Why timing matters
Domain drops happen in a narrow window. Once a domain expires, most registrars run it through an auto-renew grace period and then a redemption period before releasing it back to the public — commonly a matter of weeks, depending on the registrar and TLD. Miss that window and you are competing with hundreds of automated drop-catch services in the final seconds.
The advantage goes to whoever sees the status change first — and acts on it.
Step 1: Add your target domains
Import your watchlist via a plain .txt file — one domain per line. Dotily queues them
immediately and begins monitoring DNS and WHOIS records.
Step 2: Enable grace window tracking
Available on Pro Hunter and Master Catcher. Grace window tracking starts 7 days before the expiry date and continues through 91 days after — Dotily's own monitoring window, sized to cover the typical registrar hold and redemption period.
You will get an alert the moment the domain's status flips from registered to expired or pending delete — see what each status code means for the full picture.
Step 3: Set scan priority
Higher-tier plans get higher scan priority. This means your domains are checked more frequently and alerts fire faster. During the final 48 hours of a grace window, scan frequency increases automatically.
Step 4: Act fast
When the alert arrives, head straight to your registrar of choice. Have your account pre-funded and your payment method saved. Every second counts.
Pro tip: use buckets
Group related domains into a bucket (e.g. "brand variants" or "keyword targets"). Buckets make it easy to monitor a category at a glance and bulk-import similar lists.