Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

We’ve all got a lot on our plate these days. We have to water the plants, feed the dogs, pay the bills, juggle work and side hustles… Oh, and renew our domain registrations.

Wait, what was that last one? If you’re new to the world of domains, then domain renewals might not be on your to-do list yet. But anyone running a website (so, almost every business owner) has to renew the registration for that website’s domain either annually or every few years to keep it up and running.

If they don’t renew, their domain expires, meaning it no longer belongs to them. And that means anyone could buy it. Over the years, people have gotten their hands on some pretty famous websites after domain expiration. Dropped or expired domains including hotmail.co.uk, Google’s Argentinian domain, and the Dallas Cowboys home page have made headlines in the past. Yeehaw!

This sounds like quite the oversight by Microsoft and whoever owns the Dallas Cowboys, so you probably have some questions.

We’ll start with the obvious: what exactly is a dropped domain or an expired domain? Let’s take a look, find out the difference between an expired and dropped domain, and see if you should buy one.

What is a Domain?

A domain is an easily memorable address of a website.

Take our domain for example: www.Atom.com. This is used by people to access our website, and it tells a computer our IP address, something like 92.167.2.39.

It’s like how a street address — 2400 Urquhart Street — is much easier to remember than GPS coordinates like 29.9709, -90.0515.

In today’s digitally driven world, domains are the virtual real estate of the internet. Every business needs a domain as much as they may need a physical store, and like property, domains can be a great investment.

What is an Expired Domain?

Expired domains are domains that have had their registration expire.

This can happen because owning a domain is more like leasing a property or a car, giving you temporary use of the domain for a set period. You register a domain, usually for one to five years, and after that you have to renew the domain to continue using it.

While the domain is in your registration, you have the exclusive right to renew it. But if you forget to, or stop using the domain, and don’t renew then that registration will expire.

All domain registrars offer a grace period, up to around 40 days in which you can still reclaim your domain and renew, sometimes for an additional fee. But once the grace period is over, the domain is considered expired.

Expired domains are usually auctioned by the domain registrar with which they’re registered. Anyone can buy them, for a price.

What is a Dropped Domain?

If nobody buys an expired domain at auction, it will move to the domain drop list. Dropped domains are returned to the registry and, are in theory, available to the general public for nothing more than the registration fee. However, in practice, any valuable domain won’t make it to the drop stage as most registrars maintain ownership of these domains to sell at auction.

Commonly, people use the terms ‘expired domains’ and ‘dropped domains’ interchangeably. While technically a dropped domain may be available for a low registration fee, you’ll often find domains at an auction called ‘dropped domains’ even though they’ve simply expired.

The Man Who Bought Google for $3

Okay, the deal wasn’t quite as good as it sounds, because he didn’t get his hands on this whole multi-billion company. But one man who was in the right place at the right time was able to register Google’s Argentinian domain, Google.com.ar, for $3, thereby becoming the owner of that domain.

Whether due to a registrar’s glitch or some negligence at Google, Nicolas Kurona was able to buy the domain and, for a short time, own Google’s Argentinian address. Of course, this was quickly rectified by Google themselves.

But it goes to show that every domain, even Google’s, will expire at some point. That means some pretty valuable domains could be up for grabs. Which leads us to our next question: expired domains — should you buy them?

Should I Buy An Expired Domain?

So why do people buy expired domains? Expired domains can be a great investment for domainers or offer an SEO boost for some new businesses. But not all expired domains are worthwhile. Before you buy an expired domain, you should know what you’re looking for as well as the potential value of that domain to your enterprise.

So there are a few benefits of expired domains, but some drawbacks too. Here’s what to consider.

Pros and Cons of Expired Domains

Let’s take a look at what expired domains can offer, as well as when they might make a bad investment.

Pros:

• Cheaper: Most expired domains are sold at auction, meaning you could get a bargain. 
• Can be sold for a profit: If you find a brandable domain with a strong history, it could be a valuable asset for your domain portfolio.
• Readymade traffic: Historied usage means the site may have some traffic already. You can redirect the domain to your active website to take advantage of this traffic.
• Potential SEO benefits: Traditional SEO has placed backlinking as an important part of any strategy, so purchasing an expired domain with a good range of backlinks could give the domain an SEO boost. This means any website placed on that domain would rank better on search engines. However, Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller recently cast doubt on this theory. 

Cons:

• Could be blocklisted or deindexed by search engines: Blocklisted domains are excluded from search engine results, dramatically weakening a domain. While blocklisting can be appealed, it’s a slow process.
• Limited choice: While thousands of domains expire daily, most offer little value. If you want a home for your business, a brandable, premium domain offers a much better chance of success in most cases vs a random pre-loved dropped domain! You could waste hours, days, or weeks trying to find a perfect dropped domain, or you could purchase something perfect for your business from Atom Marketplace, where domains are hand-selected and easy to search.
• Trademarked names are dangerous: If you buy a dropped domain that includes a business’ trademarked name, they may be able to claim it back. 
• Price and value may not align: As with any auction, multiple bidders could inflate the price of dropped domains beyond the value they really offer. Make sure you know what a domain is worth to you before bidding.

Where Can I Buy an Expired Domain?

Expired domains are available on our expired domain page. You can usually filter by “expired” or “expiring”, then pick up expired or dropped domains at a bargain bucket price. There is limited help finding good domains on most of these sites, however, so it might be an exercise in patience. An exercise that could end up expensive when you’re waiting to launch or expand a business, or even if you’re buying and selling domains as a form of investment. 

Additionally, bargain bucket domains might also be bargain bucket quality, and if you buy a domain that includes a trademarked name its owners may claim it back through UNDRP. But don’t forget to do your due diligence before buying expired domains. Not every domain will be worth its weight in gold.

If you’re a Atom seller, however, there is a solution! Atom offers an expired domains tool for our sellers, with AI curation of the best recently expired domains available. The tool lists expired, brandable domains, and is a great place to buy them without the usual hassle.

Wrapping Up

Expired domains can be useful for some businesses, but the days of a fast-tracked search engine ranking boost are likely behind us. Nowadays, expired or dropped domains are best for well-informed domain investors building a portfolio of potentially valuable names on the cheap, or for affiliate marketers redirecting domains that still have a trickle of traffic.

For new businesses, however, you’ll be building a brand and website from the ground up. Unless you find a dropped domain that perfectly fits your future brand, you’re better off choosing a name that fits who you are, and intend to become.

Atom’s Premium Domain Marketplace is the expert-curated home for these names. Every domain on our marketplace has been crafted by naming experts, contains strong brandable characteristics, and is paired with a top-tier extension like .com or .io.
Once you buy a premium domain from Atom, you’ll never let it expire.