X Will Start Selling ‘Inactive’ Usernames Soon

If you haven’t logged in to X for a while but still want to keep your X username, you may want to log in again soon. According to a recent job on the site formerly known as Twitter, the company will soon begin selling “no longer used handles” to paying subscribers.

The feature, called the X Handle Marketis currently only teasing, but a waiting list is online. Once active, it will allow X Premium+ subscribers (at $40/month level) and Premium Business accounts to both request free grips (with their subscription, at least) and purchase particularly rare grips directly.

Rare usernames could cost $2,500 or more

According to a FAQ pagepricing for rare grips starts at $2,500 and could exceed “seven figures, depending on demand and uniqueness.” You’ll also need an invite to even be allowed to purchase a paid username, although receiving the free handles also comes with complications.

For free handles, there are two types. The standards, called “priority identifiers”, are open to the request of any eligible subscriber; X says it will typically review requests within three business days, although not all requests will be approved. But

As for what X considers “merit”, that would include past contributions to the site, intended use of the handle, and engagement and reach on the platform.

Once you have a new username, your current username will be locked so other people can’t change it, and the @ on your page will become the new one. X also says it may offer paid redirects from old usernames to new ones in the future.

Note, however, that if you obtained your new nickname for free, you will need to remain a subscriber to continue using it. Users who have paid for their credentials will be able to let their X subscriptions expire without losing them.

What manages X will be distributed for free

As for what type of inactivated handles X will provide, the site has provided a few examples. Typically, paid handles will be concise, one-word, “culturally significant names,” like @Pizza or @Tom. Meanwhile, free names are more likely to be full names or multi-word phrases, like @GabrielJones or @PizzaEater.

As someone who isn’t subscribed to Part of the reason I haven’t deactivated my X account yet is that I don’t want anyone else to be able to create an account with my username, which is a variation of my full first name. I don’t post there very often, but I prefer that others can’t easily impersonate me.

With that in mind, I reached out to X to ask how the website would decide when to make “inactive” usernames available upon request, and will update this post as soon as I hear back. X inactive account policy says users must log in “at least every 30 days” to keep their accounts active, so if you’re worried about your username being taken, it’s best to play it safe.

To be fair to X, redistributing usernames from inactive accounts is not an unusual practice for social media sites, although charging for them is a bit new. X claims that the reason it requires a subscription to access the

However, as suggested another change coming to the sitea subscriber account does not necessarily mean a bot-free account. I’m curious to see how the launch of X Handle Marketplace will go once the feature becomes publicly available (paid).