Anyone who is thinking about trying to either register or drop catch a pendingDelete domain will need to know exactly which time frame that domain will become available again. Different domain extensions drop during different time frames and a domain in a specific extension will never drop outside of it’s drop window. Some people think they can buy drop catching applications and then let those sit and run all day long, this really isn’t needed and actually just abuses the registrars API. Instead, drop catchers should look over the different drop times and only run their software during the necessary time frames. Check out the most popular domain drop times below and see which time your favorite extension releases. If you ever plan on trying to register an expired domain once it becomes available for new registration then you should be checking the availability of that domain name during the specific time frame it is set to release.

COM & NET Domains Drop Between 2:00-3:15PM EST
US Domains Drop Between 2:00-2:15PM EST
BIZ Domains Drop Between 1:00-1:30PM EST
ORG Domains Drop Between 9:30-10:30AM EST
CA Domains Drop Once Per Week (Wednesday) Between 2:00-3:00PM EST

That just about covers some of the bigger extensions. Many others will vary and sometimes it will just take trial and error until you can figure it out. One thing to remember is that most drop times don’t last as long as the COM/NET one does. This is because COM/NET are the biggest extensions with the highest number of domains registered, therefor it takes longer for them to delete so many domains each day. Smaller extensions, like .US, are usually very short because there is such a fewer number of domains deleting each day.

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