The Auction Rules are available here. Additional information will be available once you have been identified as an auction participant.

Yes, stay tuned to this site and follow us on your favorite social media platform for news. We will be updating the FAQs regularly as necessary. When you have validated your participant account, you should login to the auction portal. Once you have logged in, you will be able to view your auctions under the Upcoming Auctions (for auctions that are scheduled but have not yet started), Open Auctions (for auctions that are currently running) and Closed Auctions (for auctions that have finished). 

The planned scheduled for the start of auctions is as follows (note that auction participants will be notified by email at least 5-10 days in advance of an auction starting):

• A Sunrise Period to protect trademark holders – from 2014/5/13 to 2014/6/13.
• A Landrush Period – from 2014/6/17 to 2014/7/18
• And the General Availability Period when anyone will be able to register a .MOE Domain Name – starting 2014/7/22

Auctions will be scheduled to minimize the number of simultaneous auctions that any one participant may have to monitor. Auction start dates will be on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

 Auctions will be scheduled to close 7 (seven) days after they open. However, an auction closing may be extended in the event a leadership changes in the last 24 hours of the auction schedule. 

 An auction will only close once the leader remains unchallenged for 24 hours prior to the scheduled closing. If the leader changes at any time during the last 24 hours, the auction close will be extended for an additional 24 hours from the time the leadership changed. This allows for bidders in multiple time zones around the world to have adequate time in the event they are outbid. Note that a change in auction value that results from the automatic posting of a rebid as a result of a bid placed by the proxy service does not result in a leadership change and would not extend the closing. 

 When a bidder places a highest bid amount that is more than one increment above the current auction, then the auction system accepts this bid as a Proxy Bid. This means that only that portion of the bid necessary to establish this bidder as the leader is placed in the auction. The remainder will be bid later if necessary by the auction proxy service. Note that the value of a proxy bid is never revealed to the other bidders until such time as the auction value exceeds the bid itself. 

 If there is an outstanding proxy bid and it is higher than your submitted bid, then the system will automatically place a bid on behalf of that user immediately after your bid is processed. The actual value of a proxy bid is only revealed in an auction once the auction price reaches that level. Up to that point, the proxy bid will show only the amount necessary to maintain the lead. When this type of bidding occurs, the auction leader is not changing, the system is simply adding to the auction value based on their original proxy bid. 

 At any point in the auction, a submitted bid must be at least one bid increment higher than the current auction value. The system does not accept bids with a decimal point. The required bid increments change as the value of the auction increases in accordance with the auction bid increment table. 

The minimum bid increments increase as the auction value increases. The table below provides the defined bid increment requirements. For example, if the auction value is $350, then the next minimum valid bid would be $350 + $10 = $360. If the auction value was $2,499, then the next valid minimum auction bid would be $2,599 + $100 = $2,699. In general, the next valid minimum bid can be determined by finding in which range the current auction value occurs and then adding the appropriate increment.

Once logged in to your account click on the Open Auctions tab. Under Domains I’m Bidding On and beside the domain you wish to bid on, click Bid Now. You can also enter your confidential Maximum Bid amount (which cannot be cancelled or retracted). The auction system will use this amount to automatically bid (proxy bid) on your behalf.  

Participants in an auction will receive email notifications for a variety of purposes. Emails will be sent from landrush@auctions.moe. These include:

• Initial account verification
• An auction is scheduled
• An auction is started
• The participant has been outbid and they will lose the auction if no further action is taken
• An auction end date/time has been extended
• Last day auction notification (for participants who have not placed any bids for that auction.)
• The participant has won an auction
• Request for payment
• Confirmation of payment processed and allocation pending

Once a domain name is allocated, the registry will email registrars directly indicating the status of the application for all their participant’s domain names. Registrars will then email registrants and/or resellers regarding the awarding or loss of a domain auction 

 No. Bids are legally binding agreements to purchase a domain for the agreed upon price up to your maximum bid. We recommend that you take your time when placing a bid and consider carefully when you are prompted to make your final confirmation of any bid. 

 Payment is due immediately upon the auction closing. The method of payment will be determined by the outstanding balance in your account at the end of any particular day. 

 When you first register your account, you will be asked to enter a credit card that will be used for two purposes. First, we will apply a modest pre-authorization ($60USD) to your card as a security check. Second, up to certain limits, this card will be used to automatically bill your auction fee at the close of an auction. We will accept MasterCard ,VISA, JCB and American Express credit cards only. 

 A pre-authorization validates a credit card and reserves a specified amount of available credit. It is not a charge, although it may appear on your online statement. This reservation of credit is usually in effect 48 to 72 hours, and will expire automatically. This is a security measure that we use to protect our customers and the auction provider from fraudulent acts against our systems. 

 We will automatically bill your credit card for balances under $1000. For balances between $1000 and $8000 we will bill your credit card provided it has been enrolled in either the VerifiedByVISA or SecureMasterCard programs or you have completed the credit authorization form (see your account preferences for details). For any balances above $8000 (or above $1000 where you do not participate in the secure payment programs or provide the credit application), we will ask you to submit payment by wire transfer at your cost. Additional details may be reviewed in the response to the question “What do the billing thresholds mean?”

NOTE: All wire transfers must be submitted in USD currency regardless of the currency used in the auction.

The current price will be highlighted in green in the list of auctions on the Open Auctions page. At the time you place your bid, the system will confirm that you are the current high bidder if your bid exceeds the current highest bid which may not be the auction value if the previous high bid was a proxy bid. When an auction ends, the auction system sends a confirmation email to the winning bidder, explaining which domain they have acquired, and the amount paid for the domain.

 All auctions will be conducted and settled in United States Dollars.

 The registration fee for use of the email/domain for the first year, will be due to the Registrar after you have won the domain and is independent of any auction fees. 

 Log into your account and click on the Open Auctions link. All current auctions are displayed. If you click on the number that indicates the number of bids for any one particular auction, the history will be displayed. On the Closed Auctions page the same information will be provided for your auctions that have closed. 

All times listed for Auctions in the .MOE auction website and emails are in GMT. (Greenwich Mean Time)  

Once the auction fees for your domain have been successfully collected, your domain will be allocated to you by .MOE. Further domain management can be done through the .MOE management interface. 

 Not really. When your auction account is created, we establish a unique random bidder alias which is used to identify you to other auction participants. This bidder alias does not reflect any information about your account. You can change your bidder alias to one of your choosing but once set, it cannot be changed again.