Hypocrisy alert: Domain name registrar Network Solutions, which earlier this year adopted the questionable practice of registering on its own behalf any domain name searches done on its site, today urged the industry to abandon the practice.
Here’s how the scam works: You go to Network Solutions (or virtually any of their competitors) and do a search for a domain name you’d like to buy. If you don’t buy the domain right then, they register the domain anyway, meaning if you try to buy it somewhere else you can’t. You are then forced to buy the domain at Network Solutions.
At any given time, tens of thousands of domains are locked up by registrars in this way. In February, Network Solutions was named in a class action lawsuit over the practice.
Now Network Solutions is now calling the practice “abusive” and proposing a fee to registrars designed to destroy the economic incentive to engage in the practice. Now that everyone’s doing this, it’s far less lucrative for them to continue. Thus the 180 degree change in attitude.
“If ICANN [the quasi-governmental organization that regulates the domain industry] adopts the anti-tasting provision, Network Solutions will feel safe in discontinuing its service,” they said.
Update: Network Solutions says I got at least part of the story wrong, since they’ve been talking about this issue for three years. My response: Then why engage in the practice? And will they now voluntarily stop?
Does Network Solutions need an ice cream? Is someone mad for not letting them have their way? How about getting them a triple scoop ice cream. That should brighten their faces.
I’m positive godaddy does this as well. I’ve searched the dumbest domains and they became registered the next day for no apparent reason.
Godaddy also rebrands white label Godaddy sites like Ning under wildwestdomains.com
I had a white label godaddy site for a while.
Chris, they all do it now.
This is so typical of a company who’s original ‘business model’ was based on a monopoly.
Sometimes it makes me think if this practice is even automated.. maybe the registration is, but I’m certain someone behind a desk is screening every registry for potential value.
I tried to registered recommendamovie.com last year, maybe a little later. the search on netsol came up as available but i didn’t purchase it at the time. I had no plans for the domain.
by the end of the same week i went back and the domain was not only registered, they went on to host a blank page with a fucking smiley face right in the center -as if they were mocking me.
I now make sure that everyone i know boycotts networksolutions!
If using Mac OS X - open Terminal.app, and type “whois “
So, one of the biggest players in an industry has reversed on of its most abominable practices, and we’re complaining about it because….?
Don’t get me wrong, Godaddy is a great registrar. They are probably the best, and I just love Bob Parsons, especially if he cuts me a deal to sell my social network script on Godaddy in “my account”, but besides that point,
I just love godaddy. I don’t even care if they bogarted some stupid domain I searched for or not a year ago.
I have at least 30 domains with them, cheap hosting for testing purposes, and I love their service.
Even the french maids like Godaddy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDwYnGQRPng
Yeah, I take back my previous comment. Bob, you need a social network script in your panel, and it better be mine.
Well, James, I don’t think we’re complaining about the reversal, just about the hypocrisy as well as the predatory nature of the original practice.
Also, just because they’ve stopped this practice, do you think they’re averse to other predatory practices?
Fuck Network Solutions.
That is all I have to say.
Just to make sure I understand. Go to network solutions to search and register a new domain. Example: http://UsedMotorHome.com If Its available I can buy it. If I don’t buy it. They buy it and rob me of my chance.
How is that fair? For domain searching I use http://instantdomainsearch.com. And I buy from go daddy, but first I do a google search on “cheap domains” that will pull up the go daddy ad, then click on it and you’ll save a few bucks.
While you may be right in this case (I plead ignorance), I think you’re painting with too broad a brush.
Let’s face it, this is a race-to-the-bottom. It’s a terrible practice but any registrar that *doesn’t* do this is going to lose out to those who do. GoDaddy can register one domain and re-sell it for $50 for every ten that it sells legitimately for $5 — that’s $9/domain in revenue. If NetSol doesn’t partake in this game, they have to offer domains at that $9 price. So people go to GoDaddy instead. That probably increases the number of searches, leading to an ever greater price disparity.
NetSol can legitimately be against this practice yet still employ it. Again, that’s not to say that this is the case here; simply that it could very well be.
Fuck network solutions, and fuck Chris too…once again, shilling his crap on TechCrunch with only the most tenuous link to the story at hand.
Chris, I think you should seriously consider spending more time in the youtube forums…people there seem to be more your speed.
Should we acclaim them?No.It’s good that they are acting normal now:)
Mike, It just may be public talk as demanded of a class action lawsuit. They may stiill be doing it, but not as regularly so as to get caught
_ So thinks the cynic in me…
Rgds
Funny how they come out at the same time Yahoo Domain services is jacking their price to $34.95 a year
http://realespace.com/2008/06/.....ain-names/
@Speed Racer
Your argument seems to be that it’s impossible to make money and stay profitable in this industry without resorting to raping your customers.
