Last quarter, our team needed more public IP space for a new mail platform and a bring your own IP, or BYOIP, cloud rollout. I thought ARIN could still hand out fresh space. It could not.
ARIN’s free pool has been empty since 2011, after IANA exhausted the central supply on February 3, 2011. Today, growth usually happens through the transfer market, and that means every range comes with history.
That history matters if you need addresses for multi-homing, outbound mail reputation, a merger, or cloud deployment. The work is part finance, part policy, and part network operations.
A careful process helps you size the deal, check the seller, close through the right registry, and bring the range online without routing, geolocation, or deliverability problems.
Key Takeaways
A clean purchase depends on good records, clean reputation, and a solid activation plan.
- Start with need, not price, because a cheap range that is too small or poorly routed creates rework.
- ARIN buyers usually need to show projected use within 24 months, while RIPE NCC and APNIC follow different transfer rules.
- Check ownership with RDAP, the registry lookup system, before you sign or send funds.
- Screen every offered range against major blocklists, especially Spamhaus, if email traffic is part of your plan.
- After the transfer, publish ROAs, create IRR records, update reverse DNS, and fix geolocation data before full cutover.
What The Purchase Really Includes
You are not getting a box of hardware, you are getting the right to register and use a public address range through a Regional Internet Registry, or RIR.
The main parties are the buyer, the seller, the RIR, an optional broker, an escrow agent, and your upstream providers. Each one touches part of the deal, and skipping one usually slows the close or adds risk.
Because the free supply is gone, almost every range has been used before. Old routing records, bad mail reputation, or unclear ownership can follow that range into your environment if you do not check it first.
Choose The Right Path First
Not every shortage calls for a purchase, so decide whether ownership, leasing, or delay is the best fit.
Ownership makes sense when you want long-term control, stable IP identity for mail, bring your own IP with cloud providers, or multi-homing across two carriers.
When Leasing Fits
Leasing works for a pilot, a temporary traffic spike, or a short contract. You still need to check reputation and routing rights, because rented space can be just as messy as owned space.
When IPv6 Or CGNAT Buys Time
IPv6 expands address capacity, and CGNAT, or carrier-grade network address translation, lets multiple users share public IPv4 space. Either approach can delay a transfer, but neither replaces the need for clean public space when mail, direct reachability, or cloud onboarding is required.
Where To Source And What To Ask
Transparent sourcing lowers risk, because a good seller can show clean records instead of asking you to trust a vague promise.
If you want a simpler sourcing path after ownership, reputation, routing, and escrow checks, a vetted marketplace can reduce back-and-forth by showing pre-screened inventory, transfer support across major registries, and blacklist reporting before legal review begins. Teams that need a faster comparison point and a clearer shortlist for active deals can start with Buy IPv4 options while they complete final due diligence.
Ask for current RDAP evidence, a recent blocklist report, a plan for ROAs and IRR objects, and clear transfer experience if the range crosses registries. If you want managed help, IPv4Connect promotes pre-screened inventory and blacklist reporting, which can shorten the review cycle for busy teams.
Plan Size, Region, And Budget
Clear scope early on saves money and prevents a transfer that fixes today’s problem but blocks next year’s growth.
Set three items first: the block size, the registry region, and the full project budget. Those choices drive price, policy, paperwork, and timeline.
Size The Block
Count public-facing services, network address translation, or NAT, pools, mail systems, failover room, and expected growth. A /24, or 256 addresses, is the practical minimum for global routing, because more specific IPv4 prefixes are commonly filtered.
Choose The Region
Stay in your main operating region when you can. Inter-RIR transfers between ARIN, RIPE NCC, APNIC, and LACNIC are possible when policies line up, but a same-region deal is usually faster and easier to document.
Build A Real Budget
Prices peaked near the end of 2022, then settled in 2024. Small and medium ranges, from /24 to /20, sat near roughly 30 euros per IP, while larger /16 ranges trended lower per address. Add transfer fees, escrow, staff time, reputation checks, RPKI work, and geolocation updates.
Know The Rules In Your Region
Registry policy is not paperwork for later, it shapes what you can receive and how fast the deal can close.
Read the transfer rules before you shop. That step can save weeks of back-and-forth after you think you have found the right range.
