Domain Industry Glossary

A rule that auto-extends an auction's close by a few minutes when a bid lands in the final window. Prevents last-second outsider bids from winning by surprise.

Deepnom supports four auction formats — English (open ascending, default), Sealed (one blind bid each), Dutch (price drops over time, instant close on first bid), and Hybrid (English + reserve reveal at a configurable price point).

The minimum amount by which a new bid must exceed the current high bid. Usually scales with the bid amount — $1 at $10, $50 at $5,000.

An optional fixed price inside an active auction — paying it ends the auction immediately at that amount. Lets a buyer skip the bid war for certainty.

Re-registering an expired domain the moment the registry deletes it. Specialized services compete for high-value drops with millisecond-precision API calls.

A descending-price auction — the price drops over time until the first bidder accepts. Used for batch-clearing inventory where speed matters more than price discovery.

Open ascending-price auction — bids increase publicly until the timer ends. The most familiar format and the default on most domain marketplaces.

An English auction with a hidden reserve that gets revealed once bidding crosses a threshold percentage of (reserve − starting). Combines reserve secrecy with bidder confidence.

A winning bidder who fails to complete payment. Most marketplaces issue strikes for repeat offenders and eventually ban bidding privileges.

Non-Paying-Bidder strike. Issued when a winning bidder fails to initiate Escrow within the warning window. Three strikes auto-bans the bidder for 30 days.

A status that flips to true when the highest bid reaches or exceeds the seller's reserve price. Once met, the auction will result in a sale at close.

Bids are submitted privately and revealed only at close. Each bidder picks their max number once, blind to what others bid. Highest sealed bid wins.

Primary = registering an unregistered domain at retail rates ($8-$60). After-market = buying a previously-registered domain from its current owner, usually at a markup.

Registering a domain matching a known trademark with the intent to sell it back to the brand at a markup, or to redirect their traffic. Actionable under UDRP and the US ACPA.

A registrar registering a domain a customer just searched for in their availability tool, holding it for ransom. Banned by ICANN's RAA but still occasionally reported.

Technically you don't 'own' a domain — you hold a renewable lease from the registry. The registration grants exclusive use for the term you've paid for, up to 10 years.

Since 2018 ICANN requires registrars to mask the registrant name + email + address from public WHOIS to comply with GDPR. Registrar contact replaces the registrant in public records.

Know-Your-Customer verification — government ID + proof of address — applied to high-value domain trades to satisfy AML rules and reduce fraud risk.

A registry rule requiring the registrant to have an address (or representative) in a specific country or region. Common for ccTLDs (.ca needs Canada nexus, .ai needs AI Domain Registration Limited).

When a trademark holder files a UDRP complaint in bad faith — knowing their case has no merit — to extract a domain from a legitimate registrant. Sanctionable by the panel.

ICANN's centralized database of validated trademarks. Registered marks get sunrise-period priority on new gTLD launches and trademark-claims warnings during regular registration.

Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy — the ICANN-mandated process for resolving trademark disputes over generic TLD domains. Decided by arbitration, faster than court.

A free, merit-based badge on listing cards driven by an automated 0-100 valuation score. Replaces the retired paid Boost product. Three tiers: Top (>=85, gold), Strong (>=70, blue), Scored (>=55, slate).

A listing where a platform broker mediates buyer-seller communication and negotiation. Common for premium inventory where both parties prefer professional intermediation.

A platform-imposed freeze on a chat thread, usually triggered by AI moderation flagging off-platform contact attempts (phone numbers, emails, payment instructions).

Buying domains as appreciating digital assets — registering at retail, holding, and reselling at retail markup to end-users. Capital-intensive at scale; requires a multi-year horizon.

Escrow refers to a financial arrangement where a third party temporarily holds funds or assets until predetermined conditions are met, ensuring secure transactions.

An opt-in public profile at /seller/<username>/ showing a seller's featured listings + opt-in stats (sales count, member-since). Drives brand for active portfolio holders.

A transfer between two accounts at the same registrar — usually instant, free, and skipping the standard inter-registrar transfer protocol entirely.

A persisted marketplace query that fires notifications when fresh listings match. Captures intent that would otherwise evaporate when the visitor closes the tab.

A 60-day registrar-level lock that follows any change of registrant or recent transfer. Domains under transfer lock can't move to another registrar.

