The Weycrest Knowledgebase

This latest Nominet report makes an interesting read. Apparently he number of cancelled domains names which drop from the register and then get re-registered is falling. However, of all the UK domains that are cancelled, as many as 5% are snapped up within at least 10 seconds of their expiry. The another over 10% are re-registered within a month.

The people picking up these cancelled domains are often known as “dropcatchers.” These are professional domain catchers, that have specialist servers and scripts on fast networks that constantly interogate Nominets database in the hope a getting a valuable domains, that someone has forgotten to renew with a view to either use the domain for Pay Per Click advertising or to sell on at a premoim price. Their is some controversy over drop catching and some debate as to whether its a fair or acceptable business model.

In short you should never let a business name expire and if you are running any kind of ecommerce or site from the domain you are taking a considerable gamble in forgetting to renew it. Only let a domain go if you really dont want it any more. Bear in mind some domains can be like a fine wine and can acquire value the longer they have been registered. The age of the domain plus any residual traffic, may result in it having a value over the cost of renewing it.