Techstatic

Ever wanted to buy a domain or just wanted to check availablilty at a domain registration site and pondering the purchase? Well, next time you decide to run that search for a domain name…DON’T!

Don’t run a search until you are actually ready to make a purchase there and then. The reason for this is that I suspect something fishy is going on at some (not all) registrars. I was looking to purchase a domain, ran an availability search at a well-known domain registrar, saw it was available and thought I would come back later in the day to order it. Fact is, I never got around to it, a week or so later I’m looking to order the domain I searched for on the registrars site and another availability check shows that it has been registered! When searching for a domain name, the request you make is probably recorded. With the search for the next catchy domain name or the chance to make a profit, someone may be snooping on that search data to pounce on the domain before you.

So, if you are searching for the availability of a domain name, run a search at the internet registry for the top level domain (tld) that you are after, for example, for .co.uk domains you would search at www.nominet.org.uk. For .com domains you would run a search at www.internic.net A full listing of country code top level domains and their registry, along with other types of top level domains can be found here on IANA’s site.