Where to Look for “Quality Deleted Domains”

Domain names used to just "drop," or become available for manual registration by anybody, when they expired years ago. A dropped domain's new registrant would be the first person to submit a registration request. Several of the wealthiest domain investors got their start this way.

Things are different now, though. Registrars of domain names saw an opportunity to increase their bottom lines by auctioning off lapsed domain names to the highest bidder. If no one bids on a domain name during an auction, the domain will expire and be accessible for registration by anybody. Yet, domain names often sell at auction for a good price.