A Taste Of Domains: Getting Registered Millions For Free

These methods are referred to as domain kiting and domain tasting. When a domain name is registered and canceled multiple times within the 5 day grace period, the end result is that the registrant will own the name without having to pay for it. This is termed domain kiting. With domain name tasting, the registrant takes advantage of the 5 day grace period to register lots of domain names and then decides which ones perform best. The registrant decides which ones to return and which ones to keep, paying only for the ones kept.

ICANN modified the rules and the charging method in order to stop these actions in August of 2008. In an effort to combat the problem of domain tasting, Google said that they would not put any advertising on domain names that were less than 5 days old. Because Adsense was one of the affiliate programs most often used to make money with domains registered by domain tasters, this in combination with the new ICANN fees had the effect of stopping domain tasting abruptly. Therefore, this change effectively ended domain kiting. The reason was that fees applied to every domain registration. However, this has really only proven to be a minor inconvenience for serious domain tasters.

Because of the high number of domains registered, the cost for deleting domains within a given grace period are not high compared to the costs of doing so. Therefore, domain name tasting is still profitable to the big time players. They just pay their fees and keep on going using other ad companies besides Google Ad Sense. AdBrite is one example. However, it is a problem for small players. For this reason, UK’s Nominet created new regulations and rules to end contracts with registrants who continue this sort of practice. These steps have been fairly effective in halting the practice of abusing the system by employing domain tasting to try out domain names without having to pay for them.

A Message Labs intelligence report dated September 2009 makes it clear that, even though it is still possible to make some money with domain name tasting (at least internationally), the practice is on the decline. The report emphasizes “stopping domain tasting”. This is not completely honest. It’s true that the industry for these methods has decreased, however the phenomenon still occurs. Internationally, domains governed by ICANN still offer some measure of profit for domain name tasters if the technique is used properly. However, it must be done on a large scale and closely monitored to turn a profit.

These maneuvers were known as domain kiting and domain tasting. To put an end to this, Google made the announcement that they would no longer place ads on domain names that were less than five days old. The end of domain tasting is discussed in this report. That is not quite completely correct.

Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a copy writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. InfoServe Media is a Houston web design and web hosting company. Or if you just need a few changes to an existing site, InfoServe Media also offers website maintenance.