Reglikedomain industry desk

Auction closing times and closeouts — Namecheap changes

Auction closing times and closeouts — Namecheap changes

Registrar makes changes to how expired domain auctions work.

Illustration with four hands holding bidding cards that say "bid"

Namecheap disclosed today that it’s making changes to expired domain name auctions.

First, the firm is standardizing auction end times rather than staggering them throughout the day. All auctions will end at 11 am ET US (Fresh York). Of course, bidding on domains with last-minute bids will be extended.

Expired domain firms SnapNames/NameJet and DropCatch use a standard closing time for auctions, while GoDaddy uses the staggered approach.

Second, Namecheap’s closeout auctions will no longer work on a buy-now basis. Instead, when an auction ends without a bid, the auction will be extended for 24 hours with a lower $5 minimum bid. (Regular .com auctions right now start at $15.)

Of course, once a bid is made at $5, don’t be surprised if the auction ends for more than $15.

.Ai domain auctions will continue to not go into the closeout phase.

Also on the wire

Other reporting from the domain desk.

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