Domain drops – does valuable or premium domain names ever goes back into the internet eco-system for individuals to re-register? In this article, I will take you Inside the Control Center of domain that Never Drops.
Before I go into the topic of this article, I recommend the following articles on domain names that we have previously covered – Domain Auction, domain Back order and Domain Expiration.
Have you ever been in the situation where you wanted to re-register a domain name, you were patiently waiting for the domain to drop so you can catch it, you even used the service of domain backorder through domain registrar, yet, you were unlucky with the domain.
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On the day the drop domain/domain drops, the whois record of the domain started show a similar message below:
“This domain is currently available for application via the Identity Digital Dropzone service. >>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2024-05-12T14:15:51Z <<<”
There is a reason why you saw a similar message above and this is because there are many parties interested in the domain. To get more understanding, I will break it down in this article.
Like I said in the article on domain expiration, The hunt for domains has not stopped and it’s most likely going to become a booming industry in the future. So the earlier you jump on the train, the better.
So, for you to understand what happens in the domain drop war room, first you must understand these terms “domain drops“, “Donuts Identity Digital” and “Donuts Dropzone Service”.
Inside the Control Center of Domain Drops
What is Domain Drops?
Domain Drops typically refers to domain names that have expired and are made available for registration again by the registrar. This can happen for various reasons, such as the owner forgetting to renew the domain, deciding not to renew it, or going out of business. When a domain expires, it goes through a process where it becomes available for registration by anyone on a first-come, first-served basis.
Donuts Dropzone Service
The registry services evaluation document policy on the ICANN website indicates the meaning of dropzone. Dropzone is a discrete EPP server system, separated from the main registry instance that manages, on a daily basis, the synchronized release of expiring domain names.
Dropzone provide Registrar partners with equal access to make domain applications for the list of expiring domain names on a given day. Applications are made on a first-come first-serve basis and awarded at the end of the dropzone period to successful applicants. At a scheduled time pre-indicated to registrars, RO will open the Dropzone allowing registrars begin submitting applications requests for domains scheduled for release that day.
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Unlike the current Donuts system which releases expiring domains at each cascading expiry time stamp, all scheduled expirations will be queued and released at a single time stamp via Dropzone.
On a daily basis, following the closure of the Dropzone process, the registry will execute an application awarding process. This process will examine the list of expiring inventory and identify successful requests for domain names by a registrar submitted through the Dropzone. Successful applications will be awarded on a first come first service basis and Registrar accounts will be debited the appropriate value for each registration.
Where a Registrar does not have sufficient funds to process the transaction, Dropzone will automatically award the registration to the next Registrar in the queue (Provided duplicate applications exist.) Where there are no successful applications for an expiring domain, the domain will be released for open registrations in the primary registry instance at the end of the Dropzone awarding process. Domain application create requests & responses will be identical to Donuts standard create requests in the primary SRS.
Suggested read: Complete Guide to Domain Flipping
Also read: Ultimate Guide to Domain Backorder
While the name is available in Dropzone, WHOIS will display ””This domain is currently available for application via the Donuts Dropzone service” to indicate that the domain name is available for Registration via an alternative host. This message is displayed at the beginning of the WHOIS output, before the ”Last update” time and ”Terms of Use”, in the same way the message for reserved domain names is displayed.
WHOIS statuses for domains allocated to the Registry will remain unchanged from Donut’s current standard. Modifications to WHOIS messaging will only occur for domains which have been purged from the primary SRS and have migrated to the DropZone service. All domains will retain the same server statuses through late stages of life. DropZone only becomes visible to the outside world once the domain has been purged from the primary SRS registry.
Donuts Identity Digital
Identity Digital (fka Donuts, as of June 22, 2022) is a registry operator and domain name consultancy co-founded by Paul Stahura, Jonathon Nevett, Richard Tindal, and Daniel Schindler. Donuts manages the world’s largest portfolio of gTLDs, including: .email, .guru, .social, .restaurant, and .live. The company specializes in the discovery, registration, use, and domain names registration.
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Read also: 40 Commonly Used Domain keywords
Take Away from Donuts Dropzone Service
Whenever you try to back order a domain and the whois status shows “This domain is currently available for application via the Donuts Dropzone service”. Then you should understand that your chances of securing that domain is very slim because Donuts dropzone service is only available to registrars. unfortunately, the domain drops never happend because, it has already been snatched back.
Jothan Frakes response to a similar question about donuts dropzone service on namepros added more light in his response, but yet with an open question. Read Below
The Question
I am trying to back order a domain and when I checked the whois this morning it changed status only to say “This domain is currently available for application via the Donuts Dropzone service.”
Where do I find the Donuts dropzone service to backorder it? Or do they just provide an API to registrars?
Jothan Frakes response
1: I can see that the messaging is confusing to end-users because there is no means for them to access “Donuts Dropzone”.
2: They’ll likely revise that to the new name (that seems like Yoda gave them) “Identity Digital” as they are sweeping through and renaming the partentco parts of the conglomeration.
I am not dunkin’ on donuts here (pardon that, I could not resist), but some background might be helpful.
For those unfamiliar, Dropzone was originally proposed in .org to combat and disincentivize “domain tasting” during the add-grace period, and has slowly morphed over time to become a means for the registry to extract a premium add-on fee for access to the domain roughly 24h before it goes into the general availabilty.
Dropzone was a security remedy as it was initially approved by ICANN in their RSEP process for use with .ORG in that form. Call that dropzone v1
Changes to the Add-Grace period thresholds limited ‘tasting’ refunds to a percentage of domains registered by a registrar, and ICANN made the fee they charge non-refundable in the span since, which eliminated 99.7% of the tasting activity that had provided the rationale for this dropzone in the first place.
Subsequently to this being introduced in .org, Afilias, the back end provider for .ORG submitted a version for their TLDs like .INFO, .MOBI, .BLUE etc that underwent a few evolutions that gradually introduced a means to grant the registry the ability to throttle, approve or decline access to that registrar. Call that dropzone v2
Subsequently, Donuts and Afilias held hands in bathing suits in Ethos’ swimming pool, and gave birth to all the donuts TLDs having dropzone v3 and somewhere between v2 and v3 there was a new 24h period added to the domain name lifecycle that exists between the pending delete and the general availability were price surcharge per name introduced into dropzone for first come, first served registration.
So, two flavors of drop catching now are alive, first a method with a premium fee being collected by the registry to participate in the first skim of the inventory before the names are available to second (legacy method), the standard drop catching.
So now registry be gettin’ paid, and the status quo eroded the shoreline on the dropcatching businesses.
Although name.com shares common ownership, and this system changed the equitible access in a manner that altered the odds of catching premium names in a manner that could advantage individual registrars (for a fee), ICANN did not see any need to put this under scrutiny by any competition authority and rubber stamped the donuts drop catch fee collection system aka dropzone.
The issue here is more one of confusing messaging, but under the hood there might be something to look at…
Does the approved version 1 of dropzone in .org just get considered as being fine to apply v3 with the fees because “ICANN already approved this”?
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Where Can I Buy Domain Names?
You can can purchase a domain from any of the following domain name registrars. You can buy
How Much Does a Domain Name Cost?
The price for keeping a “.com” domain per year is between $8 – $20 as it varies from one domain registrar to the other. Below are the price from some top Domain Name registrars;
1. GoDaddy: GoDaddy.com – $19.99/year
2. Namecheap: NameCheap.com – $13.17/ year
3. HostGator: HostGator.com – $17.99/year
4. Domain: Domain.com – $8.99/year
To search and generate domain name ideas, use Free Domain Name Generator
Do you find this article informative? whats is your opinion about drop domain/domain drops and Donuts Dropzone Service?, let us know in the comment section
