Ask HN: Do registrars sell searches?

3 points by whistlerbrk 10y ago ↗ HN

I've been searching for a particular address frequently over the past couple of weeks on what I consider to be a reputable registrar and to my surprise the primary domain I've been considering was snapped up 3 days ago by a squatter.

Does anyone have any insight into this, ways to avoid it? If it wasn't my registar who looked at my search and sold it, who could it have been? It seems too much of a coincidence.

1 comment

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_RPM 10y ago ↗

I wouldn't be surprised. If I were to do it, I would set up a false "domain registar" page and log all searches and review them and register the domains of unique domains in order to block the original searcher in order to sell them it. It's kind of a grimy thing to do.