Domain searches question.......
 

This may seem to be a ridiculous question, but I'm curious anyway.
When searching for a domain using a registrar's website does somebody have access to your searches, and if you don't pounce on a domain you see is available that person can register it?

Okay, that sounded a bit complicated.

Back in August I decided to ensure that the domain name that I'd chosen was still available, so I performed daily searches using (mainly) GoDaddy. After a few weeks I discovered that the domain had been registered sometime during the previous few days. I liked the name! It was good!
After reading a load of horror stories about GoDaddy I'm curious to know if there is a way of registering a domain that somebody has been regularly checking up on.

Maybe "Hey - this domain is being searched for a lot, let's register it ourselves".

I know I should have got in there quickly, and I also know that I may be being naive. There's also a high probability that I'm being paranoid.

Should I post the name of the domain? I think it's quite unlikely that anyone would have stumbled upon the same idea for a domain name, but then again I did! Plus the timing of the registration was a bit coincidental for my liking.

Just curious, and I've got a new name I like almost as much. Almost.
:(

Am I being a paranoid newbie?
|huh

It's probably paranoia, but the same thought always crosses my mind when I'm checking the availability of a domain name. And you never know with GoDaddy. I've heard a lot of strange stories about a lot of strange occurences from people with domains registered there.

I always register domains if they are available. I do know of a couple people that use scripts to watch for domain names.

[quote=Surfn]I always register domains if they are available. QUOTE]

Me too. If you like it and its available, go for it! |waves|

A paranoid friend! Yay!
|waves|
So it's possible? Darn. That sucks.
|angry|

Many thanks for the responses. I'm not sure if I feel a bit cheated or not!

More lessons learned:
1. Don't hesitate to snap up a domain name as soon as I can.
2. Don't trust anybody. Except the members of this board, well most of them, anyway. Okay, some of them. Alright, a few! Only trust a few!
:D

To answer your eal question - yeah there are employees at registrars that spy on the domain requests - and do register them in hopes of reselling them to the person that wanted it

That said - (being a true domain name fetish addict) - please do post the name LOL - Id love to see if I could find you something better.
I tend to keep a little stock money at my favorite registrar so that if I see something I can buy it immediately - of course that just feeds my addiction even more - guess thats why Ive got over 500 domains that dont have sites on them :)

Five hundred? Impressive!
|dizzy|

I can see how getting hooked on domain-naming is possible. When I search and I'm shown possible alternatives I find myself spending way too much time hunting.
It's great!

The domain was called "wristlist.com". I'd created a nice logo, some animated banners etc, ready for future use. I had no idea that I could lose it before I'd even got it. Lots of work for nothing but a lesson learned for the future.
:)

Hey KG Gary all is not lost, Your Results: 194 domains found, 193 AVAILABLE
my favorites
wrist-list.com
wristslist.com
freewristlist.com
mywristlist.com

I did consider buying a variation of the name, but wouldn't that just give the owner of wristlist an opportunity to feed off any success I might have with it?
Or maybe he/she would offer to sell the original name to me, thus giving him/her a good result?

Hmmm. You are correct. Some of the names look quite tasty.
Hmmmmm.
And again I say "Hmmmmm".
|dizzy|

Heh, I wonder if any of these domains will become unavailable over the next few days.

Thanks for the input T Pat. It's very much appreciated.

I'm curious, Linkster.
Are they mostly adult-related domains or a vast mix of anything and everything?
How many websites do you actually run? Or is that too nosey?
My sincere apologies if it is.
:)

Linkster is like me, he knows the value of web real estate. It isn't what it once was, but it can be great for certain things :)

I'd love to hear more - it's a fascinating subject.
Do you also have a ton of domains-in-waiting?
:)

I have about 5,000 undeveloped that I broker. I have several hundred that are active. :)

Five Thousand?
Several Hundred active?
|dizzy|

Is it strictly business for you or partially an entertaining hobby?

A mixture of both :)

So you buy a domain you like the look of, maybe develop it a little, (or a lot), and sell it on?
Or is it more of a straight name-selling situation?

Hang on....I think another "A mixture of both" is on it's way. :D

Have you ever had a real killer domain that gave you a great return?
(Sorry if this is sounding like an interview).
:)

Normally I buy these days for SE traffic...projects I will work on if I find the time.

I've had many domains 3-4 letter I sold after a few years to businesses that wanted them for a good profit.

I bought tons of domains on spec before the mainstream businesses realized that the net was for real and sold their domains to them for a healthy profit too. That was in the last century.

It really doesn't matter much what the actual domain name is...it's what you do with it. Who would of thunk link-o-rama.com would be a great domain for a LL. Just one chubby finger waving green blob...the rest is history :D

Gary - mine are a mixture of adult and mainstream - a lot of words or word combos that bring in good traffic by their name alone - I usually park them at a brokers site to earn PPC while Im not developing them - some were bought entirely for speculation - some were for "that great project in the sky" that never seems to happen - and some just cause I think their good stupid or funny names that Im sure somebody will be searching for some time in the future :)

So I haven't really lost a treasure with my "wristlist" after all?
:(

Looking at some of the bigger adult sites around I can see that you are absolutely correct.

