Why drop hunting eats your mornings
Every day a large number of registered names reach the end of their life cycle. Most are worthless. A few are short, clean, aged or full of buyer intent, and those are the ones every serious investor wants to see before they disappear into an auction or a backorder queue.
Sorting through the daily lists by hand is slow, and the timing is unforgiving. Miss the auction window and the name goes to someone else. Bid on impulse and you blow a month of budget on one name that never sells. Spreadsheets help for a week, then fall behind.
The Drop Agent takes the sorting and the budget tracking off your plate, so the time you spend goes on judging a short list instead of scrolling a long one.
How a .com name moves from expiry to release
Knowing the life cycle explains why the agent cares about dates. For gTLDs such as .com, ICANN rules set the outer frame and registrars fill in the details.
| Stage | Typical length | What can happen |
|---|---|---|
| Expired, auto-renew grace | Up to 45 days | The owner can still renew at normal cost; many registrars auction the name in this window |
| Redemption Grace Period | 30 days | Only the registrant can restore it, with a restore fee |
| Pending Delete | 5 days | No one can restore it; it is released at the end |
| Released | After pending delete | Anyone can register it again |
Because many expiring names are sold in registrar auctions before they ever drop, the agent tracks both kinds of opportunity. Our page on expiring domains covers the whole cycle in plain language.
How the Drop Agent works, step by step
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01
You describe what you want
Each watch criterion is a short set of rules: length, extension, category words, minimum comparable sales, age, or any mix of them. For example, "two word .com names with a finance word, registered at least 10 years ago".
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02
It watches expiring and pending delete names
Every day the agent matches names entering grace, redemption and pending delete against each criterion. Names that fail every rule are dropped from view so you never see them.
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03
It scores every match
Each match gets a score built from length, words, extension, age and public comparable sales. The score comes with its reasons, so a high number is never a mystery. The method is the same one used on the domain appraisal page.
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04
It tracks your budget
You set a monthly budget for backorders and auctions and a cap per name. The agent shows what you have committed, what is left and which names would push you past the cap.
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05
It alerts you and builds a daily shortlist
Each morning you get a ranked shortlist with the stage, the key dates and the suggested maximum for every name. Urgent names (an auction closing soon, a name entering pending delete) trigger an alert.
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06
You act where you choose
You place the backorder or bid on the service you prefer. Mark it in the app and the agent records the amount against your budget and watches the outcome. If you win a name, it can move straight into your portfolio for the Portfolio Agent to value and list.
What you control
- Every watch criterion, which you can edit or pause at any time.
- The monthly budget and the cap per name.
- How many names make the daily shortlist.
- Which alerts reach you and which stay in the app.
- Every backorder and every bid, since you place them yourself.
What the Drop Agent never does
- It never places a backorder or a bid at a registrar or auction on its own. You act; the agent tracks budget and timing.
- It never spends money. No payment leaves your account through DomainAgent.
- It never logs into third party accounts or solves CAPTCHAs to read data.
- It never promises you will win a name. Auctions and backorders depend on other buyers and on the registrar.
- It never hides why a name scored high or low.
Plan limits for watching drops
Watch criteria and deal checks are counted per billing period. Removing a criterion halfway through the period does not give the slot back until the next period starts.
| Limit per billing period | Investor | Pro | Portfolio | Agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drop Agent watch criteria | 3 | 15 | 50 | 150 |
| Deal checks (status, value, comps) | 300 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 30,000 |
| Domains in portfolio | 100 | 1,000 | 10,000 | 25,000 |
| Seats | 1 | 3 | 10 | 25 |
Three criteria on Investor are enough for one focused niche. Investors who hunt across several extensions and categories usually move to Pro with 15 criteria or Portfolio with 50. Yearly billing halves the monthly price on every plan; the pricing page lists each one.
A short walkthrough
Say you buy short brandable .com names and resell them to startups. You set three criteria: five to seven letter pronounceable names, two word names with an AI or data word, and any .com registered before 2010 with at least three comparable sales above 2,000 USD.
You set a monthly budget of 1,500 USD and a cap of 400 USD per name. On Tuesday morning the shortlist shows twelve names. Two are in a registrar auction that closes in nine hours, four are in pending delete and six are in redemption, so they may never drop.
You place a backorder on two pending delete names and bid on one auction name up to 380 USD. The agent books 380 USD against your cap, reminds you an hour before the auction closes, and records the result. You win one of the backorders, the name lands in your portfolio, and the Portfolio Agent gives it a value range and a for-sale page the same day.