Life Cycle of a Domain Name

Every month, for a variety of reasons, Registrants don't renew their domain names.
Around 2,000 domain names expire every month. When a Registrant fails to renew a domain name by the expiry date, the domain name is placed into 'Pending Release' status for a period of 90 days. In this state, the domain name is inactive but still registered to the original Registrant. The Registrant can renew at any stage during this 90 day period and by doing so, reactivates the domain name. If the Registrant fails to renew by the 90th day, the domain name is released available for registration on a first in, first served basis by the .nz Registry.

Domain auctions listed on Expired Domains are for domain names which have been in 'Pending Release' status for at least 45 days. If the original Registrant renews the domain name with their Registrar during this period then the Expired Domains auction is withdrawn for this domain name.

Registering an Expired Domain Name

While it's not possible to register an expired domain name during the 90 day pending release period, Expired Domains receives a list of all expired domain names releasing within 48 hours from the .nz Registry and allows you to reserve your interest in a domain name by way of auction.

Expired Domains will attempt to register the domain name for the highest bidder at the exact moment the .nz registry releases the domain name for registration. The .nz Registry operates on a first in, first served basis, so while we will make our best effort to secure the domain name, we make no guarantee that our registration attempt will be successful when the domain name is released. There is absolutely no charge to the highest bidder if our attempt fails.

Bid on Expired Domain Names

Winning bidders win the opportunity of having Expired Domains attempt to register the domain name at the exact moment the .nz registry releases the domain name. The domain name is awarded at the winning bid price and only charged if the domain name is successfully registered by Expired Domains at the time of release. Your bid includes domain name registration for one year, and is registered through one of our exclusive domain name Registrar partners.

Browsing and Searching Domain Names

Discover a great domain name by browsing or searching our huge list of expired domains, recently released domains, hot domains and featured domains.

Through our exclusive partnership with Registrar 1st Domains ( www.1stdomains.nz ) our list is updated daily with new domain names releasing within 45 days to 48 hours.

Watch Domains Names

No missed opportunities with daily email updates of new domain names releasing within 45 days to 48 hours. Create an account to add domain names to your watch list and monitor the auction status from one central place.

Register Recently Released Domain Names

Recently released domain names are available for registration now! - These are domain names that have been released but not yet registered to a new Registrant.
Register these domain names now with one of our exclusive Registrar partners.