Has this ever happened to you?

[Write Guy]

I'm new to this domain registration thing. I own a dozen domains, most of which I intend to roll out as sites in the coming months.

Saturday I went to my registrar to check the availability of some new names. One that I wanted was available. I decided to wait a day or two. I went back to register the name today (literally two days later) and the name had been snapped up soon after I checked for its availability. I never discussed the name with anyone.

Am I being paranoid, or is it possible that someone at the domain registrar saw the name and thought "gee, I think I'll snap that up"?

Or is it just a big friggin' coincidence? I'm upset because this is a name for which there are no really good alternatives. I'll have to re-think the entire project. Hmmph!

 

[Dotmainer]

happened: yes (but i waited 3 Months

please read this:
http://www.dailydomainer.com/200775-domain-tasting-monitoring-searches.html

 

[mis_chiff]

Yes, it's happened many times unfortunately,
:imho: it's not a coincidence!

It used to happen with anything I typed in at
the registrar, needless to say, now I check it in the address
bar first (I don't check alot at a time) if nothing comes up,
then I'll check the whois.
If no results from that, and I really want it, I'll go register it,
but I'll only type it in once!

maybe I'm paranoid but I've missed out on a few that I wish I hadn't, within minutes of checking the availability

 

[clocker24]

Hello Write Guy,

It's not coincidence. It's been picked up by a domain taster, either the registrar itself or a large taster that has a contract with the registrar. They have software that monitors domain searches and automatically registers the ones they like.

Check it again in a week, as they will drop it if they decide it's not profitable.

If it's upsetting to you not to have this domain, then you should have registered it. You chose not to do so, so you can hardly object to someone else taking it.

Next time you find a domain you like, don't wait. Register it immediately.

 

[Badger]

Yes agreed with above - many registrars and whois checkers have an immoral practice of auto registering any domain shortly after you check it availability..

Its because of a loophole in the registration process which is designed to allow persons making spelling mistakes when buying domains, they have a 5 day grace period in which to get a full registration refund. Obviously these "domain tasters" can check a domain, park it, earn revenue and the like (in fact you can do this yourself) and then drop it with no charge.

The only safe way to check a domain is to check direct with the central registry or use 100% legit services like moniker or enom..

And if you want a bit of fun, check the company thats registered your domain (no doubt theyre from panama city - if Im guessing what youve done), and then return to your registrar and check the domain "[name-of-domain-tasting-company-here]-is-[enter derogative term here].com" and low and behold they will have registered it a day or so later..

 

[sashas]

I've been using Dynadot and haven't had this experience yet.
Though I was using GoDaddy before and some of the names I searched for were snapped before I could...

 

[Write Guy]

Thanks, everyone. I had no idea. Uggghhh!!! Needless to say, I won't be making that mistake again. It was a good one, too!

 

[nrmillions]

Dont ever use GoDaddy to search for available names if thats what you were using. Also check the whois and make sure the name was actually just registered then. It might have been registered years ago. Sometimes if you are searching for a name on GoDaddy or something it will show as available when it really isnt and then a couple days later it will show it correctly as being taken and you will think someone just happened to take it. You definitely have to watch out when checking for available names, the best thing to do is reg a name immediately and dont wait if its a name you really want.

 

[rudyhernandez]

Good suggestions. I usually use GoDaddy to search available domain names and have fell victim to the dreaded "available" and the the 1 minute later "unavailable". As of today, I'm changing the way I search for them. Rep for all. :kickass:

 

[JacoH]

It happened to me once : ) So thats domain tasting!! MMmm tastes good!! : )

 

[bricio]

it has never happened w me and when i begun i did like Write Guy. i only used moniker at that time. now i learnt (it never happened to me) and ive got an account at godaddy but when i check if the name is available and if it is i reg it immediately

 

[brotherZ]

That's why you should only use trusted services like register.com or yahoo domains to check for domain name availability.

 

[BTS]

That's why you should only use trusted services like register.com or yahoo domains to check for domain name availability.

Agreed. Godaddy is good if you know exactly what you want, but if you dont grab it then 9/10 it will be gone a day later.

Register.com and Yahoo, and Dynadot
seem to be honest sources for domain name testing.

 

[Kamikaze]

...

It happened to me also !!!
The domain name was Listen.FM and it was available when I've checked it through GD
Damn that could be a great catch... :imho:

 

[italiandragon]

one of these days I`ll go and look 1 million of crappy names just for the pleasure to let reg them 1 million of crappy names :D

 

[JacoH]

I will help ItalianDragon we can split 50/50 : )

 

[Dotmainer]

It happened to me also !!!
The domain name was Listen.FM and it was available when I've checked it through GD
Damn that could be a great catch... :imho:

BTW. GoDaddy have one problem more, or it looks like they have it.
They use some kind of cached whois Database. So sometimes looks like
domain name is free. And when you look later (when their DB gets updated) it shows you that Domain is registred, and you are thinking they sell all queries !

 

[Simplistic]

Yes, that always happens, sadly. Some of my favorite names have been taken within a matter of moments.

 

[bro]

This is what happened with me couple of days ago and I was sure that the site where I search for keywords is tracking down all the keywords and their value based on overture...

I found a domain name with 43,900,000 google results ( it wasnt english word)

next day I found it taken by someone else and it was a company from west indies and the name of company suggested it was a company of tasters

finally they dropped the domain after 3-4 days ... and I now I have this not profitable domain lol