Domain tasting or kiting
What is Domain tasting or Kiting?
Put simply - it is the practice of registering ICANN-regulated top level
domain names for up to five days to test if the domain name can create
a viable income for registrant.
Why?
Money - in a word. There is a “grace period” of five days for each
domain registered. If the domain name is cancelled within this
period then:
- the cost of the domain is refunded
- the domain name is re-released.
During this five day period, the registrants conduct a cost benefit analysis
of how much traffic the domain name receives and the likely advertising
revenue. If the domain is likely to make money then it remains registered
otherwise, it is cancelled - with no strings attached.
It’s a try before you buy scheme - on a large scale.
Where does the traffic for these domains come from?
Some of the domain names are mis-spellings of other site addresses or
generic terms that might be directly typed in or previously registered
names which have lapsed.
Why is it an issue?
This practice is almost at an epidemic level - according to Bob Parsons
of GoDaddy.com the number of registrations in February 2007 was
55.1 million, of those 51.5 million were cancelled within the
5 day grace period. That’s over 93% of registrations.
This means the pool of domain names for people who genuinely
want to register domain names is shrinking.
I have experienced this practic first hand. Iwanted to register
a domain name. I had checked the previous day and it was still available.
I tried to register it the following day only to find it was taken.
Tough luck, you say “everyone knows it is first come first served“.
Fair comment but, on further investigation it appeared to have been
taken by one of the domain tasting companies and sure enough I waited the
5 days, and, low and behold it became available again.
So, all’s well that ends well. Yes, in this case, but what if I had persued the
domain names and perhaps offered money to the domain taster for it? They
would be “quids in” on a domain they probably would have cancelled. I would
be out of pocket, but, with the domain name I wanted.
To date ICANN has introduced no measures to reduce or eliminate this practice.
Let me know your thoughts…
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