Have you ever tried to get a domain name that you've wanted, only to find out that it's been taken? Someone beat you to the punch, so you go to whois.net and discover that the domain expires January 31, 2006. Doesn't that mean that on February 1st, it should be on the market and available to everyone? Not necessarily.Domains expire in stages. When you let your domain "die" you are usually given three months to re-acquire it. The actual release of a domain name into the public market pool is a secret, and the only way to get the name is to troll the various domain registration firms on a daily basis.Depending on how important it is for you to acquire that domain name, hiring a service to do the domain name hunting for you may be a better use of your time. Companies like DropShark are available to help and have the expertise to figure out when a domain name becomes available.