Finding "renewal required" domains months before they drop?

I'm new to this domain catching domain, so go easy Is there any way of finding domains that have only recently been suspended, and so are still a long way from becoming available? The best I can find are lists that are 30 days out from becoming available, but it seems that a lot of the really good one are already booked at all the public catchers. So say a .co.uk domain is not renewed today and get's given this status today:

Renewal required.
*** This registration has been SUSPENDED. ***

Is there any easy way of finding lists of these domains? Or do we have to wait until nearer the drop day before they are publicly available?

 

I'm sure there probably are people that compile private lists of domains at the renewal required stage. It might not be as valuable as you think though, as many of these domains will end up being renewed as they are still within the renewal period before suspension so it could prove to be a lot of time wasted. I think most public catchers won't let you book a catch unless it is set to suspended anyway, so your best bet is to check as far in advance is possible i.e. 30 - 60 days days.

Even then you will still often find the decent domains you are after will be already booked across the board because it's so competitive.

 

Ok thanks Lovekraft. From what I can tell, .uk domains are in "SUSPENDED" status for around 60 days, is that correct? So if I can find suspended domains that are more than 30 days out, I should still be able to book them?

 

Ive created a little php script that looks at a list of domains from a database (that ive populated) - for domains that say "renewal required" or not registered. I can then look into either catching them or buying them.

This would work well with dictionary words, however ive been trawling three letter domains recently (All 17,576 combinations), The theory is ill be able to get it booked with drop catchers as early as possible.

The downside is i have to supply the possible domains, but as i only created it for 3 letter domains and have a combination generator, it wasnt an issue.

 

That's a really nice idea suggys. So is there a Nominet API you use for that?

 

Nah, i just have it looking at whois (Limited to 1000 searches per day i believe) But im in no rush lol.

 

To do it properly you need DAC access, which means you need to become a Nominet member:

http://registrars.nominet.org.uk/registration-and-domain-management/query-tools/dac

You then need a master list of x,xxx,xxx domains and a script to scan the list. Once the initial scan is done you can then rescan based on the renewal dates.

The

 

You will be able to book them 60 days in advance yeah.

 

I have had some good luck finding "renewal required" domains recently and, although I can't add them at most dropcatchers, it's good to have them primed ready for when they enter "suspended" status. One thing I have noticed though, is that a few are now less than 60 days out and still haven't been suspened, they just stay at "renewal required". Why is this? Is the registrar giving the owner more of a chance? They are stonking domains mainly for backlinking, PR5 and super high authority.