For Sale Namewinner/Dotster catching before the drop?

[JMJ]

I ran across a domain that everyone else on the net seems to think is droping today which has already been caught by Namewinner and guess who the previous registrar was?

 

[cyphix]

Maybe it was caught by them lasy time it dropped?

 

[JMJ]

We'll see how it unfolds tomorrow I guess when the whois updates.

 

[alia]

I found two or three such cases lately, I forgot the previous ones, and this name has been in 'PANDING' for over 12 hours at NW:

Registrar: DOTSTER, INC.
Whois Server: whois.dotster.com
Referral URL: http://www.dotster.com
Name Server: NS1.NAMERESOLVE.COM
Name Server: NS2.NAMERESOLVE.COM
Name Server: NS3.NAMERESOLVE.COM
Name Server: NS4.NAMERESOLVE.COM
Status: PENDINGDELETE
Updated Date: 22-jul-2003
Creation Date: 16-jun-2003
Expiration Date: 16-jun-2004

 

[JMJ]

Well I have screen shots from various services and a screen shot of their CP showing Pending..

 

[alia]

LOL, are you going to blackmail them?

 

[JMJ]

Nah just want to prove my case..

 

[alia]

As far as I can remember, they have been doing that for a while, but only for names of bids under $100 or so, nothing big.

 

[JMJ]

Well the way I see it this is a munipulation of the system.

 

[Duke]

I've noticed it to. Several times now I have waited until less than 5 minutes before closing time to place a snipe bid (but still well before the deadline) only to be greeted by a message saying the name has already been registered!

How can that happen when the drop hasn't even started yet? I will check at PIR and sure enough it was registered that day by Dotster - before the drop. So who are they giving these names to that they are getting in advance (and how can I be put on the list to also be given some before anyone else has a chance to bid on them?) :-D

 

[mole]

DO YOU MEAN TO SAY THAT REGISTRARS HOLDING DROPPED NAMES ARE REREGISTERING THEM TO INSIDERS BEFORE IT GETS INTO THE OPEN POOL???

 

[affordablehosting]

I'm not sure, but someone told me that ICANN has rules that prevent this. Interfering with the drop process, though perfectly legal, could lose them their registrar accreditation.

 

[JMJ]

Who knows but whatever is going on it's obviously not a one time thing.

 

[hiOsilver]

With good names going for thousands of dollars, it would be very tempting for employees at the registrars to try to siphon off a name or two to sell to a friend. It would not surprise me to find that this is happening.

 

[Domainut]

It has actually been happening frequently for the last few months, and just because the names have bids of $100 or less when they do this, does not mean that the bids would not be much higher if they wouldn't have done it.

But would reporting them, help or hurt our chances in the market?

 

[affordablehosting]

Originally posted by Domainut
It has actually been happening frequently for the last few months, and just because the names have bids of $100 or less when they do this, does not mean that the bids would not be much higher if they wouldn't have done it.

But would reporting them, help or hurt our chances in the market?

If this trend continues, UltSearch and BD may follow suit. When private registrars decide not to allow domains for re-registration and instead sell them to big companies, it only hurts everybody else.

This could become the perfect workaround for WLS. If UltSearch can't back-order the domain they want, they'll go to the registrar. Buy a WLS if you want Ult to take your domain and offer it to you at a ridiculous price.

 

[clemzonguy]

could lose them their registrar accreditation.

Definitely a possible fallout from all this. }:>

 

[actnow]

Let's try that principle of "innocent to proven guility".

Registrars are not going to get the domain early from PIR.

And, as for NW showing a "pending". NW has had that problem for as long as I can remember.

Whenever, I see "pending" at NW and I know that the name has not dropped. I just place an bid at one of the other dropclubs.
Knowing that NW is out of the catching for that name.

 

[ToastyX]

First of all, a registrar cannot restore a domain in the "PENDINGDELETE" stage.

Second of all, if NameWinner shows a status of "PENDING" for a domain and one of their partner registrars is the previous registrar, then they caught it the last time it dropped. They don't remove old bids.

Third of all, just because NameWinner shows a status of "PENDING" doesn't necessarily mean they got it. Their system has been prone to errors in the past.

There is no manipulation of the system. I'm sick of people jumping the gun when there's a perfectly logical explanation for what happened. I'm tired of people making up conspiracy theories when they have no basis for them.

 

[Duke]

I must have missed the logical explanation about what happened in my case. I am not talking about anything listed as Pending. What happened to me is I tried to placed higher bids prior to the beginning of the drop and received a message that the domain had already been registered. These are not domains that dropped a year ago. I checked the WhoIs on all of them and they have all shown up on my Pending Delete lists. I'm not suggesting anything underhanded is going on - just wondering why this is occurring because it has happened several times now. When I switch over to PIR to see if it had really aleady been registered and on that specific day and the answer has always been yes - registered at Dotster.