A domain I would like to purchase is taken. I was wondering if anyone knows of any site that contacts you to let you know the domain has become available? I think I've seen it before, but can't remember where, if I have. The name was recently registered, and I had checked a few times prior to today to see if the site was still available, so I'm not sure if it was purchased by a hijacker that will resell it to me, but at a more expensive price (I've heard of this happening). Incase it was taken by a hijacker, I want to go about getting the domain put on-hold without them knowing I want it, so maybe it'll expire and I can register it later. Thanks.

I was able to take over a couple of domain names that were originally registered by someone else.

I don't think there are any companies that will watch specific domain name for you for free. If they exist, they don't widely advertise that, since they'll get nothing from it.

Some registrars, though, offer "back-order the name" service (e.g. bazaar.com - $20.95 for a .com name), but that does not guarantee anything - they merely take deposit and will try to grab a name for you once it becomes available.

Also, If it's a prominent name that you think you have chances to get, I wouldn't trust any third-party services.

From my experience, people who buy domain names for the purpose of speculation, lose interest (and money) if they can't re-sell them after one or two years, and they end up expiring or being taken over by other re-sellers if they see some value in the name.