Pre-Selling Domain Names?

Allnighterking asks: "Within the last 24 hours I've been the unwitting victim of a new practice by any number of domain registrars. The concept of pre-selling domain names before they expire. Go to any of the more popular domain registrars and start searching for domain names. You will find dozens of them for sale -with the date they will expire clearly listed-. In my case yes, I was negligent in not renewing. I also did not receive notice that it was to expire either. The day after it expired (or more like 8 hours after). I found out that I was no longer the owner of a domain I've owned for over 3 years, that this domain is now the 'property' of a domain squatter selling google adds on my hard earned search engine status. What can be done? Do we have any recourse?" "Perhaps this is just another case of ICANN , you can't.

Apparently, the sale of expired domains is big business. See this google search for more. It leaves one to wonder what would have happened a few years ago when Hotmail expired. Would Microsoft have been stuck? Or would they be doing what I've been asked to do: pony up 20k to get my domain back!"

Comments

If all else fails ... kick and scream.

[bgramkow]

Unfortunately, there isn't a lot that can be done about this. Most domain registrars no longer send out notices when your domain is about to expire. To make things worse, if your information (contact info, etc) in the registrars database is incorrect they may cancel your domain within 15 days if you don't respond to their notice. I've read that ICANN started requiring registrars to contact customers yearly regarding domain status, but this doesn't seem to be enforced.

As far as what you can do, I suppose the going rate for bulk prevention is still about 16 times that of bulk cure.

Try to keep track of domain names and expiration dates. Consider consolidating domains if you own more than one. Renew early and/or for a longer time period. If nothing else, search the net and try to buy a domain ... yours.

Verify the owner information with the registrar. For businesses the corporate owner or other company personnel should be listed as the domain owner. (NOT the company name or the name of an outside web designer) Remember this is the person who will be authorized to make changes, renew, etc.

Make sure that you're getting the registrar's emails. Don't give the registrar an email address you may not have in a few years. Add the registrar's domain to your email account's no spam list.

Oh and one more thing: Send a nasty email to your domain registrar from a throwaway email account. That ALWAYS works.