What is the auction process for .me domains?
During the Sunrise and Landrush periods, we may receive multiple applications for the same .me domain. During the Sunrise period, we validate the applications to ensure applicants entered the appropriate trademark information. If an application does not pass validation, we reject it. If we still have multiple applications for the same domain, we auction the domain to the highest bidder. Only applicants who applied for the domain and passed validation can participate in the auction. There are no restrictions for domains applied for during the Landrush period; we do not reject applications submitted during Landrush.
We send email notifications to all applicants contesting for the domain. The email includes information about the auction, such as the auction date, how to access the auction (URL), and the credentials to set up an account prior to the auction start date. Auctions last approximately three days and start on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Auctions end on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.
The minimum opening bid is $75. Applicants can manually place bids, or they can place a maximum bid and use a proxy service to submit bids in real time. If the lead bidder changes within the last 24 hours of the auction, we extend the auction by another 24 hours.
We notify the winning applicant by email, and we include instructions on how to complete payment, which includes the amount of the auction plus the domain registration fee. The winning applicant has 72 hours to arrange payment, and we validate the payment within 72 hours. After validating the payment, we approve the domain for allocation to the winning bidder.
In cases where the winning applicant does not submit payment or we receive no bids for the domain, we may offer the domain to the next highest bidder, place the domain on the Premium names list for a later auction, or release the name for general registration.We may also cancel and reschedule the auction.