Free
Token calculator

How to buy an expired or taken domain, and what it costs

A taken domain comes from its owner or after it lapses. A Dynadot backorder is free until it catches the name; Sedo's broker charges $99 plus 20%.

By · Updated

You can get a domain someone else holds in only two ways: buy it from the owner, or wait for them to let it lapse and catch it when it’s released. Waiting can cost very little: at Dynadot, placing a backorder is free and you pay only if it catches the name, with starting prices such as $24.99 shown on its backorder list on November 1, 2026. Buying from an owner who wants to sell costs whatever you agree, plus fees: Sedo’s buyer broker charges a $99 non-refundable fee and 20% of the purchase price.

How this guide was put together: the expiry rules come from ICANN’s Expired Registration Recovery Policy and Registration Data Policy, and the timelines, fees and auction rules from Cloudflare’s, Dynadot’s, Hover’s, Sedo’s and Escrow.com’s own pages, all read on November 1, 2026. Registration and renewal prices come from AskGPU’s registrar data (checked October 18, 2026); Dynadot’s live price table matched it today. We haven’t bought domains through these services; the costs below are arithmetic on the published fees. Nothing here is legal advice.

Is the domain really taken, and by whom?

Start with a registration lookup (WHOIS or RDAP). It shows the registrar, the creation date and, most usefully, the expiration date and status codes. A status such as redemptionPeriod or pendingDelete means the name has already lapsed.

What it usually won’t show is the owner. Under ICANN’s Registration Data Policy, effective August 21, 2025, registrars that redact data must withhold the registrant’s name, street, postal code and phone, and registries must withhold the email. In place of the email, the registrar must publish “an email address or a link to a web form to facilitate email communication” with the owner, which must not reveal who they are. That relay address or form is how you make first contact if the owner hasn’t listed the name for sale.

Then check three things before spending money:

  • Is it listed for sale? A parked page with a “for sale” notice, or a marketplace listing, means the owner is willing.
  • Is it in use? A live business site on the domain is rarely for sale at a small price.
  • When does it expire? If it’s within weeks, watching it may be cheaper than negotiating.

What happens to a domain after it expires?

The order of stages is set by ICANN policy; the exact days are set by each registrar. Cloudflare publishes this timeline for domains it manages:

Days after expiry Stage at Cloudflare Can the old owner get it back?
0 Expiration date Yes, at the normal renewal price
1–30 Grace period; the site still resolves Yes, renew
31–40 Suspension; the domain shows a suspension page Yes, renew
41–70 Redemption period Yes, but restore fees may apply; no transfers
71–75 Pending delete No
After 75 Released by the registry Anyone can register it

Dynadot gives a similar picture: a renewal grace period of “usually around 40 days”, then redemption, then pending delete, with release “roughly 75+ days after expiration (the exact timing depends on the Registry).”

ICANN’s Expired Registration Recovery Policy adds rules every accredited registrar must follow for generic domains such as .com:

  • The owner must get at least two reminders before expiry, about one month and about one week before, plus one more within five days after.
  • After expiry, the registrar must interrupt the domain’s DNS for at least the last eight days the owner can still renew, so the old site or email stops working.
  • Registries (other than sponsored ones) must offer a 30-day Redemption Grace Period after deletion, during which only the old owner can restore it through the registrar that deleted it. Transfers are blocked during that time.
  • Registrars must publish their renewal, post-expiry renewal and restore fees.

For a buyer, the point is simple: the old owner has roughly two and a half months of chances to keep the name, and many do.

How do expired domain auctions and backorders work?

Before a name reaches the public, the registrar holding it may sell it. Dynadot describes three routes:

Expired auctions. When a Dynadot domain passes its grace period without renewal, it may go into Dynadot’s expired auctions. Auctions run 7 days, and a bid in the last 5 minutes extends the auction by 5 minutes. To bid you need a free Dynadot account plus a $5 account balance or a $5 purchase in the past year. Winning domains move into your account automatically.

Closeouts. If nobody bids, the domain goes to closeouts for three days, and the price drops each day.

Backorders. For names close to release, you can place a backorder: Dynadot’s system tries to register the domain the moment the registry releases it. Dynadot says placing one is free and “You only pay if we successfully catch the domain.” If more than one person backorders the same name, it goes to a backorder auction lasting 7 to 10 days, open to the public; the first person to backorder holds the opening bid and wins if nobody else bids. A backorder isn’t a guarantee: the old owner can still restore the name, and Dynadot notes that not every extension accepts backorders.

On November 1, 2026, Dynadot’s backorder list showed a starting price for each name, many at $24.99 and some lower, such as $12.70. Some listings also show a higher price, such as $49.99, next to a “High Priority” switch; the page doesn’t explain what high priority changes.

Not every registrar runs these services. Hover’s help center says it doesn’t offer backorders.

How do you buy a domain from its current owner?

If the name isn’t expiring, you need the owner to agree. There are three common routes.

1. Make an offer through a marketplace. Some registrars put an offer button on taken names. Hover’s help center says a search that matches a registered name can show “Make an offer”, which opens one of two partners:

  • DomainAgents: “The service costs $19.95 for one credit,” with a minimum offer of $199. If DomainAgents can’t reach the owner, you get the credit back to use on another domain.
  • Sedo: Hover says bidding amounts “vary by seller.” The seller decides whether to negotiate.

