Be careful of Domain Sharks
November 28th, 2006 // 4:11 pm @ Amar
I am recently dabbling more into live internet sites, and have been making some disturbing observances. Just want to warn you all to be very careful from where you search for the availability of a domain name. Certain observations have made me to believe that some of the sites which let you search for the availability of a domain, share this data with domain sharks. Why do I say so? Read on.
Since last 5 years I have been debating to register a domain or not. I wanted to turn it into a family site for our family members, and hence the name did not hold any value to any business or general site. It was very specific to our family and would have no value to people outside it. I recently after almost a year again thought that it would be a good idea to register it, and hence checked on the availability of the domain. As I expected, it was available. Hardly anyone would use such a name unless they are of my family. ( We have a very uncommon family name ). 2 days after, when I decide to go ahead and pay for it, I find that the domain has been taken. A similar thing happend to another domain which I had searched along with the previous one. Hence, it’s my gut feeling that some of the sites which allow you to check an availability of a domain ( including maybe some registrars, i am guessing here ) may be selling our search data, on what domains people are interested in, to domain sharks who will register these domains and see if they can make a profit out of it.
So the moral of the story is, if you like a domain and find it available, register it immediately. And be very careful from where you search for your domain. Always search from a site you trust will not leak your searches to anybody.
Category : General
http://
5 years ago
I have been registering internet sites for years, many times with catchy or valuable names that haven’t been grabbed yet. I usually check the domains at one of the larger registrar sites, but sometimes I use other bulk name checkers. In all that time, I’ve never had a problem with a registrar snagging the domain first, and I’ve always been paranoid about it. I’ve always thought the reason none have ever been snagged is because they get such a large volume of whois request per day, I don’t see how they could possibly single out and buy some of them.
Just my two cents.
Alpesh Nakar
5 years ago
Yes Amar,
One of them is a big name. I think you have mentioned them in an earlier post 
I have had similiar issues
A
anon
5 months ago
I searched for a domain name with one of the biggest domain searchers (it was yahoo), not a very catchy domain name or anything, just the name of my small business, and it was available, then a week later i went to pay for it ($10 a month for web hosting or whatever) and it was taken by a “domain shark” who offered to sell it to me for $20,000, LOL i thought and went for slightly different name, but this does show you have to be careful!!!