Did the vultures come in and take my meal without me looking?

[thevoyager]

Currently in the middle of setting up a new business, big intentions, world changing ideas etc.

I check the usual registrars for the .com - I checked yesterday and amazingly the .com was available and I think ranged from $3 to $5 or so.

Today I checked again and the .com had suddenly been pumped up to $1000! WTH!?

I feel sick to the core on many levels knowing that their are either

1. Domain suppliers who behave like this, maybe using insider information or cookies
2. Or people who somehow actively monitor what domains are being searchd and then snap them up for a penny and sell for thousands...

Can someone explain what has happened here? I am honestly so pissed off, it could have been the difference between a multi-million pound company, and not.

 

[bmugford]

Currently in the middle of setting up a new business, big intentions, world changing ideas etc.

I check the usual registrars for the .com - I checked yesterday and amazingly the .com was available and I think ranged from $3 to $5 or so.

The wholesale price of .COM is $8.97 a year. Where was the .COM priced at $3 to $5?

If that was the case, was it not worth a few bucks to register such a world changing idea at the time?

Today I checked again and the .com had suddenly been pumped up to $1000! WTH!?

I feel sick to the core on many levels knowing that their are either

1. Domain suppliers who behave like this, maybe using insider information or cookies
2. Or people who somehow actively monitor what domains are being searchd and then snap them up for a penny and sell for thousands...

Can someone explain what has happened here? I am honestly so pissed off, it could have been the difference between a multi-million pound company, and not.

Who knows what happened without specifics.

It is possible the domain was already registered and there was some glitch showing it was available.

It is possible someone just registered the domain. There are 160M+ .com and billions of people on Earth, it is not implausible that someone else registered a domain.

On a side note, even $1,000 seems like a steal for a future multi-million pound company.

Brad

 

[DrJacoby]

Can someone explain what has happened here?

You searched and found a domain name that you liked and wanted. Yet you decided not to register it. Came back the next day and it was too late.

 

[pb]

If you walked through a city and found a gem just lying on the pavement, would you take it or leave it and come back tomorrow to check if it's still there? All possible domain names are out there in the open, anyone can take them, fist come - first served.

 

[karmaco]

You snooze you lose. No one is entitled to anything in a free market where anyone under the sun can register anything available any second of the day.

Every idea can be thought of by many. Next time register immediately.

Also 1K is extremely reasonable. Domains can and do sell for far more than that.

 

[Rhinnnn]

Creation Date: 2018-09-10T11:50:00Z

It means the domain was, in fact, registered 4 years ago, in 2018.

So either 123Reg had a glitch showing you an unavailable domain as being available, or you saw another extension being available (maybe .co or co.uk).

But it's very clear: No one stole your idea, the domain was registered long before you thought about it.

 

[VadimK]

I think you simply looked somewhere wrong in the first place. Most likely it was some other extension selling cheaper on the drop down list that pretty much every registrar has, but dot com probably was taken a long time ago.

 

[Rhinnnn]

I think if you go back and do a simple search on NameCheap it will tell you when it was registered. Mostly, there may be a time lag probably depending on many highly technical things which I will never understand but nano seconds are what we think happens but it is probably actual seconds to get the data.

Better yet, you can search for any .com here:

https://lookup.icann.org/en/lookup

and it will show the precise time - to the exact second - of its registration.

 

[Sutruk]

As has been said, there are loads of people who are likely to register a domain and its possible some registrars do have a means of tracking searched-for names and showing to other potential customers.

I think you simply looked somewhere wrong in the first place. Most likely it was some other extension selling cheaper on the drop down list that pretty much every registrar has, but dot com probably was taken a long time ago.

Those are the two situations that have most likely happened to you. The first one happened to me many many years ago... and for sure it is still happening.

So, next time, when you find a gem that will change the whole world for just $3, take it.

 

[twiki]

Yeah, I'm using CLI whois all the time, I just kinda hoped ICANN's lookup tool would be the one to cut out the lurking registrars so that it could be recommended for everyone. It's still better for checking for free domains, that's for sure. Because if you actually find a free domain, you will only have yourself to blame if someone else registers it before you.

Some registrars happen to do frontrunning, willingly or not. Let's assume willingly at first: They either register themselves OR feed the searches further to the vultures. It's a win win for them - buyer get the names, registrars make money from registration and renewals. And potentially aftermarket sales.

Even some of the big registrars do this. It is known, despite contested by those who haven't seen or tested it first hand. Although in many cases please note, it's just a coincidence (say if just one domain is involved).

But how do I know this happens? I got bitten early by this. With several of them including major registrars.

I used to register larger hand reg lists sometimes. I still do handregs from time to time and have success with some of them (e.g meta names). But those I talk about weren't on the same subject. They were different names altogether. The only connection between the names was they being on MY list and generated by my domain suggestion / discovery tech that does not go through a registrar.

10-15 minutes later, or a couple hours later, VOILA - they are suddenly taken, in bulk... At the same registrar.

I re-tested this with other (potential) names that I was willing to part with, just to re-test the theory. Again the same thing happened. At those registrars. Several, well known registrars have this problem.

It might not be the registrar itself however; but some of the employees who have access to the data and make quite some money for themselves off this thing. I believe this has a bigger chance to be the case. Whether the owners know or not about this, I don't know.

Now I won't mention where this happened.

I'm going to however to mention a few where it didn't happen for me. 3 registrars in particular, Dynadot, Namesilo, Porkbun.

