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learnhns

Archive Notice: This documentation was originally published by Namebase (closed June 2026) and is preserved by the LearnHNS community. Pages may reference services that no longer exist — see current guides at /start/ or SkyInclude's wind-down explainer.

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Get Handshake names

Success Want a free Handshake name to play with before fully committing? Get a free Handshake name on our Discord server here.

Make sure you fully understand how Handshake auctions work before bidding on Handshake names. You can check your understanding with these case studies.

Info You will need HNS in a self-custody wallet to bid on names. If you have not done so, follow Buy Handshake coins. Tutorial: Bidding 101 on SkyInclude.

This video covers how Handshake auctions work

Bid on a name (Bob Wallet)

The standard way to acquire an unregistered TLD is through a Handshake name auction:

  1. Download Bob LearnHNS — see tutorial.
  2. Fund your wallet with HNS (buy guide).
  3. Search for the name you want inside Bob Wallet and place a bid.
  4. Wait for the bidding period to end, then reveal your bid (Bob Wallet can do this automatically).
  5. If you win, claim the name once the reveal period completes.

Full step-by-step: skyinclude.com/blog/auctions/

Buy a listed name (ShakeDex)

If someone already owns the name and listed it for sale, you can buy it on the secondary market:

Name search results

When searching for a name, you may see these states:

Owned — listed for sale

The name was already minted and is listed on a marketplace — you can purchase it directly if a buy-now price is set.

Owned — unlisted

The name is owned by someone else and isn’t currently for sale. You may be able to make an offer through ShakeDex channels.

Unopened auction

This Handshake name auction hasn’t started. Placing the first bid (after a short confirmation period) begins the auction.

Active auction

The auction is underway — place a higher bid before the bidding period ends.

Revealing

The auction recently ended. The winner receives the name once the reveal period ends.

Reserved

This name is either one of the existing ~1,500 blacklisted traditional TLDs or is reserved for a top 100,000 Alexa website. If you are the owner of a reserved name, follow these instructions to claim your Handshake name.

More

Read about how Handshake auctions work before bidding.

Use Bob Wallet’s domain manager to keep track of all your names.

Visit the Namer Community to ask about and discuss bidding strategies.

Warning Namebase.io/domains is offline (June 2026). The Namebase Power Search and custodial bidding UI no longer exist. Use Bob Wallet or ShakeDex instead.