Jay Westerdal of Seattle-based DomainTools has cracked a story that all entrepreneurs should pay close attention to. How many times have you checked on the availability of a domain name when brainstorming a new business idea? With over 70 million dot.com addresses already registered, it's hard enough finding a worthy website address for your new business without a domain registrar poaching your idea.
I am confirming that Network Solutions steals domain ideas when people check domain availability on the Network Solutions website. They seem to have started the practice of stealing domain ideas on December 16th 2007 according to our Domain History database but I was just made aware of this practice today. I am appalled at the concept of taking people’s domain ideas and registering it before the consumer has the ability to manual register the domain.
For years there have been rumours of unscrupulous registrars stealing domain name research and selling it to 3rd parties who cherry pick the quality domain name ideas. However in this case, Network Solutions is front running domains which forces customers to purchase the name from them instead of going to a reasonably priced registrar. While they're not demanding a huge ransom for the domain name, they are still holding the customers hostage as they'll have to register the domain name through Network Solutions if they don't want to lose it.
You see, if a consumer chooses not to register their domain with Network Solutions they are forced to wait 4 days for Network Solutions to delete the domain name during the free add grace period. After the four days the consumer is free to register the domain somewhere else. Problem: Network Solutions has now exposed the domain to domain tasters that will snipe the domain up immediately after Network Solutions deletes it. By registering the domain in the first place Network Solutions has exposed the domain in the DNS and every computer in the world now knows about the domain.
Has this happened to any of our readers? If so, which registrar stole your name?
Those of you who are wondering if there is a basis for a class action suit are welcome to email me at scottShar@gmail.com. I am discussing this with my counsel who is one of the preeminent lawyers in the class field. As soon as I wake up him up or he is in the office I can respond to everyone with what my counsel's thoughts/advice are
When i was registering Strutta.com, i was also registering the misspellings at the same time. I went to register www.struta.com (with one 't') it showed available when I searched for it, but by the time I was at the checkout screen, it was unavailable. Later I went to the WhoIs, and it said that it was registered by some hotel in Caribbean with a timestamp that was within the seconds between the time I searched for it, and by the time I got to the checkout page.
I use Godaddy for my registrations and DNS management, but I honestly can't point my finger at them. I use an AJAX site called InstantDomainSearch , which is made by the Vancouver guys behind TreeFly and Snipshot, to do the searching. I've met those guys before and know that they wouldn't knowingly sell the click/search streams, so I think one of the companies that they link to is the culprit. If you look at the site, you'll see that they link through some affiliate programs before going of to the registrar.
The interesting thing is that I did end up registering the domain about 3 months later via Godaddy. I guess the bad guys just put the domain on hold, hoping I'd call them and make them a deal or something, but that expired and I ended up getting the domain.
Needless to day, I don't click on the links on instantdomainsearch.com anymore, but I still use the site, because it's awesome. When I find a domain I want, I go to Godaddy and retype it.
Normally I wouldn't be so shamelessly self-promotional but our Guaranteed Lookup Privacy / No Front-Running policy is relevant.
We announced it via our easywhois.com portal a few months ago because that system gets used by people beyond our own customers to check domain names, the policy is stated here:
http://easywhois.com/privacy.php
Which quite simply states that we have never and will never front run domain lookups for any reason.
Same goes for lookups conducted at our main registrar/DNS website at easyDNS.com.
I just got this thread from a friend after I found a domain available using network solutions, but upon seeing their pricing went to another registrar to check pricing only to see it gone. Looking today sure enough Network Solutions has registered it Jan 9th 2008 the day I searched for it. I'm sure they will say they are doing me a service by 'reserving it' but that is just evil and anti-competitive. If a domain squatter grabs my domain on the drop I will be adding my name to whatever class action someone comes up with.
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It happend to me too. Domain that I was registering was purchased with 1 minute.
