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Registrar available disagreement ???

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DzAH

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whats up?

I usually use namecheap, and I have noticed that quite a few times they claim a domain is not available, when other registrars say it is available. This has happened when I checking newly dropped domains.

Today however.. when I was about to try to register a .biz domain (that dropped today) I tested with with godaddy first. Godaddy said it was not available. I then tried namecheap, and it said it was available. I went back to godaddy to try again, and it said not available. I then tried namecheap and it said available agian. I tried then to purchase, and it went fine, no problems, and is now confirmed mine (whois)

I tried another name (.biz, dropping today) and namecheap said available. I then tested godaddy, who said not available. I went back to namecheap, and it said available again. I bought it, and it is now confirmed by whois.

WHAT IS GOING ON? Are not godaddy and namecheap really able to figure out if a domain is available or not ?

WHY is this happening ?
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
GD is not real-time

and obviously, you proved it
 
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Then both are not real-time, I think.. cuz it has been the other way around too.

Im really baffled.. are they seriously not able to keep track of something so fundamental as "availability" ?!?!

What is the problem?
 
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hmmm I guess the next question then is.. are there any registrars that are known for being real-time ?
 
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hmmm I guess the next question then is.. are there any registrars that are known for being real-time ?
A couple of times I've come across this issue (with different registrars), my goto registrar was AlpNames. They happened to be running a promo, I tried them and the names were available and then successfully registered (y)
 
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The disagreed today also. Namecheap said available, but godaddy not.

i dont understand... I imagine, they have to do a real check when someone do an order (??) so why dont check for real in the first place ?
 
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Some registrars must be using zone files for offline lookup. Domains that have no name servers are not in the zone files, thus they may show up as available. That's one possible reason. Also suspended domains, domain names in redemption etc. Some registrars are buggy too.
 
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Kate, Im not sure if I understand you, or you me..

I talk only about domains that really are available, but show up as not available.

Godaddy said not available multiple times, even though I know it was available.
 
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It's a known problem with GD, and not only with just dropped domains. But there can be many reasons for the false negatives. More than those I mentioned.
 
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I guess I need to understand the technicality behind it all to understand whats going on.. which I dont.

what about whois services? it seems like the one I use knows if a domain is available or not. Does it? Maybe it just appear so.

wow.. this is sooo strange.. who truly knows then? and how does does someone like me check and always get a true result? Is it even possible?
 
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A registrar does not have to do a whois query like an ordinary person. They send a direct request to the registry, that returns a simple response code like taken/available etc. They don't need the whois record proper (who owns the domain). Only whether the name can be registered or not.

But an ordinary person has to either use whois (overkill really) or use a registrar to check domain availability.

Some registrars are buggy, they may not parse the response correctly, or they might decide (to save connections ?) not to do a live lookup, or connectivity with the registry may be interrupted etc.

Indeed, registrars cannot always be trusted to return correct results, which is a shame. GD is known for not being always 'live', NC on the other hand is correct as far as I can remember but I haven't used them for a long time.
 
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I suspect some registrars dont do a real search, but only search their own cache/database. I suspect so, but, thats really strange to me too, cuz why?? a real search cant be that expensive lol.

Maybe I was wrong about NC. It is possible other says it available (and NC not) when it is really not available. I will try to follow this more closely.
 
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godaddy is not live
 
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ok.. look at this domain.. physiotherapy.biz

afaik it dropped yesterday (according to expireddomains.net). internic.net says "not found", as do other whois'. namecheap.com says it is available. However Godaddy says:

Premium.. Minimum Offer amount $250 ..Make offer
 
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Another one:
WebSupport.biz

According to Godaddy:
Sorry, websupport.biz is taken

not so according to others...
 
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Tested 3 .com dropped yesterday according to expireddomains.net and those seems to show up right.

Havent tested a lot, but so far it seems like .biz from yesterday is out of sync. but not .com.
 
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I have actually bought and paid for domains only to have money refunded because the domain was already taken. Really bothers me when that happens.
 
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I noticed the same issue in some cases with GD in the past too. Therefore I always check the availability with different registries.
 
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Silentptnr
U might try to register a few .biz then.. and test it out :-P:xf.grin:
 
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Great! I was about to register physiotherapy.biz yesterday, however Im a bit puzzled about .biz's usage and value.
 
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Great! I was about to register physiotherapy.biz yesterday, however Im a bit puzzled about .biz's usage and value.
Makes sense if you're thinking of developing it yourself. For sale targeting potential end users, not so much, IMO.
 
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Great! I was about to register physiotherapy.biz yesterday, however Im a bit puzzled about .biz's usage and value.

For now, you have a work around. If you see that something dropped and you think it should be available, try a second registrar. GoDaddy isn't going to change their system anytime soon--it has been like that forever. For the most part it works for most people.

Secondly, you could consider that maybe GoDaddy is doing you a favor by making you think an extra time or two about buying those .biz names.
 
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Please check in Dynadot or Uniregistry.
Dont trust Namecheap & Alpnames.
They would not give exact availability when they are dropping.
 
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