Is there any way that registering a domain for a longer period of time could lead to more inbound offers?

I got an email from a startup founder I’ve been friends with for years this morning. Their company has raised over $30M, they’re kicking ass and taking names, growing like crazy and making their clients and investors happy…and like most startup founders, they don’t know too much about domain names.

They are interested in buying a domain and asked me the following question.

“We want to buy a domain name, and luckily when we looked it up it turns out the owner is going to let it go and it’s going to expire this year, where is the best place to buy it to make sure we’re the first to get it?”

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this confusion, it’s easily the 30th time. Many people have no idea that people only register domains for a year and then set them to auto-renew. They think that if a WHOIS search shows a domain is going to expire, that means the owner has decided to let it go.

Of course I explained to them how domains work and that while some people register domains for multiple years, most people register for a year and just let it auto-renew. This made me think, I wonder what the impact of registering a domain name for longer has on the number of offers it gets?

If someone sees a domain registered for multiple years are they more likely to reach out? My guess is there’s probably little-to-no impact but I do know in this case that my friend was planning to wait until the expiry date and then make a move. Whenever someone waits, things can change and a seller can lose a deal.

So I thought I’d turn it over to you, my readers and hear what you think. Does registering a domain for longer increase your changes of getting an offer? Like I said, I don’t think it does, but hey – what do I know?

I want to hear from you, comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton