Searching for Domain Names – Beware!
By: Brendan Fitzpatrick
Having many successes and quite a few failures (more than successes) on the internet I decided to write about one of the most frustrating ‘failures’ that I see over and over. If you’re interested in buying multiple domain names or if you feel that you are ready to buy the ‘best domain name for your business’ then read on…
It’s very important to understand that everything on the Internet is analyzable, just about every transaction, inquiry or request (worth a dime) is publicly accessible. One example which most people don’t realize is the process of searching domain names. For example, if you just opened a business, or had a baby and you think you have found the best name for either, most people will go to a Domain Name Registrar such as Godaddy.com, register.com 1on1.com etc. to see if it’s available.
The one piece of advice I will tell you right now you should act on – if your the Domain Name that you really want is available at the time you search for it is available then BUY IT on the spot. All queries to the main DNS server/repository become available every few days. If enough people search for a domain name it is virtually guaranteed that a large domain name horder will pick it up and immediately put it up for auction for several hundred dollars or more.
Don’t believe me? Try it, just try it with a name that you don’t care about. I have lost at least a half dozen high quality domain names within 2 months of searching various Registrars for a few weeks at a time. I just lost another one which prompted me to write this blog entry. To me it is 100% fraud but for the smaller guy there’s not much you can do about it unless you have a patent or rights over a name or product if you are willing to spend $1000’s in court to get it back.. it would be cheaper in most cases to buy it via auction (or maybe more appropriately – “black market”). I highly suspect that the DNR companies support these methods since they have huge gains to profit from this practice, perhaps one day more details will come to light!