Is every domain which expires being domain tasted? If that was the case it would be next to impossible for someone to wait for a good domain to expire and then pick it up manually. If that is the case, does backordering make domain tasting impossible or are back ordered domains tasted before being taken up or dumped?
I don't think all the domains that drop are picked up straight away. You can always get domain before they drop at tdnam.com // Shameless selfpromotion I build a site that parses the tdnam closeouts for the best domains. Follow the link in my sig if you're interested. // End shameless selfpromotion
Unfortunately a few of us intimate with the biz have reason to believe that all domain names are indeed being tasted soon after the pending delete status. A few do manage to get through "overlooked".
I am not sure why this thread has taken the pessimistic path. I have used SnapNames and Pool quite successfully for various domains I was after. I do however know that there are some large registrars who are not letting go of some of the good domain names back into the "free pool" when they expire, but there has been some action/proposals put in to stop this (last I read).
The figure is closer to 98.5% that get tasted. Approx 14MM .coms get regged a week. Only 400K a week last thru the 5 day grace period. And approx 210K get dropped into the available pool out of 13.6MM expired/grace period name or 1.5%. What that means is that Tasters keep reregging names others have dropped so that even horrible names don't become available.
So the only way a regular guy can register a previously registered domain is by spending $60 with snapnames? Well that is a definite loss for the average person.
According to me short name domains are all checked. Registering for free a good domain (with a good PR) after expiration is impossible :-( I tried to backorder 7 different domains with Godaddy unsuccessfully.
I would guess something like 99.8% of dropped domains are either grabbed by a backorder, or tasted. The only ones that aren't are the really crappy ones with many numbers and hyphens and no metrics (excluding the puny code IDNs). But 99% of tasted domains are eventually refunded.
i doubt that EVERY dropped domain is being tasted..im sure most of the good ones are. Your best bet is backordering if you want a somewhat decent domain that is about to expire..most of the good ones are getting picked up and are almost impossible to hand reg these days.
If a dropped domain has been tasted, does that mean it won't rank in search engines? What effect does "tasting" have on a dropped domain?
Tasting just means that it takes forever for a domain to make it to the general public. Company A tastes the domain, drops it, so company B tastes the domain and drops it, so Company C tastes the domain, drops it, so on ad nauseum. It has no effect other than tying up the domain, if you do get it then it will have no effect on search engine rankings.