This doesn't mean that all other registrars are bad. Just that you need to be aware that there is such thing among registrars and you just have to be careful.

Which means, final note, if you like a domain and it's cheap. BUY IT. On spot. That's all you need to do.

Lessons learned.

 

[Reddstagg]

I think if you go back and do a simple search on NameCheap it will tell you when it was registered. Mostly, there may be a time lag probably depending on many highly technical things which I will never understand but nano seconds are what we think happens but it is probably actual seconds to get the data.

And today's lesson is...strike while the iron is hot. He/she who hesitates....all is lost.

Good luck with your journey and don't forget to count your chickens LOL

Rgrds,

Reddstagg

 

[Sutruk]

Creation Date: 2018-09-10T11:50:00Z

Domain was created in 2018. So it was already registered 4 years ago, when you searched for it.

 

[Rhinnnn]

I check the usual registrars for the .com - I checked yesterday and amazingly the .com was available and I think ranged from $3 to $5 or so.

I am honestly so pissed off, it could have been the difference between a multi-million pound company, and not.

Could you please share what registrar you used to search for your domain? As others mentioned above, it's unlikely that a .com is only $3-$5 anywhere.

In any case, if you actually have a multi-million pound idea, it is not imperative to have a .com domain. Tons of great startups and businesses begin with a domain extension like .io or .co, or literally any other extension as long as it's not something that makes your website look silly (like a .horse maybe). It's still wise to get the .com if you can, but starting on a different extension should not take away from the value of your idea - IF that idea is indeed a multi-million one.

 

[thevoyager]

OK all I think we got to the bottom of it, I misread something.
No conspiracy here

 

[branding]

Well, I know I can do --no-recursion in whois commandline and the rdap client (https://github.com/openrdap/rdap) also seems to query only the registry by default, but https://lookup.icann.org/en/lookup shows registrant data, which probably comes from the registrar rdap server. But you're right of course, there is a way around it. Just not through a web interface (that I know of).

I don't know of a web interface but I'm sure they're out there of you search for it.

Best to run lookups from a Command Line Interface. Faster as well.

Stop providing registrars with free data.

Trust no-one

 

[MadAboutDomains]

What is the best site to use away from these corporate canibals?

l0000l you're literally on a domainer forum...!! If you mean how do you avoid people that register domains for profit then you're in the wrong corner of the internet.

 

[bmugford]

Ha, made me laugh, very true but I am just a bit sick that it was taken like this, I just want to know what happened.

Is this not a known thing in this space? I don't think it has happened before. It's just strong a coincidence.

Maybe someone is snooping in on our google docs. Again another implausible theory I am sure.

If you DM me the domain, I will look at the history of it.

This happens often, and it is almost never anything nefarious.

Normally the domain was not actually available to start with, or it was just registered by one of the other billions of people on Earth.

Brad

 

[thevoyager]

Yep agreed on all.
Good analogy on the gems

 

[A1EX]

It has been registered since 2018... That's why you cant get it... Maybe when you searched your registrar had a hiccup? Some registrars try to trick there customers also... I have seen it before where you search for example.com and it says "Your domain is available! Example.io"...

 

[pb]

You can. With a thin whois lookup. This data comes from the registry, not the registrar.

Well, I know I can do --no-recursion in whois commandline and the rdap client (https://github.com/openrdap/rdap) also seems to query only the registry by default, but https://lookup.icann.org/en/lookup shows registrant data, which probably comes from the registrar rdap server. But you're right of course, there is a way around it. Just not through a web interface (that I know of).

 

[winst]

Google and Registrars know more about you than you realize.

Your search history, website visits across all your devices, and even parts of your casual conversations may be recorded and fed into AI to predict your intentions.

Sometimes the vultures' strategies may backfire:

I was hired as a CTO for a small startup. The company did not have the money to acquire a one-word .com domain name from a well-known domain investor, while I felt the mid-4 figures price was reasonable at the time. Fast-forward 1 year later, the domain name was "sold" to someone for 5 figures, and then this person contacted me directly to offer his help to "acquire" the domain name for the company. I don't know if the transaction was "real" but all that work for nothing: the startup did not get enough traction, and while it did not go under, it never received additional funding and I left after a few years.

 

[thevoyager]

On a side note, even $1,000 seems like a steal for a future multi-million pound company.

Brad

Ha, made me laugh, very true but I am just a bit sick that it was taken like this, I just want to know what happened.

Is this not a known thing in this space? I don't think it has happened before. It's just strong a coincidence.

Maybe someone is snooping in on our google docs. Again another implausible theory I am sure.

 

[bmugford]

I just can't belive one day it was $3 or so and the next $1000, 1 day?!

.Com are never $3 unless there is some registrar promo. A registrar is taking a $6 loss to sell you a .com for $3.

Brad

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

Ha, made me laugh, very true but I am just a bit sick that it was taken like this, I just want to know what happened.

Is this not a known thing in this space? I don't think it has happened before. It's just strong a coincidence.

Maybe someone is snooping in on our google docs. Again another implausible theory I am sure.

As has been said, there are loads of people who are likely to register a domain and its possible some registrars do have a means of tracking searched-for names and showing to other potential customers.

Interestingly, does the name now forward to a sales lander?

 

[thevoyager]

Yes it goes here....

uniregistry.com/market/domain/

 

[thevoyager]

Could you please share what registrar you used to search for your domain? As others mentioned above, it's unlikely that a .com is only $3-$5 anywhere.

123reg.com -

I read online to not search these types of companies, as for this very reason.