Now they're masters of your domain
Something evil is afoot in the world of domain registration. There are tiny traces of its presence if you look hard enough. No one seems to notice them, but slowly, I think, people are figuring this out.
Recently, we searched for a new domain name on GoDaddy for a client. The name was highly unique (his neighborhood and his profession) and when the search was executed, the domain name came up as 'available'. We wrote down the relevant details and called the client for final approval. With the approval in hand, we went back to GoDaddy to register and pay for the domain. Lo and behold, the name had been taken by some unknown entity hours after we completed our initial search request.
Shocked and amazed at the 'coincidence', we called GoDaddy's customer service line. We explained that our domain name had been stolen by someone a short time after we expressed interest in it on the site. Their service rep, upon hearing this news, seemed strangely aware of our complaint. And...she had some pretty pat answers. Specifically, she told us that this has been happening lately. That there might be some company fishing their search results and buying domains before they're actually purchased.
Wow! GoDaddy has someone culling domain name search requests, buying the available domain, then posting a new price for it (ours was $100). Are they angry? Doing anything about it? No, she said. We're confident the offending organization will drop the domain in a few days and "you can get it then for the original price".
So, we waited a few days. And sure enough, the domain became available again. Ugh.
What does all this mean? Well, it either means some rogue company has found a way to access domain registration databases and swipe soon-to-be-purchased domains, or GoDaddy is boosting profits in a very dark way. We're not stating that the popular domain registration and ISP company is doing anything untoward or illegal, we just think someone with some oversight authority look into the situation so that this doesn't become something larger.
You can run the test yourself. Choose an unusual but commercial sounding domain name. Search for its availability. Confirm your interest, if required. Then wait a few days. See if someone anonymous doesn't reserve that domain then post a 'price for sale' for it. If it happens to you too, then someone is definitely mastering our domains and needs to be stopped.