The names still appear available when checking through Network Solutions, but other registrars show the names as unavailable, and registered to Network Solutions.
[slashdot.org...]
One person claims that they contacted ICANN, and the response was that although they believe it to be an unethical business practice, it is legal and there is nothing they can do to stop it.
I just checked some of the domains that were mentioned in the forum where this was discovered. They are currently shown as not registered.
Hoax? Or did Network Solutions shut it off as soon as the publicity hit?
We have started protecting all domain name searches at Network Solutions by holding the searched domains for our customers for a short period of time before releasing them. This gives our customers the opportunity to register names later without fear that the name will be registered by a “Front Runner.”
The problem with this analogy is that... people doing searches for domain names are NOT your customers.
We are not front running. “ Front Runners” are people who register domain names known to have been searched, for the purpose of monetizing them and then selling them at inflated prices either directly to the customer who searched for the domain or through aftermarket channels.
Yes, NS, you are front runners, but of a more efficient sort! The only difference is that, as a high volume registrar, you can register new domains at an infitismal per-unit cost, placing you at an advantage over other front-runners. Automating the process with anything you capture through your search window gives you yet another advantage - as the searchers give you directly the "domain names known to have been searched". One registering a domain name does not want to wait 24hrs to register a domain name with another better or cheaper registrar - and where does it say that the search-generated registration expires in 24hrs? - the whois record on a "captured" domain name indicates that it is registered for one year. Lastly, the price you put on the practice doesn't make you any different - your very studied "register all searches" tactic is little more than a registrar abusing his advantage (as registrar) to exercise practically pre-emptive coercion - because the searcher will be obliged to return to you.
For new perspective, replace "our customer" in the quotes above with "searcher". Then try to call it an "ethical practice".
[edited by: Josefu at 8:05 am (utc) on Jan. 10, 2008]
That's what always gets me in these situations. Somebody WAS PAID to actually think this up.
:-)
1. If the goal of Network Solutions is to increase market share:
Lower the price of all domain registrations to $4.95. Turn the "protection" off. You will have a substantial and sustainable growth as long as you have competitive price structure of your products. You would double your customers/registrations for less than 50% price reduction ($9.00 per year now).
2. If you would like to distinguish your services offering quality products and unique tools:
Still lower the fees. Make great tools available to customers where they can choose from (including the "protection").
Provide clear information on how your services work.
[edited by: dBook at 9:57 am (utc) on Jan. 10, 2008]
...
Quick question to those who (might) test this.
Which'd prove this sorry excuse of 'protecting the customer' is just B$ and a fallacy in general.
In its current practice:
1.: Webmaster A looks up a domain name through NetSol's WHOIS.
2.: NetSol grabs it for 5 (?) days
3.: Webmaster A doesn't register the domain just yet
4.: Webmaster B dreams of this domain name too ( even if not checking through NetSol, WHOIS shows they have it )
5.: Either way, Webmaster B goes to NetSol which has put it on hold... and... Registers it ahead of Webmaster A
( if it's obviously a good idea for a domain name - such as recent news, new tech related keywords, etc. - you can exchange Webmaster B with Domainer A through Z )
...
At least in this current, FFA mode.
Did I get this right?
We have started protecting all domain name searches at Network Solutions by holding the searched domains for our customers for a short period of time before releasing them.
Record expires on 08-Jan-2009.
Record created on 08-Jan-2008.
These two quotes above simply don't match.
Considering one year to be "short" in this context looks somewhat more than strange, doesn't it?
Remember the legendary "Site Finder" fiasco, where VeriSign, registrar of the .com and .net domains back then in 2003, created a "service" that would redirect users who mistyped domain names to a page full of paid advertisements?
So now we apparently got a similar service. Thank you.
Kind regards,
R.
Offer this service (reserve up to 100 names for five days) for specific customers who either have a dedicated account for this service, or who have an existing account for another service.
This would be a welcome bonus for existing customers and possibly a useful service to others.
How would this work? Simple - it should only be switched on if searches are conducted whilst logged in.
Kaled.
Now the next time I need to register a dot com name I can just do so at my favorite registrar, and if the dot net, dot org, dot us, etc etc is available I'll just tell my bot to 'look it up' at NETSOL once every five days. That way all those alternate domains will be permanently tied up and I won't have to worry about anyone else registering them. Best of all, it won't cost me a dime.
Brilliant!
<sarcasm off>
It's not like a retail store, as some others here were trying to analogize it to. NetSol does not have exclusive right to the merchandise as provided to them by some supplier.
The only exception is a grace period for expired domains. That is fair.
I hope there are court cases around this. Someone should set them up, have them cause damages and have the ACLU sue. Or perhaps a class action.
