Expired Domain Auction Guide

Welcome to DOMAINSHIELD Expired Domain Auctions. We are dedicated to providing all of our clients with a quality and reliable service, and trust that you will enjoy participating with our auctions and are suitably impressed with your results and success.

Below are some basic instructions to help you to get started. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you experience any problems, have any questions, or just to say hello. Your feedback helps us to improve our service and we promise to listen to all your comments.

Please note that on 12 Apr 2021 the auction format changed significantly and so did these instructions.

GETTING STARTED

To participate you will first need to authenticate your DOMAINSHIELD client account.

Step 1: Go to http://www.domainshield.com.au

Step 2: You will find the login button in the top right corner.

Step 3: Click Client Area

Step 4: Login with the following details:

Email: (Sent to you via email)

Password: (Sent to you via email)

You are now ready to participate in our Daily Domainshield Domain Auctions.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Now that you are logged into your member account, the auction page will load, but if it doesn't, just click on the "Daily Drop List" tab. The list of domains presented on the auction page represents the expired com.au and net.au domains scheduled to be purged from the .au zone. Submit your bids individually. You will be able to see other peoples bids and they will be able to see yours too. The advantage of bidding early is that anyone else would have to double your bid in order to outbid you.

DOMAINSHIELD AUCTION RULES

* No Catch No Pay policy. If we don't catch your domain then you don't pay the winning auction bid.
* Our Joining fee is a once off fee and is NOT REFUNDABLE or subject to successfully catching a domain.
* All bids start at just $25 and you can choose the level you are most comfortable with, bearing in mind that anyone else would have to double your bid to beat you.
* Minimum bid increments roughly double up each level allowing you to pay exactly what you want to pay while giving you the benefit of double that value before you can be outbid.
* The auction closes at 11:30 AM (AEST and AEDT Melbourne/Sydney) every day for both PD and expired domains.
* Bids displayed include 1 year domain registration.
* Auctions won are invoiced daily and your credit card will be charged.
* You can fund your account with credit and we will draw down from these funds.
* Domain cancellations are only handled on a case by case basis by contacting support. Generally since your order is visible it will have affected the outcome for other participants then we will not allow you to cancel your order.
* Domains that do not drop will have their auction lots reopened and bidding will continue until the domain is purged from the registry. DOMAINSHIELD does not control whether domains are purged from the registry and consequently we may list domains for multiple days.

To manage your domains, simply go to My Account > My Domains

DOMAINSHIELD Auction Help

Hidden Bids
The Domainshield.com.au auction platform NO LONGER (since 2021-04-21) hides bids.

Each level doubles up
Each level is double the one before, giving you the peace of mind that anyone outbidding you has to try to double your offer. This benefits bidders who do their research and get started early.

Place bid.
Sends your bid for that lot to the auction system for processing. You will be informed if your bid was successful or not.

Watchlist toggle.
Allows you to toggle the inclusion/exclusion of an auction lot in your watch list.
A watch list is a small list of domains you want to monitor at all times and appears in the right navigation window. You can also filter the main auction view by watch list domains.

Filter box.
Allows you to search on text strings e.g. show just the domains contain the word "baby".

Policy/Client deletes
Indicated by a PD.
NB: Domains that display one of these states may appear in the auction list for multiple days until purged from the registry. Bidding will continue until the domain is deleted from the registry.

NB: We do not control the registry purge so any domain that is not deleted from the registry will be relisted for auction and the auction will resume until it is either eventually purged from the registry or the status is changed to an Active state.

Policy Delete (PD).
Domain has the Status: pendingDelete (Client requested policy delete).
This status applies to domain names that are deleted for breach of an auDA Published Policy (known as "policy deletes").
Policy Delete Lifecycle:
1. domain name is removed from the DNS (ie. no longer works on the Internet);
2. domain name enters "serverTransferProhibited", "serverUpdateProhibited" and "pendingDelete" status for 14 calendar days;
3. domain name can be reactivated on auDA's instruction during the 14 calendar day period;
4. after 14 calendar days, domain name is purged from the registry at a random time between 10.30am and 5.00pm AEST (or 11.30am and 6.00pm AEDT) on the next business day. NB: The 14-day period can be extended by auDA.

Client Delete (PD). Currently we cannot differentiate between policy deletes and client deletes due to recent policy changes after migration.
Domain has the Status: pendingDelete (Client requested delete)
This status applies to domain names that are deleted at the request of the registrant.
Client Delete Lifecycle:
1. domain name is removed from the DNS (ie. no longer works on the Internet);
2. domain name enters "pendingDelete" status for 3 calendar days;
3. domain name can be reactivated on the registrant's instruction during the 3 calendar day period;
4. after 3 calendar days, domain name is purged from the registry at a random time between 10.30am and 5.00pm AEST (or 11.30am and 6.00pm AEDT) on the next business day.

Further Reading: To find out more about domain renewal, expiry and deletion,
http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2010-01/

IMPORTANT: When you sign up for you DOMAINSHIELD account, you acknowledge that you have read and accepted our the DOMAINSHIELD Core Terms & Conditions which includes auDA's "Mandatory Terms and Conditions Applying to .au Domain Name Licences (2008-07)"

Please read the full DOMAINSHIELD expired domain auction terms and conditions here.