Marketplace-specific seller tier badges (Pro, Elite, Verified) that signal quality + history to buyers. Each platform's criteria differ; Deepnom's Elite is auto-flagged for short or aged domains.

A free, earned trust badge granted by Deepnom based on completed sales, payout-method verification, response SLA, and dispute history. Not for sale.

A buyer-side feature for saving domains of interest. Watched domains trigger notifications on price drops, auction starts, or sales — closing the loop on browse-then-forget visits.

Buy-It-Now price — the fixed amount at which a domain transfers immediately upon payment, no negotiation required.

The marketplace's percentage cut on a successful sale, usually 10–20%. Charged to the seller out of the buyer's payment before the seller receives funds.

A previously-sold domain similar in length, TLD, and theme used as a price reference. Cited via NameBio, DNJournal, or first-party marketplace data.

An estimate of a domain's market value based on length, TLD, comparable sales, brandability, and search demand. Useful as a starting point — not a transaction floor.

A neutral third-party service that holds payment until the domain transfers, then releases funds to the seller. The standard for any meaningful domain transaction.

Five distinct stages an Escrow.com transaction passes through after auction close: Awaiting Buyer, In Escrow, Funds Approved, Complete, Disbursed.

A payment plan where the buyer pays monthly until the domain is fully owned. Common for premium inventory in the $5K–$100K range where one-time payment is a barrier.

A listing without a published price; buyers submit an amount and the seller accepts, counters, or rejects. Standard for owner-priced premium inventory.

The minimum amount a seller will accept in an auction. Bids below the reserve don't win even if they're the highest — the auction ends without a transfer.

Wholesale = investor-to-investor pricing (low, fast, anonymous). Retail = end-user pricing (higher, slower, brand-fit). The same domain can sell for 10× the difference.

A registrar setting that charges your stored payment method to extend the registration before expiry. Saves more domains than any other practice — but requires a current card on file.

A standing request to register a specific domain the moment it becomes available. Backorder services queue up at expiration windows and compete with each other for the drop.

The window after a domain's expiration during which the registrant can still renew at the regular price. Typically 30-45 days for gTLDs.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — the nonprofit that coordinates global DNS, accredits registrars, and manages the rules for new TLDs and disputes (UDRP).

The person or organization that holds the registration for a domain. Identified by the registrant contact in WHOIS (now usually redacted under GDPR).

An ICANN-accredited company that sells domain registrations to end-users on behalf of a registry. Customer-facing — you log into your registrar to manage DNS, transfer, or renew.

The organization that operates a TLD's authoritative database — Verisign for .com/.net, Identity Digital for .io, Donuts for .app/.dev, etc. Sets the rules registrars must follow.

A registry-level lock that requires multi-step out-of-band verification (often a phone call) to unlock. Used on high-value names to prevent registrar-side compromise from triggering a transfer.

A company that sells domain registrations under their own brand but routes the actual registration through an ICANN-accredited registrar's reseller API. Common for hosting providers.

When a new TLD opens, registrations follow staged phases: Sunrise (TMCH-registered marks), Landrush (early access at premium prices), General Availability (open to all).

A DNS record that maps a domain or subdomain to an IPv4 address. The most basic 'point my domain at this server' instruction.

A DNS alias — points one hostname at another rather than at an IP. Useful for delegating subdomains to managed services (e.g. www.example.com → cdn.fastly.net).

DNS Security Extensions — cryptographic signatures on DNS records so resolvers can verify the answer wasn't tampered with in transit. Adds a chain of trust to DNS responses.

An authorization code (also called auth-code or transfer code) the gaining registrar requires to pull a domain from the losing registrar. The 'password' for a domain transfer.

Specifies which mail servers receive email for a domain. Multiple MX records can be set with priority numbers; lower priority is tried first.

Specifies the authoritative nameservers for a domain. Set at the registry level (via your registrar) and at the parent zone — they have to match.

A domain the registry has flagged for higher pricing — usually short, dictionary-word, or category-defining names. Premium fees are set by the registry, not the registrar.

A registry operates a TLD (e.g. Verisign runs .com); a registrar sells domain registrations to end-users. End-users buy from registrars; registrars settle with registries.

A free-text DNS record originally designed for human-readable notes. Now used heavily for ownership verification (Google, AWS, Cloudflare) and email auth (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).

A protocol + service that returns the registration record for a domain — registrar, creation/expiry dates, and (historically) the owner's contact details.