I was checking Afternic.com’s auctions which is something I very rarely do. One auction jumped out at me more because of the current bid. The bid price was $1,630 with 29 bids. The domain: MobileMail.com
The domain happens to be an expired Tucows domain name and just looking at normal whois on Whois.sc nothing looks "different". DomainTools offers up the Buy Now: this domain is for sale on Afternic etc.
I checked whois history and I saw something "new":
This was the first time that I have seen this and just found it interesting. I checked several other "expired" Tucows domains and none of those had the above. I am not sure if Afternic/Tucows has done this or DomainTools.com .
The "new" auction info in whois history is first posted on 9-11-2008 and is also posted on the 13th, 14th, 21st, 25th.
Expired Domain Auctions on Afternic.com only last 5 days, so I find it interesting this "new" info was posted as early as 9-11-2008. Today is 9-27-2008 and the auction ends 10-1-2008. That means the auction started on the 26th.
Leonard Britt
Funny-I’ve noticed a few domains in perpetual auction mode at Namejet…Askmelaw.com is one I’ve noticed and others like Espanola.com whose reserve dates keep getting pushed back.
Bill Sweetman
Hi Jamie,
Glad to hear you were checking out Afternic’s auctions and noticed one of the many top quality Tucows expired domain names up for auction.
The “new” auction message you noticed in the WHOIS for this expired domain is something Tucows has been doing since we migrated our expired domain auction to Afternic in June. We call it “marketing.” ;+)
This auction marketing message is added 26 days after expiry to the WHOIS record of expired domains that are listed in the Afternic auction marketplace. The message stays there for 14 days leading up to the start of the Afternic Live Auction (which typically begins 41 days after expiry and runs for 5 days).
Since this domain name expired on August 16, the auction marketing message should have first appeared in the WHOIS on September 11, which it did as you have noted in your post.
Thanks for noticing!
Bill Sweetman
General Manager, Tucows Domain Portfolio
Tucows Inc.
**Jamie Says**
Hi Bill. I think you may want to reread the post. I stated Whois HISTORY. I checked several of the domains currently on auction and none had the same message in whois history. Yes, I have seen the marketing of the domains in the “normal” whois with the link on top for the auction, but never before in whois history.
Bill Sweetman
Hi Jamie. Thanks for the clarification. Your best bet then is to ask the DomainTools folks directly since, of course, Tucows does not operate their WHOIS History service. I will be interested to know what you discover. Cheers, Bill
**Jamie Says**
Thank you Bill. I just didn’t want you holding back any tricks and not sharing how you did it. lol