[RESOLVED] - Porkbun frontrunning domains?

[NicTraders]

I wanted to register a few domains at Porkbun with their current promo codes (as per TLDES.com). So I added 6 domains to my cart. I noticed that only 3 domains were discounted and wondered if I could use a different code to discount one or more of the other 3 domains. So I removed 3 domains from the cart and made the purchase. Logged out and back in again (just in case that helped), added the 3 domains again to my cart, went to checkout and only 2 domains were there. I tried adding the third domain again (thinking I must have missed it) but it still didn't appear in my Cart. (Incidentally, I couldn't get a discount with a different code, which is fine, so I registered the 2 in my cart.)

Then I went looking to see what was happening with the third domain. It had magically been registered between the time when I made my first purchase and the second purchase. The timing is incredibly coincidental. (The domain now has Privacy on it, so of course there is no way to see who reg'd it.) Has anyone noticed similar instances with Porkbun? I would have thought that would be beneath them.
@Future Sensors I think you use them a lot?...

 

[Future Sensors]

@Future Sensors I think you use them a lot?...

Yes, for all my 4,000 domains, except a really small portion of ccTLD domains that are still at GoDaddy.

I’m not sure what happened in your specific case, as I’ve never encountered this issue with Porkbun. It seems like it might have been a coincidence where another registrant had the same idea at the same time. But even then, I understand how that feels for you.

Since you probably can’t disclose the domain name, it’s hard to determine if the term was trending or in the news, which might have led someone else to register it simultaneously.

As a general practice, I always check domain availability outside of any registrar first (not even on websites) and only enter the domains into the registrar search field when I’m ready to register them.

Porkbun should have more insight into your specific order and might be able to explain what happened, even though they can’t reveal the registrant’s identity.

Please keep us updated.

@Porkbun

 

[NicTraders]

Yes, for all my 4,000 domains, except a really small portion of ccTLD domains that are still at GoDaddy.

I’m not sure what happened in your specific case, as I’ve never encountered this issue with Porkbun. It seems like it might have been a coincidence where another registrant had the same idea at the same time. But even then, I understand how that feels for you.

Since you probably can’t disclose the domain name, it’s hard to determine if the term was trending or in the news, which might have led someone else to register it simultaneously.

As a general practice, I always check domain availability outside of any registrar first (not even on websites) and only enter the domains into the registrar search field when I’m ready to register them.

Porkbun should have more insight into your specific order and might be able to explain what happened, even though they can’t reveal the registrant’s identity.

Please keep us updated.

@Porkbun

Yeah, I understand. Anything is possible. It's just that the timing was absolutely remarkable. The name was 3 Letters + English word. The 3 letters are for an acronym that is currently newsworthy, however it's not like I had just read a news article for this term or something. And when I say newsworthy, think something like Memecoins or GPT or something like that, but a bit more niche (i.e. you could read plenty of articles about the topic this year, but it's not like there was particular news this week or something).

I had searched for this domain about a week or so ago on a different registrar which I trust (searched from within my account). I keep a bit of a list until I get around to registering new domains. Then went to do the reg today, and this was the result. So, nothing is impossible, but the timing is uncanny that someone else would register the same term during that 2-minute time period! Maybe another domainer has installed a keylogger on my PC and decided they liked that domain. lol

 

[J.R.]

A good rule of thumb is not to put anything in your cart and remove it.
There is plenty of front-running going on with registrars, brokers, and auction houses.

But it could be another registrant or A.I.

It wouldn't be difficult to train a.i. to snip domains added to a cart and removed. A different version happens all the time on auction houses when you place a bid on a domain with no bids. Instantly, an a.i. bot makes a bid creating a bidding war.

Domainer hold or buy actions are indicators of hidden value.

In this generation of domaining, you must proceed with extreme caution to never tip your interest in a domain until you are ready to pay.

 

[MKA]

Sometimes if you're in the checkout the registrar will reserve the domains for a time.

Did you look up the domains in the Whois database?

 

[NicTraders]

Sometimes if you're in the checkout the registrar will reserve the domains for a time.

Did you look up the domains in the Whois database?

Yes, it's under privacy as per my OP.

 

[pb]

A friendly reminder that there are over 8 billion people in the world and we tend to have similar ideas.

 

[cooljub]

Yes, it's under privacy as per my OP.

At the same registrar?

 

[Gabriel360]

PorkBun is an investor-friendly registrar. They have done a lot to build goodwill with the domain investor community so I doubt they would jeopardise that by stealing domain names.

Also, why are you keeping the domain name a secret?
It's already lost to you.

 

[DomainNature]

It can be such a case when an employee have seen the jewel and registered it. Or it recently dropped and someone else registered it.
I had at Sav such cases, where dropped domains were not backordered in my favor but someone hand reg it at Sav after it dropped.
So it can be anything from this, coincidence of someone have seen it on drop lists or an insider employee have seen what was added in the cart and though it was too good for you to have it.
One day I will post all the black holes I found in this industry, be ready for that!
P.s. on Porkbun I had cases when I started domaining, I was adding domains to cart and they failed to proceed or took too long to get registered, it is like someone was verifying why I register such domains. On Dynadot it was even worse, until payment verified I had to wait until domain was registered, that is what I dislike about Dynadot.