1. Their best option is to just turn the whole thing off before webmasters north and south commit their entire company to handling a PR nightmare.
OR
2. Their second best option is to offer held domains as an option to logged in users with password protection.
Of course option #2 still is completely unethical but it would be a good PR compromise...
Of course now that CEO Champ Mitchell has publicly blasted ICANN for not taking domain tasting seriously (his justification for enabling the process), maybe ICANN will instead take some action against NetSol for this ridiculous scam.
[edited by: Murdoch at 4:12 pm (utc) on Jan. 10, 2008]
*smirk*
...
As g1smd said ( even without, but especially with ) a few botnets assigned to this task, they'll have hundreds of millions of domains faked as 'dropped' or 'shown interest for' within days, with the probability to wipe out the funds of hordes of tasters and more shady domainers who don't adapt to these new factors ( jumping on domains that will never produce their own cost ).
[/end fantasy]
I ate too much chocolate.
For my sober opinion see my prev. post instead.
[edited by: Silicon at 6:26 pm (utc) on Jan. 10, 2008]
What could Network Solutions do?
They could start with offering domains at competitive prices. They could finish by being forthright in their business acumen.
I must admit that I changed to Godaddy years ago. I was attracted by the price and, for that reason, tolerant of all the screens of advertising which are requisite (to withstand) before being able enter card details.
Then Network Solutions also littered their purchase path those advertising screens selling more crap. Reasonably, I assumed they had similarly implemented the cheap domains model. Oh no. They are still THE rip-off of the internet.
How does NetSol even survive in the market at all, you may ask?
I think this thread highlights how they are attempting to survive.
Apologies if this post seems harsh, but it is an honest (and in my view neutral) consumer driven opinion.
This is simply the type of company Network Solutions has always been and always will be. Unethical and anti-consumer. Anyone who does business with them is a fool.
I second that. You may recall Network Solution's infamous SiteFinder, by which they abused their authority over .com and .net names to direct mistyped domain name requests to their page that contained advertisements.
How does NetSol even survive in the market at all, you may ask?
Resistance to change on the part of users, and the quickly-evaporating mis-perception that they provide the best and highest quality of service.
I've come to realize that the latter is not true over a period of years, as their service and ethics have deteriorated.
I was one of the ones who was resistant to change, but I overcame that years ago.
They were once the only game in town. At this point, they are an anachronism.
How does NetSol even survive in the market at all, you may ask?
Their offerings on their storefront, their PR releases, and their being acquired
by 2 different VCs in 2 different years ought to give one an idea.
I guess their business model works. Otherwise, they wouldn't last this long,
given their tumultous history.
And no, domain registrations aren't their primary offerings anymore.
David
If you're a Network Solutions customer, this is a good thing to protect your pending purchase with the minor exception of the poor implementation that would let any NetSol customer snap up your domain.
If you're NOT a NetSol customers, STAY OFF NETWORK SOLUTIONS!
Why in the hell are you searching for domains on NetSol and then going to GoDaddy or where ever you go to get a better deal after the fact?
It makes NO FREAKING SENSE to do what people are doing making all the complaints and whining.
If you're a GoDaddy or Moniker customer (or whatever) do your domain searches there and stay away from NetSol and it's a very big fat non-issue.
Sheesh.
I swear people lose their minds for no reason over the silliest nonsense.
That's why I said I was contacting GD to try to get them to implement something similar on their site. Guess this is Netsol's way of punishing people who use their interface to search and then buy elsewhere rather than fix the real reason people tend not to buy there - the prices they charge and poor service they provide. Until then, I guess Excell + GD search will have to suffice.
My guess is, once the word is out that they are doing this, people will do as IncrediBill suggested... and Netsol will see a reduction in traffic (and hopefully the bottomline).
[edited by: ZydoSEO at 6:49 am (utc) on Jan. 11, 2008]
This story is now on Yahoo's Most Popular list.
The story has just hit the popular press, thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Not an extensive article, but it does add the fact that this had been in testing for three weeks before being rolled-out generally.
The story will probably be everywhere in syndication over the weekend, and then will hit the weekly "tech pages" of many newspapers.
I hope they are wearing their waders at NetSol.
Why in the hell are you searching for domains on NetSol and then going to GoDaddy or where ever you go to get a better deal after the fact?
I can think of 2 reasons right off the bat:
1) I like their UI for searching domains better than anyone else. I can enter a bunch of domains at a time, whereas at GoDaddy (where I usually buy them) I can only enter one at a time
2) Someone may be out comparison shopping different packages...say they're looking for a web hosting package as well as domains...so to see what the 'total cost' is they search the domain, add their hosting, whatever, then get to the checkout to compare companies pricing for the 'package deal'
Regardless of the reason...they should have a warning on their website. I was searching for domains for a new client the other night and now they're all tied up for a few days because of these shenangians.
