How Deepnom Works

Four formats, chosen by the seller when launching the auction:

1. English (default) — classic open ascending. Bids are public. Anti-snipe extension fires if a bid lands within the closing window. Proxy bidding supported.
2. Sealed — first-price sealed bid. One blind submission per bidder; amounts hidden until close. Ties go to whoever bid first.
3. Dutch — price drops over time. The first bidder to accept the live price wins immediately and the auction closes.
4. Hybrid — English format with reserve-reveal at a configurable percentage. Bidders see when they’re getting close to the reserve without it being public from the start.

Most listings use English. The other formats are best for specific scenarios (Sealed for confidentiality, Dutch for expiring inventory, Hybrid for premium lots where the seller wants buyer engagement before disclosing reserve).

Five stages between ‘auction won’ and ‘domain in your wallet’:

1. Awaiting Buyer — your dashboard shows a Pay Escrow button. Click it to start the Escrow.com transaction.
2. In Escrow — Escrow.com is reviewing the payment. Card details and KYC at this stage are between you and Escrow.com directly. Your dashboard shows an amber ‘In Escrow’ badge.
3. Funds Approved — Escrow confirmed payment. The seller starts the domain transfer.
4. Complete — domain transferred and accepted; the inspection period elapses. Your dashboard shows a green ‘Complete’ badge.
5. Disbursed — seller payout is released by Escrow.com.

Both you and the seller receive email + in-app notifications at each major stage transition. The 14-day Non-Paying-Bidder clock is paused once you initiate the Escrow.com transaction — Escrow’s review queue, especially for international transactions, can legitimately take 7-21 days, and we don’t punish you for that delay.

If Escrow declines the payment (card issue, KYC fail at their end, sanctions match on their side, or abandoned checkout), we receive a payment_rejected or cancel webhook from Escrow.com almost immediately. When that happens:

• The domain is automatically relisted on the marketplace.
• The auction is canceled.
• You and the seller both get an email + in-app notification explaining what happened.
• For card-level details, contact Escrow.com support directly — they hold the payment-method information, we don’t.

If you want to try again on the same domain, the listing is back as ‘Available’ — make a fresh offer or wait for the seller to relaunch the auction.

Worst-case scenario (Escrow’s webhook delivery itself fails): our daily Non-Paying-Bidder sweep forfeits the auction at day 14, relists the domain, and notifies the seller. Manual admin override can shortcut this if needed.

Pick a listing from the marketplace and choose one of three paths:

Buy It Now — pay the published price; the domain enters escrow and transfers within hours.

Make an offer — submit your amount; the seller accepts, counters, or rejects. Accepted offers mint a one-time escrow checkout link.

Bid in an auction — for listings with an active auction, place bids up to the close. Highest bid above reserve wins.

Every transaction completes through escrow.com — the seller doesn’t get paid until the domain is in your account.

Yes — payment goes into escrow.com, not directly to the seller. The seller has to actually transfer the domain to your registrar account before escrow releases funds.

If the seller doesn’t deliver inside the agreed window, escrow refunds you in full. This is the protection escrow is built for: you take no completion risk.

Two paths:

Same registrar (push transfer) — instant. If both buyer + seller use the same registrar, the seller pushes the domain to your account in seconds.

Inter-registrar transfer — 5-7 days. The seller unlocks + provides the EPP code; you submit it at your registrar; the gaining side processes the change.

Deepnom’s escrow flow detects matching registrars and offers the push path automatically.

You get notified. Saved domains (the heart button on every listing card) trigger a price-drop alert when the seller lowers the asking price — in your Deepnom inbox and via email if you have email notifications on.

Same applies to auction starts (head-start before competitors notice) and sales (closure when the domain transfers to someone else). Manage what you receive at notification settings.

Escrow is a neutral third party that holds the buyer’s payment until the seller delivers the domain. We use escrow.com — the industry standard for domain transactions since 1999.

Without escrow: the buyer either wires money first (seller could vanish) or the seller transfers first (buyer could vanish). Escrow eliminates both risks — neither party has leverage to walk away with the other side’s value.

