{{unreferenced, date=November 2013
A wait-listing service (WLS) provided by a
domain name registry
A domain name registry is a database of all domain names and the associated registrant information in the top level domains of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet that enables third party entities to request administrative control of a do ...
provides the ability to option a
domain name
A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...
that is already registered. The option-holder then has the ability to have first rights to that domain name if the current registrant should cancel their registration.
Taking such an option is no guarantee a person will be able to register the domain name, merely that the person will be able to if the domain name becomes otherwise available. If the existing holder continues to renew their domain name, the option-holder will never get the domain through the procedure.
A move to introduce this service by
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...
-accredited registries drew fire in 2003 as anti-competitive. Currently
domain name registrar
A domain name registrar is a company that manages the reservation of Internet domain names. A domain name registrar must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry. A registrar ...
s provide a similar, non-guaranteed service by continually querying the registry if a domain name is available. If it should become available, the registrar quickly tries to register the domain to the new party. The consequence of this process is that, if multiple registrars are vying for the domain, the beneficiary of the new domain name may come down to luck and circumstance.