“We’ll Pay the Ransom” to Network Solutions for domain names
Let’s say that you want to register a domain name, so you go to the Network Solutions Web site to see if the name is available. If the domain name has not yet been taken, Network Solutions will register it for themselves behind your back, forcing you either to buy the name from them immediately (at their high price of $34.99), or wait four days until they release it again (at which point someone else may be able to get it before you).
If this happens to you, we imagine that you might feel something like this:
We’re introducing a new “We’ll Pay the Ransom” promotion, wherein we will pay Network Solutions the $34.99 necessary to register the domain name for you. Or, if you’ve already paid it, we’ll credit your account $34.99. Either way, just sign up to transfer the domain name to us and a year of our Web hosting.
Or, if you just want to transfer the domain name but not sign up for Web hosting, then you can sign up to transfer the domain name to us and we’ll put it on our watch list. We’ll register the domain on your behalf when Network Solutions releases it, then transfer it over to us.
We have full details available on this page.
on Friday, March 7, 2008 at 7:22 pm (Pacific) Kiyan wrote:
That’s great to know I can add tigertech to my clean “whois” search list.
I think GoDaddy sells domain search information, too – I did a search on a name, it was available, checked back 16 hrs later, and it was parked with a message that I could buy the domain for a $60 agent fee plus commission!
good luck on the Network solutions pay the ransom promotion..
– Kiyan
http://ruby-ray.com
on Friday, March 7, 2008 at 9:29 pm (Pacific) Ken wrote:
Yes, we definitely run a clean WHOIS lookup. Anyone is free to use our lookup without fear of front-running, tasting, sales calls, etc! You can find it here:
http://whois.tigertech.net
We’re not sure if GoDaddy is doing something similar to Network Solutions or not. Sometimes when a domain name gets registered after you search for it, it’s just a coincidence, but sometimes those coincidences sure do seem unlikely! However, we imagine that if GoDaddy was doing such a thing consistently then there probably would be a bigger outcry against them than we’ve seen.
In any case, thanks for the comment and the kind words!