I had an odd thing happen to me just now. I was using GoDaddy to look at some domains and one of the ones it suggested was firstarcade.com. I thought 'great domain'. So I go take a look at domainsbot and while I'm searching I find that firstarcade.com goes from available to purchased. I check GoDaddy and sure enough, it's no longer available. I've had this happen before, but never that fast. I was really smitten with the domain though, so I went back in my history to a page where it was available and I had it selected. I proceeded to checkout and everything went as expected. That was about 10 minutes ago and while GoDaddy has sent me my email confirmation of my purchase, the domain has not been added to my account. Fingers crossed. Has this sort of thing happened to anyone else, or did I just get caught in a fluke?
This is definitely proof that GoDaddy (or it could be domainsbot) instantly registers domains it considers to be valuable based on keyword value. I just recieved a letter from GoDaddy stating the following: That's funny. When I was searching for domains, it was available. In fact, GoDaddy suggested the damn name. When I perform a WHOIS, I get What kind of scam is this? Or am I just uninformed and overly dramatic?
Happened to me too about three months ago. I bought bestseopages.com from a reputable registrar and obtained an email from them acknowledging the purchase and set up a one-page site. About I week later I observed that the site had disappeared and the WHOIS indicated that it was registered by another guy. Now I'm stuck with which I couldn't use.
It may be that the domain was on the verge of expiring and the owner decided to redeem it at the 11th hour? I've bought domains on Tdnam.com and waited for the expiration period on the domain to elapse so it would become mine and literally, the very last day before the domain takes the drop, it gets redeemed.
Check again in 4 days; it might be "back" And no, you aren't the first to experience this, although the 'odds' would say that w/o any maliciousness on the part of the registrars/whois providers, this would still happen just with everyday domainers looking for the same topics and getting the same automated suggestions.
Domain Name: FIRSTARCADE.COM Creation Date: 06-may-2003 Is why you can't register it even though it is: Status: REDEMPTIONPERIOD Expiration Date: 06-may-2006
You might be in for a long wait, Greg. It could be caught up in this 'Kiting Scheme' as described in detail on Bob Parsons' (CEO of GoDaddy) blog.
Exact same thing has happened to me with GoDaddy a couple separate times. I thought it was just a mistake in them reporting it as available, but perhaps something else is at play.
Wow is all I can say! This is a major blow for registrars and anyone that cares to have a web presence with a decent name. Bob Parson article is sure an eye opener how the internet is so out of control and out of reach from the law. Its like the wirld west out there. I too have had domains pulled out from under me as well very quickly . I once felt that domain sites like domainbot are monitored and thru keyword searches hackers are viewing what is input and scooping those names for themsaleves after people check out there name inquireis prior to regsitration legally. Possibly illegal organizations are utilizing the domain name hogging method to generate funds for illegal activity. 32 million in one month is not peformed by a hacker in his bedroom! This shit should be investigated fully in my mind as its not only taking away our rights to have a presence on the net as we create but it is alos manipulating the future of the internet and producing funds possibly for illicit activity. This is a critical situation and the funds being created by this kiting technique is in my mind a very serious situation on the web. Nothing surprises me anymore in the world and access to high technology.