The case of domains “stolen” when registering

It's a long read but it is worth it if you don't want to lose that domain you wanted.

I had a domain “stolen” and few days later I got it back

This thread is to help those to be careful when trying to register domain.

There have been many cases of people complaining that the domain they wanted to register got registered sometime after they first looked it up to see if it was available. Meaning they “lost” out on it to another “person”.

This is a fact, rather than a conspiracy theory, it’s not people looking up your query for domains, instead the registration process that “steals” your domain is carried out automatically by bots, and sometimes humans too. There are many factors behind the process that triggers the bots to register the domain you are after,

I’m going to write some tips to stop you fall in that trap in PART 1.

Even if you fell in this trap, not t worry you can get out of it by reading PART 2.

I’m speaking from experience so I wanted to pass on this experience so I can help others to avoid it. I missed out on a domain, another company registered it because I made the mistakes of showing too much activity, and few days later I registered the domain my self. So there can be a happy ending.

PART 1

How to NOT fall in the trap of getting the domain registered before you.

- Make up your mind what domain you want and register it instantly. Make sure you’re ready in every aspect when you want to register the domain and register it. Make sure you have time and the right payment to register it right there and then and do not leave it for “later”. Because once you typed in the domain to see if it is available, then there is a chance that it will be taken by bots/humans if it appeals to them. Don’t take the risk!

- Use only one domain registration site that you trust to query to see if the domain is available or not. Not two sites, not more, just one domain registration site, and let that be one that you trust and it is reliable and trustworthy.

- Query to see the domain is available only once, once you know it’s available then it is available! Do not try to make another query just to make sure if it was really available, doing so may trigger bots to register your domain.

- Another advice is, If you really want to know whether a domain is available then just check it through your browser once, if a webpage didn’t come up then chances are it’s available.


PART 2

How to recover and register that domain even after it got “stolen” and got registered.

Like I mention, individuals don’t always register these domains, automated bots has been set up to register them if they feel there is a lot of activity concerning that particular domain, it’s all complicated algorithms, such as, if domain has been checked for availability this many times then register.

You have to know these domain are registered by solely on profit making, and they almost all be used in domain parking sites.

These are the steps to take recover the domain after registration. I took the same steps and got the domain that I wanted to register in the first place.

- Once you feel the domain has been “snatched” from you, then leave it alone for 3-5 days (preferably 5 days) Let those 5 days past, you have got nothing to lose now. So just leave it alone in all aspects.

- In that period DO NOT check to see if the domain is available, DO NOT type in the domain in the browser to visit the site (it will probably just be parked). DO NOT check any WHOIS to see who’s got it. Totally leave it alone.

- Once you leave it alone, the domain will be released again to the public because of the “lack of activity” surrounding it.

- The only reason the domain gets “stolen” is because you did not follow PART 1, meaning you shown too much activity for the domain, and the scammy registrars/bots/whatever only see dollar signs and they turn it to a parking page. You might have checked that domain’s availability 10 times, but scammy sites will see it as 10 people. They think it will make them money, so they take it before you do.

- There is a 3 to 5 days rule where there is a “special” affiliation between scammy registration companies and those who register it, the domain they register costs them nothing as long as they release it within 3-5 days after they register it. So in that period they are checking whether to see is worth keeping the domain or not, so by you showing activity around the domain you are giving them a reason to keep it.


Follow PART 2 and 5 days later you can register that exact domain without problem, it will be available like nothing had happened.

So the bottom line is, follow PART 1 to not fall in the trap, if you’ve made a mistake and did fall in the trap then follow PART 2 and you could get that domain back.

Please try to copy and paste this thread and post it on as many domain forum/boards as you can to let others know so they don’t fall in this trap.

I felt bad when the domain I wanted got registered because I fell in the trap, so I do not want others to feel like how I did. I felt great when I finally registered that domain I initially wanted few days later, so I want all to feel great too.

Some people are not aware about these methods of “domain snatching” so please make them aware of it by letting them read this.

Good luck and be careful with domain registration.

 

That is a good point. However, I have been fortunate with my registrar, BulkRegister.com.

 

I am so glad you posted this. I thought I was going crazy. I found a domain I liked, made banners, THEN went back to buy it and it was taken. I am glad to know why and will be more careful to buy when I search.

 

That is really good information.

There is another tactic - Go to Dotster(dot com), type in something in the "search for domains" form and enter it.

Then click "Available Alternative Domains" on the left.

What you get is a long list of names available for reg. fee. Many of them are very specific. It surely looks like the list of domains that have been searched for on the site but not bought.

They do not care who buys a name, they want to sell it. Hopefully there is a time lag between when some one asks about a domain name and when they post it to the world.

 

Interesting... maybe this is why GoDaddy's WHOIS and 'check for domain availability' forms are SSL - bots and people can't snoop in on what you are querying.

 

I think the advice to think of names, being ready to buy then search and buy immediately is good.

Though some of this may be paranoia, as I have heard the same stories of domain stealing from people only searching on godaddy.
Would be interesting to perform a strict experiment such as picking some domains that would absolutely not interest anyone else - searching on selected registrars, and seeing if any are 'stolen' over the following days.

Anyone want to try such an experiement?

 

If a whole lot of people started doing that the practice would stop, at least by bots.

 

I am conducting a simple experiment now, I will make a new thread about it.

 

Which can be found here.

 

thanks for the info.

 

Smryl, what domain registrar did you use when it was snatched?

Also, have you thought about pretending to make an offer on the snatched domain to see if you can get an identity on them?

 

Bob Parsons of Godaddy recently wrote an interesting article about what is behind this problem.

http://www.bobparsons.com/adddropscheme.html

 

That was a really good article, thanks for mentioning it.

 

I never knew domains could be snatched right infront of us! It makes me nervous, but I would be better prepared.

Thanks very much for your advice, it was very insight ful!

Is there a way to check if someone can steal my domain from my registrar?

 

Exact same thing happened with me just few days back. I used to check everyday. Anyway that was a big blow for me. More so coz the domain went into redemption coz their payment system was having some issues with CC payments. Anyway now its parked pretty with some sharks.

 

I used to put my desired domains in whois.sc (now domaintool)'s member portfolio, but how surprise some of my good names that I've been researched on their site got away shortly as I thought I will come back to register all desire names at once when I got enough quantity of good names.

Lessons I learned was never put your desired queries on those free tool sites or store your desired names outside your own computer!

 

Pardon the question, but how can they steal what you never owned in the 1st
place? A domain name can only be considered "owned" by someone if regged
to someone.

I understand how you feel about it, though. But the answer is there's no way
to check if someone else is looking up the domain name you're querying, more
so if that other party used a different registrar to look it up.

However, all registrars check the Registry of that extension for any result. For
.com and .net, it's the VeriSign COM NET Registry:

http://registrar.verisign-grs.com/whois

I'll be posting an article soon about how a registrar looks up a domain name.
The more people understand this process, the more they'll be aware and later
decide how to go about it.

 

this has happend to me, thanks for the info i will keep in mind next time i get a domain.