Searched a name with GoDaddy then hours later its taken???

JamesBooth · Aug 22, 2013

I was looking to buy a domain for a friend this morning as they want it for a joke to play on a colleague.

The domain is ItsEasyForMe.com

I searched it on GoDaddy this morning and 2 hours later I go back to buy it and its gone?!

Registered literally minutes after i search it.

Its not exactly a premium name.

Does this happen often?

BLazeD · Aug 22, 2013

DomainsInc · Aug 22, 2013

i don't know, i search domains with godaddy and don't register them and can often still find them available days later.

Shane · Aug 22, 2013

I've seen this happen too.

asfas · Aug 22, 2013

Was it at auction ? If yes, it is possible that someone else liked it too. If it was unregistered, that would be very weird. Either way it is unlikely that GD is playing jokes on you LOL

URLtrader · Aug 22, 2013

When I find an unregistered domain which I like, I register it right then and there.

That is the best way to do it.

urlurl · Aug 22, 2013

it's happened to me a couple times

midnight251 · Aug 22, 2013

It has been known to happen. Try this, search for a bunch of unusual names and then go back in a couple of hrs to see if any have been taken.

INFORG · Aug 22, 2013

Wouldn't be surprising to find out that some GD employees or associates can view/access what is searched and may see some they like. I seem to recall stories about other registrars and whois providers that may have gotten "inspiration" from the user searches.

I don't think it is an epidemic or anything, but it likely happens here and there.

JuniperPark · Aug 22, 2013

Write the owner pretending to be a potential buyer, and see who the thief was.

vinsdomains.com · Aug 22, 2013

I've seen it happen several times as well, especially since GoDaddy changed their search default to their overall site and not to the domain name search.

katherine · Aug 22, 2013

I am wondering, do they show the recent lookups of visitors somewhere, as a source of inspiration for others ?
I think there was a registrar that used to do just that many years ago.

angel69 · Aug 22, 2013

What happened to James has happened to many. Was the domain listed for sale ? (not necessarily in auction, just as an O/C-O or BIN) if so, by viewing it you inadvertently increased the number of views, sometimes you see the details, may come back to that page or something, that may even count as two more views, that number may matter to some browsing the site, although it's the # of bids on a name which makes the difference since the ones with the most then get listed in "Most Active Auctions" and then the price can rise fast...

The fact someone regged it just minutes after your viewing it might be just a fluke, but I've heard of registrars that advertise domains as available (or the system makes "suggestions") based on others' previous searches, they don't have to do it blatantly, ie they may add ItsEasyforMe.com to the alternative results of another search if that searched term was a regged domain, ie if someone searched for domains available (unregged or for sale) using the kw "easy" then the domain James wanted may have been added to the alternate/suggested results in any "easy" searches when it wasn't there before. The registrant added privacy, interesting, I agree this name may normally not be seen as premium but it's still a nice catchy phrase containing the word 'easy'...

As for those much talked about Go Daddy reps, they may not be allowed to make bids/offers on names listed on GD but they have cousins, neighbors and girlfriends. Even dogs lol. It's most elemental to set up other accts since they know how to cover their tracks, they can simply do it thru someone else, the acct owner may even be in another state as to not raise suspicions (same IP address as their own place would be a red flag) ....Midnight251 had a great suggestion, we should test that. And I agree with INFORG, it absolutely happens with registrars, NetSol was once criticized in an article I read for using others' random searches as "suggestions". Privileged inside info can make you real big bucks in ANY space lol.... JuniperPark also had a good idea, do it and see if he answers and from which address (since he added privacy) and I've never seen what Katherine mentioned but any registrars doing that would at least be honest about it ...