Here is a domain name that many would consider a GEM of a CVCV! BiBi.com

(Update: 5/26/2010, BiBi.com did drop from the registry and was captured by SnapNames.com and is currently on auction with 269 bidders!)

I was doing a scan of some PendingDelete domain names and happened to notice BiBi.com which is set to be released from the registry tomorrow (5/26/10) but will it really drop or not is the question?

What ran a red flag up for me is the fact the domain is registered with Moniker.com . All expired Moniker domains go to SnapNames.com to be auctioned first and if the domain doesn’t get any bids, it would then later hit the PendingDelete list. With the  quality of this CVCV, I couldn’t find any reason why nobody would bid on it in "pre-release".

So I checked out whois records for BiBi.com and Future Media Architects™ is or was the owner of the domain. I found it pretty odd that they would simply allow a domain to expire, since they never even sell any of their domain names. According to whois records the domain really isn’t even expired? As of a 1/3/10 whois record the expire date for BiBi.com was 6/20/11 (June 20th of next year). Based on that, this domain should not be in PendingDelete status.

Whois records stay the same until 4/20/10 when the records go blank and simply display "No Match". What happened? I have no idea but from 4/20/10 to 5/23/10 the whois history records simply display "No Match".

As of yesterday (5/24/10), a new whois record is displayed:

kaifu lee

namevoice@googlemail.com

4201 Wisconsin Ave., N W

Washington WA 20016 US

but the 6/20/11 expire date stayed the same.

As of today (5/25/10) the whois record now shows Privacy with an expire date of 6/20/12.

What has changed since the "No Match"? The whois registrant is different than before as it showed: Future Media Architects of Road Town Tortola VG was displayed before the "No Match" appeared. The expire date as of today was extended by 1 year.

Since the Registry record is really the one that matters because they are the ones that will release the domain or not, I checked that as of this morning as well and it displays:

Domain Name: BIBI.COM
Registrar: MONIKER ONLINE SERVICES, INC.
Whois Server: whois.moniker.com
Referral URL: http://www.moniker.com/whois.html
Name Server: NS1.US.FMA.NET
Name Server: NS2.US.FMA.NET
Status: pendingDelete
Updated Date: 20-may-2010
Creation Date: 21-jun-1997
Expiration Date: 20-jun-2011
 

Although DomainTools.com whois states a new record  as of 5/25/10 with a new expire date of 6/20/12, the registry record does not match this. The one thing that does match at both is the PendingDelete status of BiBi.com . The likely reason behind the status update by the registry on 5/20/10 is the PendingDelete status with it set to be released on 5/26/10.

This is what the PendingDelete status is defined as:

PENDINGDELETE: The registry sets this status after a domain has been set in REDEMPTIONPERIOD status and the domain has not been restored by the registrar. The domain will not be included in the zone. Once in this status all registrar requests to modify or otherwise update the domain will be rejected. The domain will be purged from the registry database after being in this status for 5 calendar days.

Based on what I bolded, I would believe the domain will be released from the registry but with many domains I have researched in the past with using public data, a lot of things can happen and it is not always as you expect. Since the registry shows a 6/20/11 expire date, the status should really not be PendingDelete anyway, so your guess is as good as mine to what is up with BiBi.com .

Since based on the PendingDelete status definition, it would explain why the new expiry extension by 1 year in whois would have been denied by the registry due to the PendingDelete status of BiBi.com .

Pre-Bidding at NameJet.com is over $1,300 USD already and I’m sure has a fair amount of pre-bids at SnapNames and Pool but we will have to see if the domain really gets release from the registry (verisign) or not tomorrow.