ARIN
ARIN allows transfers as small as a /24. Recipients typically need to show 24 months of projected need and at least 50% use of the requested space during that period. Pre-approval helps because it turns policy review into a step you finish before negotiation.
RIPE NCC
RIPE NCC no longer uses needs-based review for IPv4 transfers. It does, however, apply a 24-month holding period before the received range can be transferred again, so short-term flipping is off the table.
APNIC
APNIC still requires proof of need. Its pre-approvals can stay valid for 24 months, which makes early prep worth the effort if your team expects a transfer later in the year.
Check The Block Before You Pay
Due diligence is where safe deals are won, because this is the stage that uncovers bad ownership records, weak routing setup, and dirty reputation.
Confirm Ownership With RDAP
RDAP is the registration data access protocol that replaces older Whois lookups. Query the exact prefix, confirm the organization record, and make sure the seller matches the listed holder. If the names do not line up, stop and ask why.
Screen Reputation And Blocklists
If the range will touch mail, check major DNSBLs, or DNS-based blocklists, such as Spamhaus. Pair these checks with broader security tools to confirm the range is not flagged for abuse on threat intelligence feeds you already trust. A single serious listing can hurt deliverability from day one. Ask for cleanup proof if the seller says the issue is already resolved.
Verify Routing Readiness
Ask how the range will be announced once the transfer completes. Publish a ROA, or Route Origin Authorization, in RPKI, the routing security system that tells networks which ASN may originate the prefix. Then create matching IRR, or Internet Routing Registry, route objects. ARIN can now auto-create managed IRR route objects from ROAs, which helps keep records aligned.
Plan For Geolocation Fixes
Users notice wrong location data fast. Publish a geofeed under RFC 8805 and submit corrections to providers like MaxMind after the transfer. If the range used to live overseas, streaming, ads, and fraud filters may all need time to catch up.
Confirm The Range Is Routable
Make sure each announced prefix will be at least a /24. Smaller fragments are commonly filtered by networks on the public internet, which can leave part of your new space invisible.
Set Up The Deal Correctly
Good paperwork and controlled payment flow protect both sides and keep the registry process moving.
Get pre-approval before you negotiate if your RIR supports it. Use escrow so funds move only after the registry updates the record to your organization. In the purchase agreement, spell out the acceptance test: correct RDAP ownership, ROA and IRR in place, documented blocklist status, and route visibility from public route-check tools, often called looking glasses.
A managed workflow helps, but your team still owns the technical review.
Avoid The Mistakes That Cause Rework
Most failed deals trace back to skipped checks, rushed payment, or unrealistic assumptions about how fast a used range becomes production ready.
- Do not release funds before the registry record changes to your name.
- Do not plan around sub-/24 announcements on the public internet.
- Do not ignore blocklist data if email traffic matters.
- Do not skip geolocation updates after activation.
- Do not assume a cross-region transfer will be as simple as a local one.
Read More: From Launch to Growth: The Infrastructure Decisions No One Talks About
Conclusion
A disciplined process turns a risky transfer into a routine project.
Check ownership, reputation, routing, payment controls, and post-cutover cleanup in that order. When each step is handled on purpose, your team gets usable public space without surprise outages, mail problems, or policy headaches.
FAQs
These answers cover the four questions network teams usually ask before they start a transfer.
Do I Need My Own ASN To Use A Purchased Range?
Not always. A provider can statically route a range to you. But if you want multi-homing across two or more upstream carriers, your own Autonomous System Number, or ASN, and BGP sessions usually give you the control you need.
How Long Does A Transfer Usually Take?
The timeline depends on the registry and your paperwork. A prepared ARIN case with pre-approval may close in a few weeks. Missing need documents, unclear seller records, or cross-region review can stretch that schedule.
What Size Should A Growing Team Start With?
A /24 is the practical minimum for public routing. If you expect steady growth, a larger contiguous range is usually easier to manage and may cost less than piecing together several small ranges later.
How Do I Fix Wrong Geolocation After Activation?
Publish a geofeed, submit corrections to major databases, and monitor results from your target regions. Most providers update on their own schedule, so plan for a few weeks of lag before location data fully settles.
