.auction: Putting the Bidding Model in the Address
.auction was delegated to the root zone on 24 April 2014 and is sponsored by Dog Beach, LLC, part of the Identity Digital portfolio. The expectation the word creates is narrow and precise: visitors expect a sale, a bidding process or a lot calendar. That narrowness is the advantage — the address explains the business model before anyone enters the site.
It suits auction houses, art and collectibles sales, vehicle and machinery auctions, second-hand platforms and charity fundraising sales. If you run a fixed-price shop, the word promises the wrong thing; and if bidding is only an occasional campaign, publishing it at a separate address keeps things cleaner. Compare candidates with a bulk domain name search.
.AUCTION Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation Dog Beach, LLC (Identity Digital)
- Delegated to the root zone 24 April 2014
- Typical use Auction houses, collectibles, vehicle and machinery sales
- Eligibility No published registry restriction could be verified
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .auction domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
Related Domain Extensions
Registering the same name on more than one extension keeps someone else from taking your brand.
.auction Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$4.99 /year -
Transfer
$36.39 /year -
Renewal
$39.19 /year -
Restore
$124.90 -
Late Renewal
$6.73
Included With Every .auction Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.auction Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .auction domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .auction address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .auction domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $6.73 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .auction returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.auction Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.auction Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .auction domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.auction Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .auction Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No verifiable eligibility restriction applies. We could not reach a primary source showing that the registry asks for an auctioneer's licence, trading permit or sector registration, so registration appears open. The activity itself is regulated in most countries, though: whatever permissions running auctions requires apply independently of the domain, and you still have to meet them.
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It does not, because the word makes a narrow promise. Visitors expect a page where bids can be placed; finding a fixed-price storefront leaves that expectation unmet and spends the one advantage the address gave you. If you hold occasional sales, the practical answer is a split: the shop stays on your main address, the bidding campaign runs at a separate .auction address, and that redirects to the main site once it closes.
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The load profile differs from an ordinary brochure site. Traffic does not spread evenly; simultaneous bids concentrate in the final minutes before a lot closes, and the server has to absorb that spike. If you build the application yourself, choose by runtime — Node.js hosting or Python hosting. If you only publish a calendar and catalogue, shared hosting is enough.
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No registry-imposed rule was verified, but the nature of the business makes it unavoidable. Bidding requires an account, an account requires identity and contact details, and a payment or deposit step usually follows. Running that flow over an unencrypted connection is indefensible. Options sit on the SSL certificate page, and the SSL checker confirms the installation.
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Because the model itself is time-bound. Outbid, closing soon, you won — if those messages arrive late, users miss the process and trust erodes. Publishing SPF, DKIM and DMARC records is therefore not a cosmetic detail here; without them the notifications land in spam. After setup, send tests to addresses at several providers to confirm delivery.
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