First Domain: www.nextlevelcomp.com
Second Domain: www.your-eve.com

I am looking at acquiring a domain that has been expired for two years according to the WhoIs. It is still pending deletion. The hosting service is currently the “registrant” of the name, but the registry reads:

“EXPIRED DOMAIN

This domain has expired and will soon be deleted at the registry.
If this is your domain, and you would like to retain control, please
call customer support to have your domain restored.”

I understand there is usually a grace period of about 30 days. However, this has been expired for a really, really long time!

First question: Is it legal for a hosting service to put this URL on hold for that long without releasing it back to the wild?

Second: Would it be worth my while to contact the hosting service to see if I can purchase it directly through them? Or would that just alert them that someone is interested in it and cause them to hold it longer?

Last question, What sites do you suggest going to to “Buy” domain names, as oppesed to leasing them for 1 to 10 years.

Here’s the answer that melancholygiant gave:
There aren’t any. You can only register domain names for a period of time, and must renew them when the registration expires. This is the case for all domain names. As long as the registration is renewed, you own it. Once you let the registration expire, it’s up for grabs.

So i tried to go on a site and this message comes up with a bunch of stuff..NOTICE: This domain name expired on 08/15/2009 and is pending renewal or deletion

What does this mean?

Mine is expiring today but I **** the name and the fact that the price rose from $7.14 to $10.14. So where can I buy a cheap domain name? No need for hosting, I already got that.

Earlier this year I backordered a domain name from GoDaddy. It is an important URL to me since it is my name .com (e.g. johnsmith.com )

I e-mailed the owner of it through GoDaddy and he transferred it to me after his registration expired a few days later. This was in May. Ihave since developed the website.

Now he is asking me to give it back to him since he didn’t realize I was a different “johnsmith” than he had been working with. I didn’t intend to dupe him, he just gave away the URL for essentially free without checking his facts.

Now the other “johnsmith” is mad he lost his rights. I’m very new to domain name sales/acquisitions, etc.

What would you do?