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Domains: Beware the Domainsbot

by Digital Traffic
16 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I just ran into something interesting today. I haven't been doing this stuff for long, but here's what happened to me.

Was doing research for domain names this morning, using suggested tools form this forum, which one's don't really matter to my story.

After doing my research, I located a list of 25 or so domains to check on.

This is where it gets interesting.

I used DomainsBot.com to look and see if the domains were available.

I went through my list, and found 3 names that were available in .com form according to DomainsBot.com.

Great, I went immediately to Go Daddy, where I do most of my registrations, type in the name and found the .com domain was no longer available.

I then went back to DomainsBot.com to check and make sure I spelled the name correctly there, as it was still fresh on my screen, it had only been 2 minutes or so since I found it was available.

Checked the spelling, it was correct, refreshed the screen, and now it shows the domain as for sale at Sedo.com.

At first I thought it might have been a fluke, but as I moved on to the other two domains, I discovered the something had happened, both .com versions were available just minutes before, now those were gone as well.

Yep, you guessed it, both of those, when I checked the names again at DomainsBot.com minutes later, were now also available for sale at Sedo.com.

Has this happened to anybody else? I assume now, that Sedo.com, must also be, or connected to DomainsBot.com.

Suggestions for how to avoid this situation?

Pretty slick on their part, if that indeed is what happened. They used 3 hours of my research, and snagged three of my .com names that I found.

I can buy them now for only $399 each, or make an offer.
#beware #domains #domainsbot
  • Profile picture of the author BarrieAdams
    If they indeed did do this, it is very sneaky and close to theft IMO, as you say Digital Traffic, you did the research. Must have been very frustrating for you.

    I dare not try it! (and never will)
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  • Profile picture of the author Goatboy
    If you suspect this is what has happened, you could test the theory by searching for some off the wall domain names and then see if they get stolen. Try something like "besttightywhiteys."

    I'm not familiar with godaddy's registrar set up, since I use namecheap, but I would think godaddy would let you search to see which domain names are available. Namecheap does this, and I usually do all of my searching right there before I purchase.
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  • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
    I use domainsbot pretty regularly and I've never seen this happen. I'm not saying that they haven't started doing this now but it could just be coincidence. Domainers use tools to target available .com sites pretty aggressively.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cringer
      This is my second such instance of hearing this happening within a matter of weeks; with whom or what registrar I can't recall, but if it's something registrars are employing then that is very bad form imo.

      Sorry to hear about that Digital Traffic. Let's hope it's not the case.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nigels
    I've used domainsbot a few times, including two days ago, in just the way you describe (check availability using domainsbot then go to different company to register) without any problems.

    Hopefully this is just coincidence/bad luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author emigre
    This is a fairly common nefarious activity called "domain tasting" - it is practiced by some in the domain industry. Even some big domain registrars do it.
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    • Profile picture of the author tresfavian
      Yes, this has happened to me with domainsbot also. I will quit using them too.
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  • Profile picture of the author timpears
    It is hard to believe that what looks like it happened to you, happened. But, the names disappeared right after you looked them up and fond them open. You can look up bulk lists of domains at Godaddy in their bulk register section. You can put in the name, or a bunch of key words and see what is available and select any number of tlds for them. Just click on the bulk register link.
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    • Profile picture of the author AllThingsArePossible
      that's why I use saferwhois/com sparingly to prevent domain theft

      If I really found a great domain name then I simply type the url manually in search engine

      I learned my lesson the hard way to never trust register's like no daddy or any type of domain checker tool
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      • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
        Originally Posted by AllThingsArePossible View Post

        that's why I use saferwhois/com sparingly to prevent domain theft

        If I really found a great domain name then I simply type the url manually in search engine

        I learned my lesson the hard way to never trust register's like no daddy or any type of domain checker tool
        I've been a customer of GoDaddy only once, for a .ME domain that I bought (they wre one of the cheapest I could find at the time that accepted PayPal).

        Not only are their shady behind the scenes practices appalling, but the customer experience of using their website before even buying anything from them is downright crappy.

        The website is bloated, filled with ads. They try to sell you on allsorts of useless extras all the time (often selecting them to be added to your cart automatically unless you say "no"), the site is slow, when you pay with PayPal they don't just take a one-time payment - they set up automated payments by default which then means you have to login to PayPal after you've completed the sale and delete the recurring payment from your account.

        Awful company; awful customer experience. I don't often rant about companies I don't like, but GoDaddy have a special place in my heart (I mean, on my darts board).
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  • Profile picture of the author Marakatapolis
    It's domain squatters. This is why I always check manually in the address bar to see if a site comes up or not, if it doesn't, then I go directly to register it. I never use any website, especially not GoDaddy as they sell your search queries to Dutch domain squatters in real time, because they can automatically steal and temporarily register the domain name based on their big list of "flags" for certain keywords. Then, they use the temp registration to test the domain to see if it's worth keeping in their domain portfolio or not, if not, they simply let the temp registration expire.
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    • Profile picture of the author BarrieAdams
      Originally Posted by Marakatapolis View Post

      It's domain squatters. .....I never use any website, especially not GoDaddy as they sell your search queries to Dutch domain squatters in real time, because they can automatically steal and temporarily register the domain name based on their big list of "flags" for certain keywords. Then, they use the temp registration to test the domain to see if it's worth keeping in their domain portfolio or not, if not, they simply let the temp registration expire.
      This is bad bad bad. Domain industry corruption, Annoys the hell out of me that these companies buy up domains when they're expired, let alone just after searching for one.
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  • Profile picture of the author VaultBoss
    I agree,

    It is always smart to type in the domain in the address bar and see what comes up.

    Or at least, search for it directly on the registrar's website, so that you can go buy it right away once found untaken.

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  • Profile picture of the author pup
    This happened to me when I used Bustaname, it showed available and I couldn't buy it from Godaddy. I went back to Bustaname and they still showed it available so I just chalked it up to Bustaname having a blip in their system.
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    • Profile picture of the author ARVolund
      This is easy enough to check. Do a whois search and see when the domain was registered. If it was right after you did your search that would be highly suspicious, if it was earlier then you know that is not what happened.

      I have heard of this happening but I have always done my searches on either namecheap or godaddy and have never had a problem.

      If you found a tool or site that was doing this a good way to make it less profitable for them would be to do a lot of searches for completely worthless domain names for them to buy up.

      Richard
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