 

[ryan87]

I would email them and ask. In my experience they'll tell you what they know.

A good rule of thumb is not to put anything in your cart and remove it.

I would go further than that. Make sure you don't have any addons that can read your browsing data when you put items in your cart. The most obvious type of addon that would access, and very likely sell, that kind of data would be coupon finding addons.

I'm not saying that's what caused the OPs issue, but my personal experiences make me think that bad actors have been getting access to more data recently. For example, when I buy things online I'll get text messages that claim shipping issues with links to a fake Canada Post site (Canada's version of the USPS) regardless of the shipper. The timing and limited frequency of the scam messages is too good to be random. I've thought about it a lot and the only thing that really makes sense to me is that they have access to shopping cart data and are taking an educated guess that I bought something recently. That also means my phone number would need to be linked to the data, so it borders on conspiracy theory more than something provable.

Regardless, I use Firefox with any addons that can read my browsing data disabled on registrar sites. Leaking that data via a browser or addons has no value to me, so there's no downside to making sure it doesn't happen. Registrars would be crazy to sell that data since they're in a business vulerable to frontrunning.

Like I said, I have no idea what happend in the OP's case, but if you're in any industry that's vulnerable to frontrunning it's worth taking a bit of time to assess if your leaking information through a side channel, especially if it's something like domains where it doesn't need to be associated with a specific person to be valuable.

 

[HotKey]

Have never had this happen with PB and definitely wouldn't take the time to make a thread with that kind of title based on a coincidence.

 

[dirk]

A friendly reminder that there are over 8 billion people in the world and we tend to have similar ideas.

 

[Future Sensors]

A friendly reminder that there are over 8 billion people in the world and we tend to have similar ideas.

Are you now suggesting that @pb took your sentence?

 

[dirk]

Are you now suggesting that @pb took your sentence?

Most definitely.

 

[Kyle Tully]

I wanted to register a few domains at Porkbun with their current promo codes (as per TLDES.com). So I added 6 domains to my cart. I noticed that only 3 domains were discounted and wondered if I could use a different code to discount one or more of the other 3 domains. So I removed 3 domains from the cart and made the purchase. Logged out and back in again (just in case that helped), added the 3 domains again to my cart, went to checkout and only 2 domains were there. I tried adding the third domain again (thinking I must have missed it) but it still didn't appear in my Cart. (Incidentally, I couldn't get a discount with a different code, which is fine, so I registered the 2 in my cart.)

Then I went looking to see what was happening with the third domain. It had magically been registered between the time when I made my first purchase and the second purchase. The timing is incredibly coincidental. (The domain now has Privacy on it, so of course there is no way to see who reg'd it.) Has anyone noticed similar instances with Porkbun? I would have thought that would be beneath them.
@Future Sensors I think you use them a lot?...

There are something like 200-300k names registered every day. So if you think the name you’re looking at is in the top 300k available names that day then there’s a good chance it’ll be registered soon

 

[NicTraders]

At the same registrar?

Yes.

Also, why are you keeping the domain name a secret?

My choice. I reg'd the domain in another extension.

Or it recently dropped and someone else registered it.

It was not dropped. As per HosterStats the domain has never been registered in the last 24 years.

Have never had this happen with PB and definitely wouldn't take the time to make a thread with that kind of title based on a coincidence.

That's good to hear.
I posted a question. That's all. The domain has never been registered before, so it does not appear in any drop lists or similar. Thus, the 'coincidence' that it was registered in the same 2 minute period at the same registrar seems noteworthy to me.

 

[NicTraders]

Ummm, so.... this is me eating a massive serving of humble pie. I worked out who reg'd the domain. It was me... I was checking through today and discovered that the missing domain was in my account, but one of the other domains was missing. Somehow I mixed up my list regarding which domains I had removed from the cart. All my mistake!!!

So I am very pleased to report that there is nothing nefarious going on @ Porkbun. I will get the title of this thread changed.

 

[NicTraders]

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

Ummm, so.... this is me eating a massive serving of humble pie. I worked out who reg'd the domain. It was me... I was checking through today and discovered that the missing domain was in my account, but one of the other domains was missing. Somehow I mixed up my list regarding which domains I had removed from the cart. All my mistake!!!

So I am very pleased to report that there is nothing nefarious going on @ Porkbun. I will get the title of this thread changed.

And you are yet to change the title of the thread

 

[NicTraders]

And you are yet to change the title of the thread

I requested that the mods change the title of the thread to 'Nothing to see here'. They didn't. They just moved the thread and added [RESOLVED] to the title. That was not my choice, but unfortunately I can't control what the mods do.

 

[OceanKing]

I have lot many domains to front runners. Godaddy, whois.com are the worst in front running.
use icann's official site to look up .com, .net and .org. for other i use dynadot. they are some what ok when it comes to front running.