Escrow.com accepts wire transfer, credit card, and PayPal for most transactions. Payment limits and fees vary by method — wire is cheapest for high-value transactions; credit card is fastest for lower amounts.

Currency is USD by default. International buyers can pay in their local currency; escrow handles the FX conversion.

Buyer pays: 1-5 business days depending on payment method (instant for credit card, 1-3 days for wire).

Seller transfers: instant (push) to 7 days (inter-registrar).

Buyer inspection: typically 1 business day to verify the domain is in the new account.

Funds release: same-day after inspection.

Total for a smooth same-registrar push: under 48 hours. For a full inter-registrar transfer: 7-10 days.

Escrow refunds you in full. The transaction has a defined delivery window (set during checkout); if the seller misses it, you can dispute and escrow processes the refund.

The seller forfeits any platform reputation tied to the transaction — non-completing sellers accumulate strikes and may have their listings removed.

No — anyone can browse listings, search, and read content. You only need an account to:

• Save domains (heart button)
• Submit offers or bid in auctions
• Receive price-drop / auction-start alerts
• Sell domains

Registration is free and takes ~30 seconds. Email verification is required before you can transact.

Use the Claim & save my conversation link in the closure-warning email we send 7 days before a guest chat auto-expires. The link prefills your registration form with the chat’s email.

When you register with that email, the conversation automatically attaches to your new account — full chat history, offers, everything. No manual reattach needed.

Three categories of alerts: watchlist events (price drop, auction start, sold), saved-search matches (new listings matching your filters), and inbox messages.

Each can be delivered in-app, by email, or via browser push. Per-category daily caps prevent burst-fatigue. Manage everything at notification settings.

Visibility on Deepnom comes from a few overlapping signals — none of which require paying.

Indexed and searchable — every listing gets a public URL that AI engines and Google both index.

Set a realistic price or open to offers — sky-high BIN prices kill engagement. Make-offer with a clear min_offer floor often wins more buyer messages.

Earn an AI-Appraised tier badge — every listing is automatically scored 0-100. Listings that score >=55 get a public tier badge (Scored / Strong / Top) on marketplace cards. Improve the listing fundamentals (description, category tags, comparable pricing) and the score climbs.

Editorial Featured selection — operators can mark specific listings as ‘Featured’ on the homepage shelf. This is editorial-only and not for sale; it’s never available as a paid upgrade.

Every listing is automatically scored on a 0-100 scale by the Deepnom AI valuation engine. Listings that score above 55 receive a public tier badge:

• AI Top tier — score >=85, gold pill.
• AI Strong — score >=70, sky-blue pill.
• AI Scored — score >=55, slate pill.

The score keys off domain characteristics: length, brand feel, TLD, real comparable sales, and the listing’s description quality. To climb tiers, write a stronger description, pick accurate category tags, and price within the AI’s suggested range. The badge is never for sale and doesn’t require a subscription.

Verified Seller is a free trust badge granted by Deepnom based on objective criteria — completed sales, verified payout method on file, on-time response history, and a clean dispute record.

It unlocks premium storefront themes, direct buyer-to-seller chat without broker mediation, and eligibility to hire from the Elite Broker Network for high-value domains.

It is granted, not purchased. There’s no signup form — your track record on the platform is what qualifies you. We previously offered a paid ‘Pro’ tier (retired 2026-05-10); Verified Seller is the free earned-status replacement.

KYC (Know-Your-Customer) is identity verification — government ID + sometimes a utility bill or selfie — required for high-value transactions and auction participation above certain thresholds.

Three tiers: Easy (ID only), Medium (ID + utility bill), High (ID + bill + selfie). The required tier depends on the transaction amount and your account history. KYC documents are stored encrypted and accessible only to compliance staff.

To buy a domain on Deepnom, start by searching for the desired domain name using the search bar on the homepage.

Once the search results appear, you can view the availability of the domain. If the domain is available for purchase, select it and proceed to the checkout process. This typically involves creating an account or logging in if one already exists. During checkout, provide the necessary payment information and confirm the purchase.