After weeks of testing, Network Solutions LLC began this week to grab names that people search for on its Web site but don't immediately register."
Great advertisement for NetSol too:
"the person who made the search can buy it directly from the company for $35 a year — a few times more than what many of its rivals charge. "
[edited by: Josefu at 8:15 pm (utc) on Jan. 11, 2008]
Searched domains (in the NS site) still turn up free in WhoIs after a NS search.
That's always been the case. They show as free when doing a search on Network Solutions's site. You have to go to ANOTHER registrar's search for it to show as not-available.
In other words, NS alters their search to show "available", even though the domain name is, in fact, registered to Network Solutions. "Available" doesn't mean "not registered". It means it's available in NS's inventory.
UPDATE: I think they've halted their scam. Searched domains (in the NS site) still turn up free in WhoIs after a NS search.
Josefu, I think Network Solutions has put some filters in place to try to cut down on 'bogus searches' ... or, more accurately, to try to improve the quality of the names they are front-running.
I just searched REFRIGERATORSNAPPING.COM on their WHOIS, and milliseconds later it showed as "Reserved".
Other, available, "more-bogus" names were not reserved after a search.
.
edit: typo /edit
[edited by: Laker at 9:02 pm (utc) on Jan. 11, 2008]
1) I like their UI for searching domains better than anyone else. I can enter a bunch of domains at a time, whereas at GoDaddy (where I usually buy them) I can only enter one at a time
Ah, so you think it's OK to freeload off of one site's resources to pick domains and then give the business to another site?
If you like their site, pay them for it, buy a domain there.
Don't complain that NetSol reserved the file for you when you hop over to the discount domain sites that can't afford to build that nice interface you found on NetSol.
2) Someone may be out comparison shopping different packages...say they're looking for a web hosting package as well as domains...so to see what the 'total cost' is they search the domain, add their hosting, whatever, then get to the checkout to compare companies pricing for the 'package deal'
Comparison shopping?
Don't even go there because you don't start at the most expensive site looking for a 'deal'.
I'm always amazed at how many defenders these big corps have. They screw you right and left and finally you have a community where people can give them the grief they have earned and they get unpaid defense.
Who did they screw?
Do you use NetSol for domains?
If not, they certainly didn't screw you!
If you don't like their prices, how they do business, or get screwed by them you go elsewhere and you don't do business with them and they ultimately screw themselves.
As a matter of fact, most people posting don't buy anything with NetSol because it's too expensive, but NetSol has some cool tools noted above so basically all the freeloaders using the cool tools that never purchase from NetSol are complaining which is idiotic.
I'm not defending what they do, just pointing out the complete idiocy of the discussion.
a) People don't start BARGAIN shopping at the most expensive store so that argument doesn't fly about starting shopping at NetSol. Show me any WalMart shoppers that start looking for deals at Norstrom's and Macy's before heading back to WalMart and we'll talk.
b) People shouldn't be wasting resources of a company they never intend to do business with just because you like the tools, so that's just idiotic getting upset because that have the equivalent of a "captcha" to stop resource abuse. However, with that said, I agree that there should be some sort of warning, but I think $35 domain name prices are warning enough to shop elsewhere so if you stay you're basically implying you'll spend $35 per domain.
c) NetSol can do whatever they want for legitimate customers which would appreciate protecting domains they browse, it's very cool actually. I'll bet a REAL company trying to find a domain to brand would prefer a little protection while they make a decision and $35 per domain is a meaningless amount of money to pay if you've got $5M invested in a new startup looking for a dot com.
[edited by: incrediBILL at 10:16 pm (utc) on Jan. 11, 2008]
REFRIGERATORSNAPPING.COM
Well, that's one way to lose weight! (Couldn't resist a little levity.)
I think Network Solutions has put some filters in place to try to cut down on 'bogus searches'
Darn. No more swear words.
Don't complain that NetSol reserved the file for you
But they DON'T reserve the domain for YOU. they reserve the sale for THEMSELVES.
Anybody else can still snap it up, as long as they are prepared to spend $35.
People don't start BARGAIN shopping at the most expensive store
But they might start shopping at the only store they know about - then change their mind when they become better informed.
OK, so we don't see NSOL ads on the Superbowl. At this point, I suppose the average person is more familiar with GD than NSOL. But, still, there are going to be those that ask some friend that once built a web site who to use, and they might just tell them NSOL.
They go up to the nice store display, stick their hand into the mystery box to feel the fine fabric, (OK, I know the analogy is a stretch...), and... SNAP ... the mousetrap goes off on their hand!
They should have known better, right?
IncrediBill, you have awfully little sympathy for anybody not as well-informed as you.
