debate Is it possible that a premium .com name you purchase through a well-known registrar is stolen?

[belmar313]

Morning folks!

I hope you're doing fine. Wherever you're in the world, I hope you're staying safe.

You might be surprised by my question, but it's been something that has been bouncing in my head for quite some time now. Given that there exist a few cases of stolen domain names being resold, which create a huge inconvenience for buyers, sellers, and owners, I wanted to analyze the possibilities.

I've seen many of these cases happen with domains sold at forums, or even at some marketplaces with normal listings. However, I imagine it can happen too with a premium domain listing you buy through your registrar.

I use Dynadot a lot, for instance. When I find a name I want to buy, I usually don't buy it through Sedo/Afternic, etc., but I type the name in my registrar's search box, and buy it through them, taking advantage of the diverse selling networks. I find it's usually much faster.

I'm under the impression that, in order for a domain to be part of these selling networks, they can't be in the 60-day transfer lock period, so they must have been in the same registrant account for at least that time. Before purchasing, I ALWAYS go over the dns history, whois data, etc. I check the registrar the domain is at before the purchase. I wait at least 30 days before offering the domain again for sale. And even after I receive funds, I leave them untouched for at least 2 more weeks. There's really nothing else I can do to prevent getting screwed.
Even when you do all your due diligence, check a domain hasn't changed data for several months, and you buy it through a registrar that is part of Sedo/Afternic selling network. Are chances of it being a stolen domain at least slightly slimmer? Whose responsibility would it be if the domain ended up being stolen? Since it's completely out of our control, and in my eyes, these would be 100% legitimate transactions.

>Do you think this could still happen?

>What would you believe to be the best course of action?

>If you've done all your due diligence, took some time to list the name, kept the sale funds untouched for a while, and still, 2 or 3 months after the sale, someone claimed the name is stolen. How would you go about it?

It still hasn't happened to me, but it's something we all might have to deal with, sooner or later. So I decided to analyze this imaginary scenario to have more resources in case I have to deal with it for real in the future.

Looking forward to your comments.

Stay safe & have a great day...

 

[alcy]

obviously on a whole stolen names are like bad paypal transactions.. an infinitely small number ... but when they happen it's bad news for all...

u can research names.. otherwise u can do nothing more ... still keep in mind no one should live their lives around winning lottonor getting hit by lightning

 

[Name Trader]

I usually do a websearch for every domain I want to buy. If nothing untoward turns up. that's good enough for me*. But I'm not talking about $1M, $10K, domains here. I couldn't afford the $1M, and I couldn't afford the loss of $10K (or much less) funds.

*The first thing I would do if a domain was stolen from me (and I knew about it) would be to shout it from the rooftops, and get it into Google's results

 

[lock]

I have had names nicked probably why i joined forums to begin with. I cannot recall examples nor really try to remember but have had names taken before more than once over 2 decades.