A contact of one of my clients recently tried check the availability of a domain name with two registrars, GoDaddy and Network Solutions. Network Solutions was attempted first, and the domain appeared to be available. In the shopping-around process, GoDaddy was checked, and the domain came up as unavailable. Another provider was also checked – and sure enough – the domain was unavailable.
Hmmm… strange, that is. Upon trying to purchase the domain with Network Solutions, the price mysteriously jumped from $9.00 to $34.99. Looks like NetSol is squatting, perhaps? Oddly, the WHOIS doesn’t have any info about the owner. I’ve been doing hosting & domains for years – and have never seen this.
Turns out that NetSol is basically “registering” domain names that people enter in for availability checks – then attempting to sell the domain back (and misrepresenting its availability) at a wildly inflated price. This removes the domain from general availability for all registrars and can’t be sold anywhere else for 5 days because of the registrar 5-day grace period (another stupid ICANN policy that encourgages “tasting“) – thus holding the domain hostage.
The DomainTools Blog has a detailed explanation of this here.
Why is Network Solutions still an accredited registrar?
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Great tip to know…thanks!