One of the leading providers of Internet services to hosting companies and ISPs worldwide, Tucows Inc., (AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC), has announced an exclusive agreement with Afternic to auction Tucows’ large daily inventory of expired domain names. Thousands of daily expired domains from Tucows are automatically available for auction on Afternic (www.afternic.com), where the public can bid on and purchase names through a simple and easy-to-use interface.

Bill Sweetman, General Manager, Tucows Domain Portfolio said: “Working with Afternic is a winning proposition for our resellers and for people looking to buy expired names. We have over eight million domains under management and thousands expiring every day, so this deal provides us with a great way to share revenue with our resellers while participating in Afternic’s popular secondary domain name marketplace.”

“We are thrilled to have such a huge stream of expired domain names flowing into Afternic from Tucows,” says Pete Lamson, NameMedia Marketplace’s Senior VP and GM. “This additional expired domain name inventory significantly enhances our ability to provide a wide range of domain options to small to medium-sized business owners looking to purchase a great name.”

This collaboration for expired domain name auctions adds another way Tucows shares revenue with its Domain Service resellers. Fully integrated into the Tucows Domain Service, the expired domain auction program lets resellers receive a share of the gross sale price of any expired domain (that was originally registered through them) sold in the Afternic marketplace. There is no charge for Tucows Domains Service resellers to participate in this program.

In addition to expired domain name auctions, Tucows Domains Service Resellers benefit from a reseller-friendly domain name package that includes a large selection of popular TLDs; the ability to sell premium domain names from the secondary domain name market; a powerful domain name suggestion tool; free WHOIS Privacy and Managed DNS with each domain name sold; and a 50 per cent share of net domain parking program revenue.