2. Hire a broker. A broker contacts the owner for you and keeps you anonymous, which helps because owners often raise the price when they see who’s asking. Sedo publishes its buyer-side broker fees:

Sedo brokerage Fee
Buyer: contracting fee $99 one-off, non-refundable
Buyer: success commission 20% of the purchase price
Seller: commission 15% of the sales price, only if it sells
Transfer service Included free

The $99 is paid whether or not the broker gets the name. GoDaddy also sells a domain broker service, but its pages block automated reading, so we don’t quote its fees here.

3. Contact the owner yourself through the relay email or web form in the registration record, or through their website. You avoid broker fees but need a safe way to pay.

How do you pay safely?

Don’t pay a stranger before the domain is in your account. Use the marketplace’s own transfer service (Sedo includes one with brokerage) or an escrow service, which holds the money until the transfer completes.

Escrow.com’s fee table for US-dollar transactions, as shown on its fee calculator:

Transaction amount Standard fee Concierge fee
$0 – $5,000 2.6% ($50 minimum) 5.2% ($100 minimum)
$5,000.01 – $50,000 2.4% ($130 minimum) 4.8%
$50,000.01 – $200,000 1.9% ($1,200 minimum) 3.8%
$200,000.01 – $500,000 1.5% ($3,800 minimum) 3.0%

Paying by credit card or PayPal adds a 3.05% payment processing fee, available only up to $5,000. A buyer outside the US paying by international wire is charged an extra $25 for bank fees. Buyer and seller agree who pays the escrow fee; Escrow.com adds the buyer’s share to the price and deducts the seller’s share from the payout.

Worked example: four ways to get a .com

Registration and renewal prices are from AskGPU’s data for Dynadot ($10.88 a year for .com, checked October 18, 2026, and matching Dynadot’s price table today).

1. Recovering your own lapsed domain at Dynadot. In the grace period, you pay the normal renewal: $10.88. Once it’s in redemption, Dynadot’s table lists a restore price of $100.92 for .com, about 9 times the renewal ($100.92 ÷ $10.88 ≈ 9.3). The table doesn’t say whether a renewal year is added on top.

2. Backordering a dropping .com, with no competition. Placing the backorder: $0. If caught at a $24.99 starting price, that’s your first year. Year two renews at $10.88. Two-year cost: $24.99 + $10.88 = $35.87. If someone else also backorders it, the price is whatever the auction reaches.

3. Buying from an owner through Sedo’s broker for $3,000. Contracting fee $99 + commission 20% × $3,000 = $600. Total: $3,000 + $99 + $600 = $3,699, with the transfer service included. If the owner refuses, you’ve spent $99.

4. Negotiating directly at $3,000 and using Escrow.com, buyer paying the full fee. Standard fee: 2.6% × $3,000 = $78 (above the $50 minimum). By wire: $3,000 + $78 = $3,078. By credit card, add 3.05% × $3,000 = $91.50, for $3,169.50. Splitting the escrow fee 50/50 with the seller cuts your share to $39.

The broker route costs $621 more than the direct escrow route at this price ($3,699 − $3,078). What it buys is anonymity and someone else doing the negotiation, which can matter if the owner would ask more from a known company.

What to watch for

  • The old owner can come back. Through the grace and redemption periods, about 70 days at Cloudflare, the previous owner can renew or restore. A backorder or watchlist entry can fail at the last stage.
  • Restore fees are high. If it’s your own domain, renew during the grace period. Dynadot’s .com restore price is $100.92 against $10.88 to renew.
  • Broker fees are owed even on failure. Sedo’s $99 contracting fee is non-refundable.
  • Card payments cost more in escrow. The 3.05% processing fee applies on top of the escrow fee, and only up to $5,000.
  • Check the name’s past. An expired domain may have hosted content you don’t want associated with your brand. Dynadot markets expired names for their backlinks and traffic; that history can cut both ways.
  • Trademarks. A name that matches someone else’s brand can be challenged. Check before you buy; for anything serious, ask a lawyer.
  • Renewal price after purchase. A domain you buy renews at the registrar’s normal price, so check what its extension costs each year. Our guide to what a domain costs compares renewals at nine registrars.
  • Marketplace and auction terms change. Dynadot’s $5 bidding requirement, Hover’s $19.95 credit and Sedo’s fees were read on November 1, 2026.

Which route should you choose?

  • The name expires within a few weeks: add it to a watchlist, then place a free backorder at a registrar that offers them, such as Dynadot. Have a second-choice name ready in case the owner renews.
  • The name is parked with a “for sale” notice: make an offer through the listed marketplace and pay through its transfer service or escrow.
  • The name is in use, and you’re a known company: a broker keeps you anonymous. Budget the $99 fee as a sunk cost and 20% on top of the price at Sedo.
  • A small budget and no deadline: a different extension or an extra word is usually far cheaper than any of the above. Our domains hub compares registrars, and Cloudflare Registrar sells domains at cost.
  • It’s your own domain that lapsed: renew at once, before redemption. Then turn on auto-renew and check that the account email isn’t on the same domain, so reminders still reach you.

Sources