You Judge - Dirty Domain Tactics from Network Solutions?

Writing by Brick Marketing on Thursday, 10 of January , 2008 at 7:30 pm

People have been questioning the ethical standards of Network Solutions of late and while I take most of what I read with a pinch of salt, an article on Marketing Pilgrim got me intrigued. The article provided a link to an article by Bill Hartzer documented exactly what happened:

After performing a domain name search using the Network Solutions search form, Bill shows an actual example of his search for an available domain. A few minutes later he is able to show that Network Solutions has registered it, forcing him to purchase it from them if he wants to own the domain.

This bothered him because he located the domain at another registrar for a significantly lower rate, but since Network Solutions has already registered the domain Bill wants, he is forced to pay the $34.99 that Network Solutions charges if he wants to own the rights to use the domain.

I read through his article and his evidence was compelling, so I decided to check it out what was going on. I ran a few obscure domain names and can confirm that they were snapped up by Network Solutions.

Network Solutions claims that this is to protect their users from the process called domain kiting or front running. That is, the registration of domain names that people search for on unscrupulous registrars. It begs the question, if this is a service, why don’t they advertise it? Why do they charge such a ridiculously inflated price for protecting a domain? In fairness, it should be noted that they only hold the domain name for a short period of time, but perhaps long enough for some people to cough up the $35 in protection money.

Is this service by Network Solutions ethical or not? You be the judge.

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Category: Website Marketing

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