.CH Domain Backorder Service

Why Backorder Expired .CH Domains?

.CH is Switzerland's country-code domain and gives users a direct geographic signal. It is widely used by Swiss businesses, public-interest organisations, local services, publishers and personal projects.

When a suitable .CH name is already registered, a backorder can prepare an acquisition attempt if the current registration is later deleted. The service is best-effort: the former holder may recover the domain during the protected period, and no exact catch or release time is guaranteed.

About Switch and the Swiss Namespace

The .CH registry is operated by Switch on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Communications. Domains are registered through registrars and allocated in the order that valid requests reach the registry.

.CH uses direct second-level registrations such as example.ch. The registry right is generally maintained without a fixed maximum duration until the domain is deleted or transferred; commercial billing periods are set by the registrar.

Who Can Register .CH Domains?

Individuals and legal entities can register .CH names. There is no general Swiss residence requirement at registration, but the holder must provide accurate contact details. A competent Swiss authority can require a holder without a valid Swiss correspondence address to appoint one.

• Length: 3 to 63 characters before .CH.
• Characters: letters, numbers, hyphens and supported Latin IDN characters.
• Registration level: direct second level, such as brand.ch.
• Allocation: first come, first served once the domain is available.

The .CH Deletion and Release Process

After a .CH domain is deleted, it enters a 40-day transition period. During this window, third parties cannot register it and the previous holder can ask a registrar to restore the name if the registration conditions are still met.

After the transition period, the domain can return to general availability. Switch does not publish a guaranteed second-by-second release time, and a backorder remains subject to the domain actually becoming available.

Internationalised .CH Domains

.CH supports a defined set of Latin characters with accents and diacritics. Internationalised names are stored in the DNS in ACE/Punycode form, while users can enter and display the corresponding native characters in compatible software.

Pricing and Auction System

Every .CH backorder starts at a flat €50. If only one customer backorders the domain and we catch it, that customer receives it at the flat fee. If several customers target the same name, a 7-day proxy bid auction decides the winner.

Best Use Cases for .CH Backorders

.CH backorders suit local service names, Swiss ecommerce, German-, French- and Italian-language projects, professional brands and defensive registrations. The extension is open internationally, but it is most useful when the audience or activity has a clear connection with Switzerland.