After the transaction is completed, the domain will be registered in your name, and you will receive confirmation via email. It is essential to ensure that all contact details are accurate to avoid issues with domain management in the future.

Deepnom charges a percentage commission on successful sales — published per listing on every offer breakdown. Platform-owned premium inventory has different terms.

Escrow.com applies its own fee on top, capped per transaction tier. Both fees are deducted from the buyer’s payment before the seller receives the net amount.

There are no listing fees, no monthly fees, and no fees to receive offers — only successful transactions are charged.

Premium domain pricing reflects scarcity + brand fit + comparable sales. A 4-letter .com isn’t expensive because it cost more to register — it’s expensive because there are only 456,976 of them in existence and most are taken.

Industry-defining names (the dictionary word for a category) carry additional premium because they’re literally one-of-one for their use case.

On make-offer listings, yes — that’s the whole point. Submit your amount; the seller accepts, counters, or rejects.

On Buy-It-Now listings, the price is fixed. Some sellers do accept incoming messages even on BIN — but the BIN price reflects the fastest-close number and counters below it usually go nowhere.

A reasonable opening offer is typically 30-60% of the asking price for retail listings, depending on how obviously priced-up the asking is. Lowballs (under 20%) tend to be ignored or auto-rejected.

Look at the seller’s min_offer_usd — that’s the floor they’ve published. Submit at or above that for serious consideration.

Sign in, go to your dashboard, and click Add Domain. You’ll need to:

1. Verify ownership (DNS TXT record or NS change).
2. Set a Buy-It-Now price, a reserve, or open the listing to make-an-offer.
3. Optionally add an SEO description, choose a layout theme, and enable buyer messaging.

Once the verification + setup completes (usually under 10 minutes), your listing is live on the marketplace.

When a buyer pays into escrow and you complete the transfer, escrow releases the funds (minus the platform commission and escrow fee) to your registered payout method.

Standard payout windows are 24-72 hours after escrow releases. You can see the full fee breakdown — platform fee, escrow fee, net to you — on every offer before you accept it.

Yes. You list with us; your domain stays where it is. When a sale happens, the buyer either:

Transfers to their registrar — you unlock + give the EPP code; the buyer pulls the domain.

Receives a push at your registrar — if the buyer also has an account there, the transfer is instant.

Most popular registrars (Cloudflare, Porkbun, Namecheap, GoDaddy) support both flows.

Three things move the needle:

Write a strong SEO description — 1-2 sentences explaining what the domain is good for. AI search engines + Google both index this.

Set a realistic price or open to offers — sky-high BIN prices kill engagement. Make-offer with a clear min_offer floor often wins more buyer messages.

Boost the listing — paid promotion places you in the Featured shelf. Works best for inventory that already has buyer pull.

Once the domain is in your registrar account:

1. Find the DNS settings (sometimes called “manage DNS” or “nameservers”).
2. Add an A record pointing the apex (the domain without www) at your hosting provider’s IP address.
3. Add a CNAME record for www pointing to the apex (or directly to the host).

Most modern hosts (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages) give you the exact records to copy — check their custom-domain setup docs.

Email is configured via DNS (MX records), not the registry. When you take ownership, the existing MX records stay in place until you change them.

If the previous owner had the email running through their own infrastructure, those mailboxes won’t transfer. Set up fresh email at Google Workspace, Fastmail, or your own host and update the MX records to your new mail provider.

Two paths:

TXT record — we generate a unique value; you add it as a TXT record on the domain’s DNS. We verify within 5 minutes.

Nameserver change — point the domain’s nameservers to ours (deepnom-managed). We verify the change and your listing goes live; full DNS control passes through Deepnom while listed.

TXT is the lighter-touch option; NS gives Deepnom more ability to manage landing pages + SSL on your behalf.

WHOIS is a public lookup that returns who registered a domain, when, and through which registrar.

Since 2018 (GDPR), the registrant’s name + address + email are redacted by default — public WHOIS shows only the registrar, dates, and nameservers. Your contact information stays private unless you explicitly opt out of redaction (rare).