SnapNames and NameJet: What Available Soon Means

SnapNames and NameJet are aftermarket venues for domain names, both under Web.com. People search them as separate brands because each has its own site and account system. For the expired inventory that matters to buyers, they share a large pool. A name listed on one is the same listing on the other.

That pool is where registrar partners send names that may be coming off an existing registration. You will see three different products on those sites, and mixing them up is how people miss a cheap window or pay for the wrong thing:

• Available Soon. A request list before a live sale. You are saying you want the name if the current owner lets it go.
• In Auction. A live sale. Anyone can join. You bid, or you use Buy Now if they show one.
• A later catch backorder. After an unsold expiry sale is pulled, they may offer a catch attempt at the drop. That is a different product from Available Soon, and it is also different from a DropCatch-style pending-delete backorder.

Use one of the two sites, not both, for the shared pool. Duplicate requests do not give you two chances. They are the same name.

Available Soon means the name is on SnapNames and NameJet as a request list. It is not in a live auction yet. You are not buying the domain. You are saying you want it if the current owner lets it go.

Usual practice, not a guarantee: if you are the only person who puts in a request before the request-by time, they often award the name at the listed price, commonly $69 or $79. If more than one person requests it, they run a real auction later among those people. Until then the owner can still renew or transfer the name, and nobody gets it that way.

SnapNames' own pages often say "order" or "place an order." Treat that as a request. You have not checked out, and the domain is not on its way.

A name can be Available Soon and also listed for sale somewhere else at the same time. In that case you can buy it now on the other listing, or put in a SnapNames or NameJet request, or both. The request is still not a purchase.

When the request window ends and the name is still available to them, it often moves to In Auction. Bidding is open. Unsold expiry names with no bid yet sometimes run a declining starting-price window before a normal rising auction starts. That schedule is theirs, and a given name can skip a step or end sooner.

Three other endings are common:

• The owner renews. The name leaves Available Soon and does not go to auction.
• The name is transferred to another registrar. It leaves the list for a different reason.
• It leaves the list quietly, with no live auction. The owner may have kept it. A live auction can still open later.

None of those is a completed purchase. If you want the name, watch the state change rather than assuming the request will convert.

A domain backorder is a queued catch at the registry drop, usually through a drop-catcher such as DropCatch. You pay only if they catch it. Available Soon is earlier and different: you are on SnapNames' request list while the current owner still controls the name.

SnapNames and NameJet may later offer their own catch backorder, often around $79, if an unsold expiry sale is pulled and the name continues toward delete. That is optional and separate. It is also separate from Notify.domains Place Backorder buttons, which are about the DropCatch-style pending-delete window.

If the dashboard says Available Soon, put in a request on SnapNames or NameJet (one site) before the request-by time if you want a shot at the listed price. Do not wait for a drop while that list is still open. If it already says In Auction, bid or buy there. See how domain auctions work for the other venue types.

Add the name once. We watch SnapNames and NameJet on the same watch as GoDaddy Auctions, DropCatch, and the other venues on domain auction monitoring. Available Soon is its own alert, not a bid alert. When a live auction opens, that is a separate alert with the venue, the current bid, and the published closing time.

We do not put in the request, and we do not bid. You do that in your own SnapNames or NameJet account. For the product-shaped version of this, see domain auction alerts.