Bill Hartzer caused a stir last week when he published this post asking Was Godaddy Caught Registering Domains Names After Availability Lookup? based on Zen Savona’s Why You Should Never Use GoDaddy Again.
This isn’t the first – nor will it be the last – time that a domain registrar and specifically GoDaddy is accused of grabbing up domains you search on so you have to register them through that registrar rather than shop around.
All the way back in 2008 this Webmaster World Forum thread shares that Network Solutions solution to Front Running is Front Running. That issue hit CNET: Registrar denies ‘front-running’ Net registration.
Network Solutions was strongly criticized in 2008 when they revealed they registered every domain searched for and that news spread widely with one of the better Network Solutions Front Running investigations published on DomainNameNews.
Obviously, there is an issue with the definition of Front Running when a registrar
ADMITS they’re “protecting” domains we search on – which is the very definition
of front running. The question is “protecting” from whom?
There is no shortage of of comments on this issue as it has been asked online for years – some say as far back as 1999 – and discussed on sites like Quora: Will godaddy.com book a domain if it is searched but not booked?
Hartzer personally contacted GoDaddy for a statement and they have since posted their denial:
“Go Daddy does not and never has participated in domain name “front-running” –
the act of registering domain names after a registration search is done.”
GODADDY FRONT RUNNING DOMAINS DENIALS
Whether registrars do or do not grab the domains we search on, one thing is for sure. You can avoid that issue by immediately registering the domain name right away – maybe even leave that one open in one tab while you make up your mind or search for others.
GODADDY BOYCOTT
While GoDaddy may be the best known, thanks to their controversial commercials featuring barely dressed women, many are still moving their domains away from GoDaddy because of their support for SOPA exposed in a huge GoDaddy boycott called by Reddit that forced GoDaddy to retract SOPA support.
The mainstream media claimed that the GoDaddy boycott “fizzled” but no one can predict how many domains are still being moved as they come up for renewal or the owners get extra cash. (You have to pay a one year renewal to move a domain so clearly there will be many more moved.)
During the boycott, according to GoDaddyBoycott.org, 22,000 Boycotters pledged
to move over 82,000 domain names from GoDaddy over the boycott period.
BUYING DOMAIN NAMES:
There are many domain registrars and domain registration resellers, so you should shop around. Sometimes one kind of domain (.com versus .org or a country code) is on sale on one registrar and can cost many times more on another.
DOMAIN NAME REGISTRARS:
Here are a few Domain Registrars you can search:
- NameCheap ~ Most often recommended during the GoDaddy Boycott
- LinuxHostingOnly ~ Has .org domains on sale for $6.99 as we write this.
- DomainDiscover ~ Been around since the 1990s ~ $8.29 to renew and transfer at least for now
- Network Solutions ~ Often the most expensive
- Register.com
- DomainRegistrar.com
Note that if you want domain names ending in country codes you’ll need to search to find our which can be registered by what registrar. Some are not available at all and others are only registered through a single source.
If you want to know more about domain names watch for future posts in the domain names category.
Have you been the victim of a domain runner? Do you have a favorite domain registrar? Tell us in the comments.