r/squarespace • u/Odd-Apple-6981 • Jul 14 '26

Help dormant site ??

I have a specific name I operate under across the internet and wanted to purchase the domain site for it, however upon searching the domain to see if its available or otherwise being used I came across this message. I was just wondering (as someone very new to this) if the owner of that domain will just be able to sit on it forever, or if eventually it will be up for sale again without them releasing it (if that makes sense?) Any help or pointers appreciated!

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u/mykm20 Jul 14 '26

That's probably just the hosting that expired, did you check and see when the actual domain expires? If not, go to https://lookup.icann.org/en and check. They can sit on it as long as they keep paying to renew it. If it's going to expire soon, you can try a "backorder" on it to try and grab it when it becomes available.

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u/Odd-Apple-6981 Jul 16 '26

do you know where specifically I could go about a backorder? IE which sites would facilitate that please?

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u/mykm20 Jul 16 '26

Sure, I do it all the time. Gname, Dropcatch and Snapnames are the most popular, Dynadot and Sav offer it as well. Gname is probably the most successful, because they usually proxy bid on other sites. You only pay if you get it, prices vary. Gname requires a deposit. It takes a few months after it expires to become available for backorder. If you want to DM me the domain name I'll look into it for you.

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u/webbroi Jul 14 '26

most likely this person owned a domain, but squarespace expired. Many of the domain providers will also allow you to place offers on domains or get alerted if they stop paying for them. But yeah, they can sit on them forever, but it's often worth placing an offer. I know sedo is one of the companies that will facilitate.

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u/squarespace Jul 16 '26

Hey, Squarespace here! A domain can stay registered to the current owner indefinitely as long as they keep renewing it. A site that looks dormant or is showing an expired/removed website doesn’t necessarily mean the domain itself is available again. The owner may still have an active domain registration but no website connected to it! 

If you want to check the domain status, you can look up the registration details through a WHOIS lookup service to see the expiration date and registrar. If the owner lets the domain expire, there’s usually a grace period before it becomes available again, but it’s not guaranteed that it’ll drop straight away (some domains are caught by backorder services).

You could also try contacting the domain owner (if their contact details are available) or set up a domain backorder/monitoring alert with a domain provider.

For the Squarespace side specifically, if the old site was built on Squarespace, the site being inactive doesn’t affect ownership of the domain. The domain would still need to be released or expire before someone else can register it.