Backordering a domain
 

How can an expired domain be acquired during its expiration phase? I was waiting to backorder a domain and I used 4 backorder services (Pool, Namejet, Snapnames, and GoDaddy). The domain did not even hit the redemption period and was semi-acquired by someone. First, how could this have happened and second, how can they slip over the expiration backorder phase? First thing that came to mind was the original owner renewed the domain but that was not the case. The domain is listed in BuyDomains which is saying it will soon be for sale.

Depending on the registrar, they probably used their own/partner domain clearing house and sold it off before you had a chance. A lot of registrars will use a single domain clearing house so even sites like pool.com will never have a chance. Who was the registrar?

123-reg.co.uk but Tucows seem to be the primary registrar per whois information. I was waiting for the domain to be caught and all-of-a-sudden no one catches it. I never heard of a Single-Domain Clearing House. I thought the only way to acquire an expired domain was to backorder. I also thought the domain guru Frank Schilling somehow acquired the domain through his back-channel contacts. There were a bunch of things going through my mind. I am concerned they will put a high 5-6 figure on it.

So with clearing house it's only to protect generic (gTLD). Not really dot com names right? The domain in question is a dot com. It's not a gTLD.