I found this site recently - instantdomainsearch.com It seems pretty smart - you type in a domain and it tells you instantly whether it's available. I assumed since it produces such quick results that it's not saving your searches... WRONG!!! I found a great domain I wanted and it said it was available. So I went to my registrar to register it, and it said it was taken! I checked the whois, and surprise surprise it said the domain had been registered... today. So basically whoever is behind instantdomainsearch, be it man or machine, steals any good domains you find - and fast! The morale of this story is, do NOT use instantdomainsearch.com
So they're buying domain names based on searches? I doubt they would or could buy them all. I wonder if they have some way of evaluating the domain name and if the value of it is a certain amount then they buy it. Surely they're not just buying at random.
That's a great suggestion, Raisin! The only problem is, I searched for a number of domains and that was the only one they reserved - the other not-so-good ones have still not been registered, whereas the good one was registered within minutes. But the one they reserved was really really good! I don't want to say what it was because it's an idea that hasn't exactly been done before etc, but it was a kind of brandable play on words (like domparison - domain comparison). What confuses me, like MayBeBree says, is how they can reserve domains selectively - it would have to be one hell of a script to detect only good domains such as the one I had, because mine was a play on words - it could either be seen as one long word that isn't in the dictionary, or a combination of a small dictionary word and a non-dictionary word... if you get what I mean. So I wonder how they picked up on the fact it was a good domain?! Surely there isn't someone sitting there viewing everyone's searches and picking out the good ones by hand...?!
By the way, in case anyone is interested, here is the WHOIS: Registrar: SPOT DOMAIN LLC DBA DOMAINSITE.COM Whois Server: whois.domainsite.com Referral URL: http://www.domainsite.com Name Server: NS.1.NAME.NET Name Server: NS.2.NAME.NET Status: ACTIVE Updated Date: 23-sep-2006 Creation Date: 23-sep-2006 Expiration Date: 23-sep-2007
A registrar only needs to reserve a domain - they don't actually need to buy it they are given a 5 day 'grace period' where the domain is theirs to do as they please with. This can be done repeatedly for as long as they like. http://www.bobparsons.com/MayKiting.html
So I guess it looks like www.domainsite.com have setup instantdomainsearch.com and are effectively stealing people's domains and then kiting them?
I read the faq at instantdomainsearch.com and their reasons seem to be more plausible than the one you're suggesting. If the domain is so great just pay the 7 bucks at domainsite and get it.
7 bucks??! How exactly do I do that?! It's been registered for a year so the only way I can get it is by making an offer that the domain holder agrees to, surely?
That was assuming that domainsite was holding it in reserve. If someone registered it then you have to deal with them. If the domains been registered for a year, why do claim instantdomainsearch.com stole it from you?
I think that's a common mistake people fall into when they use a service like instantdomainsearch. When you've been around a bit you know that sometimes domains get listed as available when they're not, more so on third-party search rather than with a bigger outfit like GoDaddy, although it can still happen with them.
Thought the same thing you did, but we read what he typed wrong, he saying they have registered it for a year as in it's registered now till 2007.. I've had the same thing happen to me mate, always use the official whois: http://www.internic.net/whois.html
Just to clarify... the domain was registered in the 2-3 minutes between my checking it on instantdomainsearch and attempting to register it on godaddy. It's now reserved for the next 12 months, and the f*cker who reserved it is using it for kiting, as well as asking for $575 to buy the domain. I'd love to think they will drop the domain after the 5 day grace period but since I foolishly made an offer for the domain, they now know it's worth something and will inevitably hold onto it. B*gger.