NetworkSolutions domain hostage

[shimmy]

I did something stupid, I did a search at NetworkSolutions just to see if some domains were available, and they where, so I went my cheaper registrar to try to register them and they all said unavailable. So, I checked the whois and all the domains say:

Registrant:
This Domain is available at NetworkSolutions.com
13681 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 300
HERNDON, VA 20171
US
Record expires on 07-Jan-2009.
Record created on 07-Jan-2008.

So, it seems they now hold domains hostage so you can only register it with them

[Dan Grossman]

You could do the same with searches made on your site. Network Solutions is allowed to buy any domain they want, even ones you searched for on their site. If you're not happy with it, don't let them by not using their site anymore.

[IDNRS.com]

Originally Posted by shimmy

So, it seems they now hold domains hostage so you can only register it with them

Very much true.
BTW if you can PM us the desired name we can try to help you to get these domains.
All the best.

[shimmy]

Originally Posted by Dan Grossman

You could do the same with searches made on your site. Network Solutions is allowed to buy any domain they want, even ones you searched for on their site. If you're not happy with it, don't let them by not using their site anymore.

I never said they were not allowed. Also, yes it's obvious I wouldn't search on their site again. I was just warning others because I never had this happen with their site before.

[El Camino]

Did you just do a WHOIS at NetSol or did you start the registration process then back out?
They may be "tasting". Wait 5 days and see if they drop it & it's available again.

[shimmy]

Yep, I think they are tasting, but other people can see the domains they taste. So, there's a chance someone else will get it.

[Coupon Codes]

Yes Netsol are tasting each domain checked for 5 days, there is a big discussion on this at digitalpoint.

[Dave Zan]

Interesting reason why they're doing that:

http://www.circleid.com/posts/81082_...front_running/

[IDNRS.com]

Originally Posted by Dave Zan

Interesting reason why they're doing that:

http://www.circleid.com/posts/81082_...front_running/

This way they are denying the customers to choose another better registrar and capturing the market.

But this is other way annoying too and they will loose business also.

Anyway, this is a bad practice.

[Tijmen]

Originally Posted by Dan Grossman

Network Solutions is allowed to buy any domain they want, even ones you searched for on their site. If you're not happy with it, don't let them by not using their site anymore.

Whether is going to help them get more customers is a different story. It seems that I have been very lucky so far, since I always do my searches at network solutions and register them somewhere else.

I think that its very wrong what they are doing, and I will stay far away from that site from now one. In a ways its just criminal abusing peoples idea's for domain names like that. I just use it to check out some idea's that I got, and then the next day when I would have made my decision. I don't expect to find that name being held hostage for a couple of days for only $34.99, wtf....

[Dan Grossman]

Hey, when I bought my first domain, Netsol was the only registrar (and registry) and their $70 price for two years was the only option.

I think the whole 5-day trial period for domains should be scrapped. Even if Netsol stops abusing it, everyone else won't. The .org registry already got permission to add a fee for customers that delete too many domains (those taking advantage of the system like Netsol); the number of .org domains deleting each month dropped from something like 34 million one month to 150,000 the next after the fee.

[Dave Zan]

Originally Posted by Tijmen

I always do my searches at network solutions and register them somewhere else.

Which rather doesn't make sense since you can do all that with your preferred
registrar anyway, although I guess some are probably "paranoid" about it.

Originally Posted by Dan Grossman

The .org registry already got permission to add a fee for customers that delete too many domains (those taking advantage of the system like Netsol); the number of .org domains deleting each month dropped from something like 34 million one month to 150,000 the next after the fee.

Indeed. All this could've been resolved if VeriSign would do the same.

But since they won't...

[Dan Schulz]

I saw this on Slashdot the other day. They were talking about writing scripts that would bomb NetSol with bogus domain names like netsolsucks000000001.com and so forth.

[Sha]

You know what would be funny? If they did that to someone that trademarked the name they looked up.

[NathanielB]

Does VeriSign do this? I always use their WHOIS.

[Shockt]

Originally Posted by Dan Grossman

Hey, when I bought my first domain, Netsol was the only registrar (and registry) and their $70 price for two years was the only option.

I think the whole 5-day trial period for domains should be scrapped. Even if Netsol stops abusing it, everyone else won't. The .org registry already got permission to add a fee for customers that delete too many domains (those taking advantage of the system like Netsol); the number of .org domains deleting each month dropped from something like 34 million one month to 150,000 the next after the fee.

A restocking fee, like some registrars charge, would be a good idea for ICANN to implement to prevent this sort of thing. But changes at ICANN seem to take forever...

[ryanhellyer]

This explains something I noticed a while ago. From memory, I think I googled for a domain name registrar and then started searching for the domain I wanted which was a .com. Then a day later I went to register it at godaddy, but it wasn't available. I assumed I'd just been beaten to the punch by someone else. So I registered the .net domain instead. A month later I was quite baffled to see that the .com was available. I can't remember what the site was that I was searching for my domain originally from though.

[jainmanoj123]

It's amazing....I cant believe that it can happen with a reputed registrar like NetworkSolutions....

[vijay mohan]

I think these are very rare chances as u told but i think that there is definitely lack of information regarding that to ur consultant.

[rvdavid]

Originally Posted by shimmy

So, it seems they now hold domains hostage so you can only register it with them

Thanks for the heads up. I find it very disappointing that people still do business in such a very underhanded manner.

regards,

[digadesign]

Thanks for warning us about this.

[revsorg]

I just tested a dozen domains and it's true. I plan to spend a bit of my spare time over the next few days experimentally registering a huge number of pointless domains with them.

[wii]

I´ve seen this before too, while it may not be illegal, it´s a very unethical way to do business, I only use search for domains at the registrar that I will actually buy at, works everytime, no problems.

In any case, NetworkSolutions it way too expensive !!!!!

34.99 dollars for a domain name ? What are they drinking

[Dr John]

An equally nasty trick was carried out by Lycos UK for a while.

At the time they offered .co.uk names for 1p (2 cents).
So as you can imagine I jumped right in there.

But when you searched for availability using their registration tool, they ALWAYS said sorry it's taken, but these (more expensive) variations are still free. No matter what random mess of characters you entered, hitting the keyboard rapidly at random, they were always taken, but they could sell you a .com or .net or .org at about £15 ($30) a year.

And of course any other registrar said yes they were available to almost every name I tried.

I complained to the UK advertising standards organisation, but they felt they couldn't do anything about it. Interestingly Lycos UK stopped using that phony deal a couple of months after I complained.

[DaveWoods]

Originally Posted by Dan Schulz

I saw this on Slashdot the other day. They were talking about writing scripts that would bomb NetSol with bogus domain names like netsolsucks000000001.com and so forth.

Yep, I saw this a few days ago here...

Domain Registrar Network Solutions Front Running On Whois Searches

Would bombing them with bogus domains have any effect? As far as I can tell, it's an automated system which signs up those domain names and then after five days releases them again so incurs no cost to Network Solutions.

Other Reference - Network Solutions Registering Domains After Availability Lookup