Still liked wristlist though.
I'll shut up about it now.
Maybe.
:D

So no huge result for you yet, but at least you enjoy the chase anyway.

Thanks for the great input folks! As always I'm learning more and more.
This forum and it's members combine to make a truly incredible resource!
|headbang|

Heh heh - I didnt say that :) I just dont advertise my results too much

I already had robots go through all the available domains for "dictionary.com" or "dictionary/dictionary.com" or every combination of three characters.

|crazy|

All the good names are taken and the ones that drop are picked up by www.pool.com or some other drop service.

I should have guessed.
:)

I didn't even consider that!

I guess a lot of success comes from building a good reputation by building good websites.

I wonder if most novices enter the business like me thinking they'll be running their own great linklist within a year or two.
Are there enough hours in a day to be a solo succesful linklist owner?
I'm currently working around 18 hrs per day researching, building freesite templates & recip tables etc, more researching, more researching, more..... etc etc.
I'll be ready to start submitting freesites in early January, and my linklist ambition is quite rightly now a "hub" ambition.

Without the research and especially the help I've received here I would have fallen flat on my face a few months back.
|headbang|

There is some people that are experts at finding names and selling them at high prices.

I can give you a example you acquire FTD access to the TLD Zone files help by VeriSign.

Then you take that list and use powerful software (they do have this) to filter the domains were you can see the ones that are dropping before anybody else.

Try to buy them from the owners at a low price or back order those domains with snapnames, etc.

The only set back about the back order is that pool.com usually gets them. (Atleast back when I use to do it) and they auction them off to these guys with endless money who are willing to pay $10k for a domain just to sell it for $15k within two years and shit like that.

Basicly my point being - if there is a valuable domain out there those fuckers will usually find a way to it.

Sleeper - there are a bunch of 3 char .coms available out there - but you are correct - if they are a dictionary word they are going to be taken - but think outside the box a little (I did and picked up one that was a doozy based on cell phone/IM shorthand)

I picked up a whole slew or 4 char radio and tv stations starting with "K" I'll hold on to them until new owners come in and want to use them. I get all kinds of email about programming and scheduling as a result of owning them. lol

I don't count

8u9.com

Only all letters or all numbers the rest are of no value

lol - that is funny

Hit me on ICQ and I'll give you some pointers :)

Many thanks for the offer but I'm a true newbie.
ICQ scares me! I downloaded and installed it a few weeks back but haven't used it yet.

I have plenty of extremely-hostile-forum experience but little realtime typing experience!

Could I please ask a few more questions....
When searching for available domains I often find something I like but hesitate because the name is slightly similar to a plumbing company from Nevada, or a sports club from Ireland or something like that.

Are domain registrations an "anything goes but don't annoy the big boys" sort of deal?
Should I just go for it if I like something?

As an example "pagerankgoogle.com" is available but Google may not like it, especially if there a nice little porn list placed there.

Or is that the whole point of the exercise?
:)

Go for anything you like. If there's a problem they usually send you a letter. You don't go straight to jail.

:D

As a freesite submitter I'll be careful not to incur the wrath of adult site owners. I'll be steering well clear of domains like "lunk-o-rama", FetishPiles" or "TommysCookmarks".

Again thanks for the help and advice.
:)

I just picked up a few more. :) They came to me while I was running errands. I usually don't do a domain similar to existing domains.

Good luck, and you really should get your ICQ working |jackinthe

Thanks for taking the trouble to help a curious new guy.
:)

Hey Surfin and Linkster could you guys elaborate on the brokering I didn't know there was such an animal.
I have forty domains parked half with Sedo and the other half at Hop.com I'm moveing the ones at hop.com tonight three months is long enought to know we don't match at Sedo my numbers have been been steady for the last 4 or 5 months I'm getting around 7000 views a month with a 16% Clickthrough and the avereage click is 7 cents 5 of the domains get 85% of the clicks.
would it beworth my while to look into a broker? I have probable another 10 that I should park, would a broker deal with that small a number? I did a little googleing, I think I'll give Domain Sponsor a shot

Sleeper - actually some of the number/letter combos (3letter) have sold for some pretty impressive prices so I wouldnt say they are of no value - if someone is willing to pay in the thousands for those then my guess is that they are of value to someone :)

TPat - when I talk about brokering I kinda lump all of the services like SEDO, etc into one ball of wax - there are a few brokering services that do all of the pushing for you but they tend to take a much bigger cut of the sell price as they are actively doing things to push for you. I would use those types of brokers for extremely high end type domains - although Ive always just dome my own and let someone like SEDO handle the transactions - and they are one of the good ones for parking. There are a few better - Ill get together a little list for ya

What Linkster said. I've always found brokering domains a very fluid situation. So my advice today probably wouldn't work for you tomorrow unless you stayed on top by doing tons of research.