Anti-competitive and borderline illegal business practices are never justified just because the other guy is doing it. If there is *really* no way to compete in a market without dishonesty and highly questionable business tactics (which I highly doubt), then it’s time to find a new market.
I made a website for a hosting company a while back, including a feature to check for available domain names. Recently they asked me to change the script so it would keep a history of searches. I declined.
I really hate these scams, it happened to me several times.
–
http://crunchlabz.com
What is Network Associates actual cost of registering a domain name?
If it’s anything above zero, I wonder if searching a few million random domain names would cause them to change their business practices?
Forget about Network Solutions. Who is f-ing dumb enough to use them anyways?
I can understand that they were the only ones back before youtube and myspace; but there are tons of choices now. Use Moniker instead.
@Chris Go Daddy doesn’t do it or at least they don’t register every search or do it right away. I searched for blacktechblogger.com & theblacktechblogger.com on 3 separate occasions before I actually purchased them. Yes Loren, we’re going to show you where the Black Tech Blogger’s are
It was going to happen sooner or later.
@13, such language, such foulness. Burn my eyes.
@21, I never said they did it every time. It only happened to me once, but it did happen. It doesn’t matter though.
Godaddy has always been way better and cheaper than Netsol anyway. Plus they have Danica Patrick.
Actually, I wouldn’t have started the post with Hypocrisy Alert. Especially since the post goes on to document a “lessons learned” approach to the game from NetSol. Personally, I’m glad they are taking the lead on trying to eliminate the practice and glad they have the balls to go against the flow. Since their practice, which they’ve admitted was shady, was followed by so many other registrars, maybe they have the balls to change the practice too. Personally, I’m encouraged.
Use namecheap! The bigs are shady.
@25
Namecheap is just an Enom reseller. So it’s controlled by the policies of “the bigs”
Namecheap is an Enom reseller. So it’s controlled by the policies of “the bigs.”
I truly hate the way domain names are handled and I feel as though there’s nothing we can do about it. Domain names are such a permanent purchase that it really irritates me when companies hold them hostage and basically use extortion to get money for them. I understand their a business but I don’t like how I get bled when attempting to register MY OWN NAME!
ao if it says …
“parked free at godaddy.com”
does that mean it is available?
i got redirected to random shit and search spam yesterday when i omitted the .com off of a couple of legitimate URLs.
I did suspect this sometime back; especially for domains which can have a great resale value. I dont think they can afford to do it for each and every searched domain on their system. They would have gone bankrupt by now. They do it for generic domains or for niches that is in demand.
I did test this before and domains like personal domains dont get register or dont follow the same pattern. I did have a .info domain of my name but i thought it would be good to buy a .com of my domain, so i did search .com at several domain registrars but it wasnt automatically registered coz they cannot extract any value from the domain.( i am nobody atleast as of now
)
So, i do think that there is a person out there or some very intelligent algo doing this filtering!
i only have one domain left on netsol, it still $35 a year and thats crazy, i choose to register at yahoo domains , for my surprise i got this renewals news that from july 1st yahoo domains will charge $34.95 to renew a domain, thats crazy!!!!
I use 1&1 for all my domains and never had this problem. Too bad the industry can’t police itself.
This doesn’t surprise me. I use http://www.bustaname.com to do my searching, then when I’m ready, I buy though godaddy. Its a really cool tool, and I figure the smaller app developers have less incentive to steal because they can’t sit and wade through every search looking for the good ones. Plus I’ve e-mailed the developer, and he seems like a good guy.
Mike,
We have been advocating that ICANN to implement a nonrefundable fee for more than 3 years because we could see domain tasting, kiting and front running were growing issues. We have public documents that prove that and I would be more than happy to provide them to you.
We published this statement today and alerted bloggers such as yourself who have already demonstrated interest in this issue. Next week’s conference is a critical moment for domain registration and issues of tasting, kiting and front running. We believe that collectively all of us can inspire ICANN to address this important matter.
Shashi
This is a great discussion and I’m glad Michael posted this article. But I think most are missing the point and didn’t look more into what this is about. I have worked for many of the large registrars in the industry and have consulted with the rest, and they are all doing it. It is called “domain tasting”.
“If ICANN [the quasi-governmental organization that regulates the domain industry] adopts the anti-tasting provision, Network Solutions will feel safe in discontinuing its service,” they said.
