Names showing as available when they really are not.

[NamePopper.com]

This is weird. For the third time in one week--eNom has shown a name as available--only to go and find a few hours later that it wasn't--and never was.

I am 100% sure too. No doubt about it

The name today--EasyVision.com showed as available in all extensions--and I even had a chat with fizz to get his opinion on the name before I bought it.

Then when my brother-N-law went to register it for me--not only the .com--but also .net .info .biz .tv are all taken. The .com whois shows the original owner for 2 years thru netsol.

Our question: Is this common to eNom or registrars in general from what you all have seen in your experience? Maybe just a hiccup in the database?

 

[MattyP]

I had a similar experience a few weeks ago. I found a name that by overture figures suggested it may get type ins. I spoke to snoopy about the name and he told me to be wary of TM issues.

Over the next few weeks I kept checking to see if it was available and then it got the better of me and despite snoopy's advice I went to register it.

I sat there terrified my wife would see the CC in my hand and all the time worrying that snoopy would one day find out I shrugged his advice and............ bang the name was registered and had been for 5 years.

No wonder I drink.

Matt

 

[mole]

Yes. It happens disturbingly often. Particularly for some registrars like Register. Must be some connectivity issue that plagues particularly registrars as their scripts check out availability across the different registries.

If you see a particularly good name that is still available (fat chance), check this again with another registrar before you happily try to register it. Netsol is a good reference.

You may also want to do a whois search with whois-search.com or domainwhitepages.com. If it draws a blank you are safe home.

I was nearly fooled about a week ago to register a prime generic .info that seemed to be available on Register.com. It wasn't.

 

[DomeBase]

Has happened to me as well. Name looks avaliable, and then turns out to have been booked for a long time.

 

[Who-Wiz]

I've seen it happen with almost every registrar I've worked with over time. Even eNom, Register.com, Network Solutions (the WORST!), Discount Domain Registry (OpenSRS).

Here's ANOTHER aspect of the AVAILABLE/TAKEN problem:

Recently, eNom had me believing I could register a <3 letter .BIZ domain name. Man that had me going for a while. I can see the logic that makes it happen. In fact, many Who-is services have little glitches that give availability data that's not quite accurate.

RegisterFly.com gets the goods on the .biz false-start, but then fails to realize that the w.tv is a premium domain selling for $10,000 and NOT its normal 37.99/yr rate. Worse, it suggest that I can now register w.info! Really? I can, oh joy! Then you realize that .info domains have a 3 character minimum registry restriction.

Register.com is one of the only sites to say in practical terms... "Hey, look, this domain isn't available to anybody. Sorry."

There are a series of registration rules that are in place that many many many services seem to completely ignore, and thereby mislead people down strange roads.

I'm still developing an easy-to-use Who-is site that takes these restrictions into account and shows where more information can be found. Tricky stuff.

On the flip-side, showing domains as AVAILABLE that are actually TAKEN, is again very aggravating as well. Same principle. I believe the error is that NO RECORD is found, and the system assumes "Hey, must mean its available!" In both cases, it is a wrong assumption.

So, go to RegisterFly.com and register EZ.INFO today! Act, quick going fast! Only $15.98.

\\W|Z//

 

[deadserious]

I just recently had this happen to me a few times with godaddy.

I thought of a good domain, and it came up as all extensions available, and I typed in the .com in my browser and nothing came up, so I thought cool.

So I registered the .com,.net, and .org of the names, then 5 minutes later I get an email saying error your domain failed to be registered. Ofcourse this was for all the .com names, so I ended up with .net and .org names, but no .com

I think I learned my lesson now though.

Two of the domains this happened to me with, after it happend I went and looked them up on different whois servers, and it said that they had been registered for over a month. I don't think it should take a month for the domain to show up in their database as being registered.

So do you think they do this on purpouse?

Do you think this a marketing trick the registrar's use?

 

You have to use a registrar who checks the registry when you check for the status of a domain name, and not the whois database. Some registrars just keep a local whois cache and don't bother checking in real time against the registry when you query for the availability of a domain.

When someone earlier in the thread says they had false starts from OpenSRS, they were simply referring to one of their resellers. We check the registry in real time when you query the availability of a domain - as does anyone who uses the standard OpenSRS client. There are many resellers who do not use the standard client however, so you do have to know whom you are dealing with when you trust the lookup of an available domain.

-t

 

[deadserious]

Well when I registered these domains, I did check both enom, and godaddy, not just their whois, but also the domain lookup.

So now I've been using samspade and places like that, is that what you mean by using someone who checks the registry?

 

I don';t know what samspade does, but when you look up a domain for availability, what should happen is the registrar checks agains the actual registry using RRP services - not in their own local database, or using any whois service. This is what happens when they actually try to register the domain.

Some registrars don't do this, and so you get the case where a domain looks like it's available until you actually go to register it, and then you find it's not.

-t

 

[fizz]

Originally posted by NamePopper
This is weird. For the third time in one week--eNom has shown a name as available--only to go and find a few hours later that it wasn't--and never was.

NamePopper, bad luck

The best I’ve found for real-time checks of the registry, with bulk searches (up to 50 names) that’s very fast and gives immediate results for com/net/org/info/biz/us is:

http://www.signaturedomains.com/bulkIndex.jsp

 

[Manic]

RegisterFly.com gets the goods on the .biz false-start, but then fails to realize that the w.tv is a premium domain selling for $10,000 and NOT its normal 37.99/yr rate. Worse, it suggest that I can now register w.info! Really? I can, oh joy! Then you realize that .info domains have a 3 character minimum registry restriction.

In case you haven't read elsewhere, in my dealings with Registerfly, when I tried to order a .TV DN that (according to them) was a standard priced .TV DN, they charged me for a premium name which I discover, (according to Tim Shor - Registerfly - Manager Global Domain Services) they supposedly are not able to register in the first place. So, of course I have not recieved anything from them, but now have an unauthorised (fraudulent) $300 debit on the credit card. Caveat emptor - Hold out your card, and you'll find that your arm is missing.

--------------

The weak "explanation" from Tim Shor at Registerfly:


We do not support premium names. We cannot register them. It is assumed
all names are 37.99 we will be filtering them out shortly to avoid these
situations


Tim Shor

Manager Global Domain Services
[email protected]

www.UnifiedNames.com




-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, September 07, 2002 12:38 PM
To: Global Domain Support
Subject: prices


Then, why does your website say the price for a premium tv name is
$37.99 when it is actually 100 to 10 million dollars?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Global Domain Support" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, September 07, 2002 11:56 PM
Subject: RE: prices


> This is a .tv premium name. .tv reserves certain names as Premium and
> they run from 100 to 10 million dollars each.
>
>
> Tim Shor
>
> Manager Global Domain Services
> [email protected]
>
> www.UnifiedNames.com
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Saturday, September 07, 2002 12:28 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: prices
>
>
> Why does you website say the price for a premium tv name is $37.99
> when it is actually $10,000?
>

 

[Who-Wiz]

The shame of it all is that other registerars are able to clearly identify names that must be purchased from www.tv and are PREMIUM names.

For instance, SMOKE.TV is available for $1,000/yr.

Go around to different registrars and see what they say.

Register.com
NetSol.com
DirectNic.com

Doesn't seem like rocket science, and none of these will actually charge customers for Premium Names, they just send them to the .TV website.

~ W|Z

 

[NamePopper.com]

I feel better knowing that it has happened to other people.

Well actually--I don't feel better--just a little less unlucky.

 

godaddy and verisign confirmed they had registered names for me, and later backed out, as they had been registered of long-standing.