Backpage.com was once one of the most popular classified advertising websites online. According to Wikipedia, “Backpage let users post ads to categories such as personals, automotive, rentals, jobs and adult services. It soon became the second largest online classified site in the United States.” It was also apparently a hub for illicit activities.
In 2018, the US Department of Justice seized the website and Backpage.com domain name. At that time, the USDOJ issued a press releaseย announcing the domain name seizure with a link to the indictment. A screenshot of the landing page from Screenshots.com can be seen below with law enforcement seals and seizure notification:
Backpage.com has been registered at CSC, and the domain name expired on January 19th, 2025. Because CSC does not have an expiry auction partner, the domain name went into pending delete status. As a result, drop catching services like DropCatch.com, NameJet, and Sav will compete to catch the domain name once it is fully deleted today. If one of these auction platforms catches Backpage.com, it will be auctioned to the highest bidder.
I am not entirely sure if CSC has the ability to save the domain name from being deleted once it has reached this point if this was an oversight.ย If the Backpage.com domain name is auctioned to the highest bidder, it will be interesting to see how it is used.
Update:ย Backpage.com was deleted and caught by DropCatch.com. It is currently in auction there. You can type in the domain name to see the auction, which will last for three days.
I posted a poll on X asking people to share the price at which they think the domain name will sell.
This was huge news here in Arizona. They were based here. Backpage was a major resource for prostitution, and made millions. One of the accused and prosecuted owners committed suicide days before trial. Here is a link to a story.
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/jim-larkin-backpage-prostitution-trial-b2389189.html
Jim Larkin also has a Wikipedia page.
It should be noted their is an active trademark for BackPage.com. I would not get caught up in this one personally.
The US Gov probably fired the person responsible for renewing domains ๐
. . . except that the gov person who does the firing . . . was fired.
Should be a nice payday for DropCatch.
What I don’t understand is why some registrar like drop catch can
snatched premium domains whereas we can’t
What special tools do they have that we can’t have??
Sounds scammy
All expired domains should go to the food bank and let everyone bid
the domain and the profit goes to the food bank
Good idea..
Win win
So if dropcatch or snap names got the premium domains,so how much they
paid for it?!
If a house goes on sale,the public gets to see it and we get to bid…
equal playing field ,so why not domains???
Why are we being abused by this scammy business practices….
We are being scammed
Nobody is scamming, you too can purchase 2000 registrar threads as well and compete with dropcatch, snap and the others.
This name has a terrible history and legacy. 100% radioactive. Underage prostitution allegations. I would have a hard time being associated with it in any way due to potential reputational damage liabilities.
I agree.
I wouldn’t want anything to do with this domain
But that’s me
Breaking news โฆ
Trump is going to legalize marijuana because Elon smokes marijuana. 420
My marijuana domains will skyrocket
Marijuanadealer.com