This is absolutely true.<p>I was trying to pickup <a href="http://goalbot.com" rel="nofollow">http://goalbot.com</a> about a year ago when it was on the verge of expiration.  When I did some research the whole auction process seemed unreliable and a bit overwhelming to me, so I contacted the owner and got the domain for a very reasonable price.  He obviously wasn't planning on renewing, so it worked out perfectly for both of us.<p>I suppose if I had read this article first I might have put in the extra work, but I'm happy with how everything worked out.