domain drops when?

[sense]

As you know domain names expire if you don't renew them and the date can be seen at a whois.But this is the date that it expires not drops.I want to know when it drops so can be registered by someone else.
For example if I have a domain name which expires at 6 May 2001,when will it drop for a new registration ? Does anyone know ? (I heard it takes 2 months after expiration but want to know the exact date so instead of transfering it,I can register it at a cheap company again like GoDaddy :) Thanks for your help...

[lucifer]

risky way to do it as anyone could register it when it becomes unregistered.

the drop date for a domain is pretty random and unpredictable

nominet.uk have been known to leave domains up that should have expired long long ago and they're still usable ;)

just transfer it you shouldn't loose out on any time and it's safe

[sense]

lucifer thanks for your answer.I would transfer it but as I'm outside of USA and the registrars needs a transfer form to be faxed,it will cost me a lot of money and work on it so I thought of reregistering it at the drop date.

[akersche]

there are registars, where you can fax the transfer form...
and there are also cheap ones... e.g. weblanching $13

[Chicken]

Just a couple of points...

One, as was said, letting a domain drop and then hoping to pick it back up can be disasterous. Who is the registrar?

Two, even if you did have to fax something, generally it is a matter of filling in your details, signing it, and faxing it (approx. 45 sec phone call).

Three, last year Weblaunching.net didn't require a form to be faxed. I'm not sure if this is the case still or not. Can someone confirm?

[patrickw]

Domains generally get dropped 40 days or so after they expire.

This may not be true for domains registered at Network Solutions, because they will sometimes sell the domains at GreatDomains.com.

Usually if a netsol domain is going to drop, it will do so early in the morning on the 40th day after it expires.

Other registrars have similar policies, but in general there is nothing really set in stone. I think most registrars MANUALLY drop the domains, after review by someone. I don't know this for a fact, but it makes sense to me.