchmarks by Domain Rating on each buying route, see what a DR 30 expired domain should cost, and for every other way to get one, the buy expired domains page.
Buying ten or more names a month, with an Ahrefs plan already paid for. Auctions are the cheapest source per name, and the losses average out.
Launching a single project or a 301 into an existing business. A checked name at a known price beats weeks of bidding and a possible renewal.
Need a paper trail for the client: the Ahrefs report, the checks and the price agreed before purchase. Auctions give a receipt, not a vetting record.
On a registrar auction, find out how many days are left before the old owner loses the right to renew. A win before that cut-off can be cancelled.
Open the referring domains, not just the DR. Check the Wayback Machine for past spam, adult or pharma pages, and look for a manual action history.
Every house here supports proxy or maximum bids. Set the most you would pay for the links you saw, and let the system bid up to it.
You get 47 to 72 hours, or an automatic card charge. Missing it can cost you the account, not just the name.
The full list of checks we run on every listing is on the expired domains with backlinks page, and the house-by-house rules are in the GoDaddy expired domain auction review and the Namecheap Auctions review.
When an owner lets a domain lapse, the registrar or a drop-catching service puts it up for bids instead of releasing it. Registrars like GoDaddy and Namecheap auction names that expired with them about 26 to 30 days after expiry. Drop-catchers like DropCatch and Dynadot catch the name when it is deleted and auction it among everyone who backordered it.
The main expired domain auction sites are GoDaddy Auctions, Namecheap Auctions, Dynadot, DropCatch, SnapNames with NameJet, and Sedo expiring auctions. Each sees a different slice of the expiring names, so serious bidders watch several. If you want one domain with checked backlinks and a fixed price, a vetted marketplace skips the bidding entirely.
For an experienced buyer with an SEO tool plan and time to vet names, yes, because auctions are where the cheapest good names sell. For someone who needs one domain, the hours of vetting, the bidding against other SEOs and the chance the old owner renews often cost more than buying a checked name at a fixed price.
Most names with no links close at the opening bid or in closeout for a few dollars plus the renewal. Names with real editorial backlinks attract several SEO bidders and commonly finish in the hundreds or low thousands of dollars. The backorder fee ($24.99 to $79) is only the opening bid on any name more than one person wants.
You lose the name and usually more. GoDaddy can charge a fee or end your Auctions membership, Namecheap can block you from future bidding, and DropCatch suspends accounts that miss payment. The name then goes to the second bidder or back to the registry, so treat every bid as a purchase you intend to complete.
On registrar auctions, yes, until a cut-off. At GoDaddy the owner can renew until about day 29 after expiry even with bids on the name, and at Namecheap the owner can renew through the post-expiry period, which cancels the win. NameSilo opens its auctions about day 5 but lets the owner renew through day 30. Drop-catch auctions happen after the name is deleted, so the old owner has no renewal right left.
No single site wins. GoDaddy Auctions has the largest pool of names expiring at one registrar, DropCatch catches the most deleted names, and SnapNames and NameJet see names from their partner registrars. None of them checks backlinks for you. Pick by where your target names expire, or buy pre-vetted if the checking is the part you want done.
Domain Rating, referring domains, age and price are shown before you pay anything. Open an account and one listing is revealed free, with the Ahrefs report behind it.