And not just the registrar’s are doing it. With most registrars that allow the practice, individuals can also buys domain names and use this practice (hosting companies that offer registration on their site are the biggest offenders). Then you can put up click ads, measure the profitability, and then evaluate whether or not it is getitng hits and generating revenue. If no revenue, they can delete the domain within 5 business days from purchase and get money back or sell it to someone who was originally intested in it. Again, I have helped many people make money on this practice, so don’t blame just NetSol, blame ICANN for not regulating everyone.
Also, you might want to check your domains that you’ve bought that you haven’t put any content on and are using the Registrar’s default nameservers. You probbaly have revenue generating ads on your site that is making money, not for you, but for the Registar. Just think about it, if they have 5 - 10 million inactive names in their network that their customers have paid for and they didn’t, they are making a bundle on all of the clicks.
While this is not what this industry was set up for, I would not worry about complaining about it, just let everyone know like Michael is trying to. ICANN needs to stop this practice of “domain tasting”.
Neat… they discovered the Categorical Imperative by trial and error. Could have saved everyone some time by reading some Kant before making policy…
Go for namecheap.com, it is the best and the most transparent you guys have ever seen.
I searched for a same domain name many times, and finally after few months i purchased it.
NameCheap.com rocks seriously !
Is there any proof GoDaddy does this? I thought Bob Parsons was against this practice. He called it “domain tasting.”
Also, aren’t there folks who have access to DNS error logs and register direct names typed into a browser that don’t resolve?
@Domain Man: I am glad you pointed that out to everyone here. I was scrolling down and surprised that nobody from our domain world was speaking up regarding the underlying reasons to this. Thank god you mentioned it, or I would have had to type all of that out.
I just hope that implementing a fee makes domain tasting and domain kiting go away.
For once, I think I would rather have Netsol take my domain than some domainer who wants 10k for the name because he just tasted the right one. But this practice will go away very soon, I am sure.
I have had a number of clients that have hit the wall on this as of late. I am so glad you put up[ the post, cause Network Solutions and GoDaddy are a bunch of lying extortionists who are scamming their customers.
These days, I use the internal registrations within the 2 primary hosting companies I use for my clients, Blue Host and Mosso.
When a client comes to me with domains already registered with Network Solutions and GoDaddy I cringe. These bastards make it almost impossible to transfer registrations, and GoDaddy has an abominable practice that locks up the domain and hosting for 60 days if you are not careful.
I have nothing at all good to say about these two particular companies and I tell anyone I do work with that they are lying scum, and to never, ever go near their online systems.
Network Solutions and GoDaddy are absolute and total trash !
I think I’ll try a few searches on Net Sol — umm, maybe these:
networksolutionsblows.com
fucknetworksolutions.com
networksolutionssux.com
etc.
networksolutionsblows.com
fucknetworksolutions.com
Already Locked Up ! Just typical !
Network Solutions and GoDaddy are absolute and total trash !
’nuff said !
BO
they all do it now.
Network Solutions people are crooks. A company I worked for attempted to buy a domain (that they owned) - and were holding out on us for six figures. Said they wanted to use it for “marketing.” I am not against domain name reselling by any means. I am against registrars holding domains hostage en masse. Network solutions should lose their license to re-sell domains.
“We have been advocating that ICANN to implement a nonrefundable fee for more than 3 years because we could see domain tasting, kiting and front running were growing issues.” Shashi, this sounds a bit like a murderer saying that he’s been concerned about the rising rate of crime for years. Would front-running have been as much of a “growing issue” if your company, Network Solutions, had not implemented it?
Michael, I think you’re right but maybe the explanation isn’t. The reason NetSol is saying they won’t “reserve” domains any more if this passes is because it will cost themselves $.20 a domain, and it wouldn’t be a profitable practice anymore.
This $.20 fee won’t stop front running, it will only stop kiting and to some degree domain tasting.
http://domainnamewire.com/2008.....-adds-fee/
Wait…no…forget it. It was just a thought.
No. We don’t all “do it”.
Name.com is, and has been, opposed to the practice of “front-running”, whether done by a registrar (in this case Network Solutions) or by unscrupulous parties who are sniffing the traffic passing through a registrars website. We have never, nor do we plan to, “defensively” register domain names our customers search for.
This practice is separate, but in some ways, related to domain tasting. ICANN is considering doing away with the 5 day add/delete grace period which is very likely to dramatically curtail tasting and and eliminate kiting.
Thanks to blogs like yours, I found out what they have done, I now understand better why a domain I search was available one day is not available the next day.
To the guys who say “They all do it” thats not true, there are good moral companies like:
- http://www.moniker.com
- http://www.77gb.net (.com is for those who want to be resellers)
- http://www.1and1.com
they do not do it. At least I have not heard anybody saying negative about them, or experience negative about them.
Again thanks,