Domain... expired 2 years ago...

[Toefur]

Okay... there's a domain I want... that expired 2 years ago... but I can't register it...

It says the registrar is network solutions... which are notorious for holding onto expired domains, or something; yeah?

Well... is there anything I can do, to get this domain?

[Namenerd.com]

depends what the domain is who is listed as admin contacts etc. send me a pm with the domain name and ill have a look i maybe able to retain it for you.

[thewitt]

Network Solutions does not drop domains in any regular fashion, however they may sell you a domain that is expired and not dropped. Contact them for assistance directly.

If the domain has real contact information still associated with it, you can contact the "current" owner of the domain, and offer to buy it directly from them. How you ask? Well Network Solutions will generally allow an "old" registrant to simply pay the back-due renewal fees and keep their domain.

You will probably have to pay the existing owner some fee as well, and depending on admin contact information, you may or may not have a significant hassle completing the transfer after the domain is again active.

NetSol will also - sometimes - transfer a domain that is expired without renewing it. I'm not sure how they make this distinction, and again the admin contact for the domain will need to authorize the transfer, but it does work on occasion.

If you do manage to renew the domain, don't transfer it for 45 days - or you will lose the renewal years you added to the domain at NetSol.

Good luck.

-t

[mattbullis]

I grabbed 2 domains that were listed but were expired for along time. The first one i contact NSI (now verisign) and said the owner was in jail on fraud. The second i payed snapnames to do it. I think snapnames has a backroom deal with verisign.

[hostjet]

the only legitimate way to obtain the name before it is dropped is as already been mentioned, to contact the current owner, get them to renew the domain name and then pay them to transfer it to you.
In a public statement, I recall Netsol/Verisign totally denying ever selling an expired domain name, and I am pretty sure they do not give any preference to dropping domains which have snapbacks on them. Although I wouldnt rule a verisign/snapnames deal completely out in the future. Anythiing is possible where verisign is concerned.