# Domain registration - someone trying to steal mine!



## C3Online (Oct 17, 2007)

Quick and important question.

I received an e-mail this morning from a Domain Registration company in Hong Kong, now at first I didn't know if they were legit, but I did my bit of research and found they were a legit website, etc.

Anyway, they were informing me that someone was trying to register my domain name with endings like .eu, .com.cn, .cn, .hk and so on. (I went to GoDaddy.com and found that these endings were between $20 to $50 dollars per, not to mention I couldn't apply for some since they are registered with other countries)

I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem happen, and is it merely a scam that this company is trying to deliberately get me to purchase these other domain names. Please get back to me, this has never happened and I've had this domain name for years now.


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

I registered my domain with godaddy, they gave the opportunity to buy the other extensions and I declined. The next few hours they were all registered. I guess it could create a problem if they are looking for site.com which is your site and actually get site.cn which is there site. If both of you are selling shirts then I guess it could get confusing but if you did not register them it is not illegal and they are not trying to steal your domain. That is how some make money. They run out and grab a domain of some big company then list it for sale for big bucks. If you want it bad enough you will pay for it.

Katrina


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## C3Online (Oct 17, 2007)

Yeah well if they are thinking that (holding on to it), then they are going to be holding onto it for a while, because I'm not rolling in the dough, lol.

But it is really BS that people can do that, thats like someone stealing your original idea and taking it, tweaking it a bit, then selling to someone else.


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## jiarby (Feb 8, 2007)

it's the name registrars that are doing it. Google "domain kiting" or "domain tasting".


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## C3Online (Oct 17, 2007)

What is that exactly, in lay-terms?


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## PositiveDave (Dec 1, 2008)

Domain parking seems to be popular, buy a domain that's close to a popular one, then load it with adwords and wait for someone to click on them.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

C3Online said:


> I received an e-mail this morning from a Domain Registration company in Hong Kong, now at first I didn't know if they were legit, but I did my bit of research and found they were a legit website, etc.
> 
> Anyway, they were informing me that someone was trying to register my domain name with endings like .eu, .com.cn, .cn, .hk and so on. (I went to GoDaddy.com and found that these endings were between $20 to $50 dollars per, not to mention I couldn't apply for some since they are registered with other countries)


Legit website or not, this is just a sales solicitation letter. Someone wanting those other extensions don't "try" to register them. They either go to a site like godaddy and buy them or not. It's not like you have to apply for them. 

They are just trying to get you to buy the other extensions from them. 

Like it or not, someone will always be able to register your name with other extensions unless you have a global copyright like Coke, etc.

The only extension that really matters is .com. If you have that, all the other ones are insignificant.


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## C3Online (Oct 17, 2007)

Splathead, thank you, you put my mind at rest!


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

C3Online said:


> Quick and important question.
> 
> I received an e-mail this morning from a Domain Registration company in Hong Kong, now at first I didn't know if they were legit, but I did my bit of research and found they were a legit website, etc.
> 
> ...


Just to back up what Joe said, the email you got is just a solicitation spam. I get dozens of them every month.

They want you to register every single domain extension through them, so they send the scary sounding emails. Sometimes they send them as faxes or even as snail mail letters.

Also watch out for letters that come via snail mail that ask you to renew your domain name or remind you that your domain name is expiring. Some companies have used that to trick people into transferring their domain to a different registrar. Almost all (if not all) domain name renewals come via email now directly from your registrar.


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## sailorpatp (Jun 19, 2008)

I also get a snail mail letter that looks like a invoice  for a submitting service that supposedly submits your site to search engines. Don't fall for it! It comes from someone searching the info of the owner of the registration of the website unless you opt for the hidden registration. And of course someone in Nigeria wants to give me several million $$ to help them get some inheritance out of the bank.


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## rwshirts (Dec 5, 2007)

I just re-registered (bought) 3 domain names with Go Daddy that refer to or have a local sports champion (boxer) in the names, plus I also bought 5 more with different extentions. It cost me about $65. I'm hoping I can licence some of his business in the future, so I bought the names now. If he wants them, he can make me an offer.

RW


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

rwshirts said:


> I just re-registered (bought) 3 domain names with Go Daddy that refer to or have a local sports champion (boxer) in the names, plus I also bought 5 more with different extentions. It cost me about $65. I'm hoping I can licence some of his business in the future, so I bought the names now. If he wants them, he can make me an offer.


Hate to burst your bubble, but if he wants it, you'll probably end up having to give it up to him for free. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the group having jurisdiction over these issues, have consistently ruled against cybersquatters and for the person whose name is being exploited.


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## curiousity (Feb 15, 2009)

People these days seems to put in ".com" by habit no matter what you tell them.

I ended up registering several domains, but all were ".com"s and were the equivalent of companynametshirt*s*.com, companynametshirt.com, etc. Just small common mistakes that people might make when typing in your site name. The others become parked domains pointing at my main site.

Just make sure you have your domain to automatically renew with whoever you registered with *AND* that your credit card information that it will be charged to is current (with the company that registered you.)


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