Domain tasting
Encyclopedia
Domain tasting is the practice of a domain name
registrant using the five-day "grace period" (the Add Grace Period or AGP) at the beginning of the registration of an ICANN
-regulated second-level domain
to test the marketability of the domain. During this period, when a registration must be fully refunded by the domain name registry
, a cost-benefit analysis
is conducted by the registrant on the viability of deriving income from advertisements
being placed on the domain's website
.
Domains that are deemed "successes" and retained in a registrant's portfolio often represent domains that were previously used and have since expired, misspellings of other popular sites, or generic terms that may receive type-in traffic
. These domains are usually still active in search engine
s and other hyperlink
s and therefore receive enough traffic such that advertising revenue exceeds the cost of the registration. The registrant may also derive revenue from eventual sale of the domain, at a premium, to a third party or the previous owner.
In January 2008, ICANN proposed several possible solutions, including that the exemption on transaction costs (US$ 0.20) during the five-day grace period be abandoned, which would effectively make the practice of domain tasting not viable. The ICANN operating plan and budget for Fiscal Year 2009 included a section intended to deal with the problem of Domain tasting. The transaction fee of $0.20 will be applied to domains deleted in the Add Grace Period where the number of such domains exceeds 10% of the net new registrations or 50 domains, whichever is greater. The "net new registrations" is defined as the number of new registrations less the number of domains deleted in the Add Grace Period. The ICANN operating plan and budget was approved at the ICANN board meeting in Paris, France on 26 June 2008.
Starting in April 2009, many top level domains (TLDs) began transitioning from the $0.20 fee for excess domains deleted to implementing a policy resulting in a fee equal to registering the domain, generally several dollars in cost.
ICANN reported in August 2009, that prior to implementing excess domain deletion charges, the peak month for domain tastings was over 15 million domain names. After the $0.20 fee was implemented, this dropped to around 2 million domain names per month. As a result of the further increase in charges for excess domain deletions, implemented starting April 2009, the number of domain tastings dropped to below 60 thousand per month. However, these statistics only represent reports from the generic TLDs; ICANN does not set policy for the country code TLDs (ccTLD).
Domain tasting should not be confused with domain kiting, which is the process of deleting a domain name during the five-day grace period and immediately re-registering it for another five-day period. This process is repeated any number of times with the end result of having the domain registered without ever actually paying for it.
In April 2006, out of 35 million registrations, only a little more than 2 million were permanent or actually purchased. By February 2007, the CEO of Go Daddy
reported that of 55.1 million domain names registered, 51.5 million were canceled and refunded just before the 5 day grace period expired and only 3.6 million domain names were actually kept.
Some claim domain name registries
such as VeriSign
and the Public Interest Registry
have turned a blind eye to the practice as it has dramatically increased the number of registrations secured and renewed. However, there are proposals by registries to introduce measures that would reduce or eliminate the practice.
In January 2008, Network Solutions
was publicly accused of this practice when the company began reserving all domain names searched on their website for five days, a practice known as domain name front running
.
Google
said in 2008 that their AdSense
program will now look for domain names that are repeatedly registered and dropped. They say they will drop these domains (but they don't mention banning the users) from the AdSense program.
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
registrant using the five-day "grace period" (the Add Grace Period or AGP) at the beginning of the registration of an ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
-regulated second-level domain
Second-level domain
In the Domain Name System hierarchy, a second-level domain is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain . For example, in example.com, example is the second-level domain of the .com TLD....
to test the marketability of the domain. During this period, when a registration must be fully refunded by the domain name registry
Domain name registry
A domain name registry is a database of all domain names registered in a top-level domain. A registry operator, also called a network information center , is the part of the Domain Name System of the Internet that keeps the database of domain names, and generates the zone files which convert...
, a cost-benefit analysis
Cost-benefit analysis
Cost–benefit analysis , sometimes called benefit–cost analysis , is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project for two purposes: to determine if it is a sound investment , to see how it compares with alternate projects...
is conducted by the registrant on the viability of deriving income from advertisements
Internet marketing
Internet marketing, also known as digital marketing, web marketing, online marketing, search marketing or e-marketing, is referred to as the marketing of products or services over the Internet...
being placed on the domain's website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
.
Domains that are deemed "successes" and retained in a registrant's portfolio often represent domains that were previously used and have since expired, misspellings of other popular sites, or generic terms that may receive type-in traffic
Type-in traffic
Type-in traffic is a term describing visitors landing at a web site by entering a keyword or phrase in the web browser's address bar Type-in traffic is a term describing visitors landing at a web site by entering a keyword or phrase (with no spaces or a hyphen in place of a space) in the web...
. These domains are usually still active in search engine
Web search engine
A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...
s and other hyperlink
Hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
s and therefore receive enough traffic such that advertising revenue exceeds the cost of the registration. The registrant may also derive revenue from eventual sale of the domain, at a premium, to a third party or the previous owner.
In January 2008, ICANN proposed several possible solutions, including that the exemption on transaction costs (US$ 0.20) during the five-day grace period be abandoned, which would effectively make the practice of domain tasting not viable. The ICANN operating plan and budget for Fiscal Year 2009 included a section intended to deal with the problem of Domain tasting. The transaction fee of $0.20 will be applied to domains deleted in the Add Grace Period where the number of such domains exceeds 10% of the net new registrations or 50 domains, whichever is greater. The "net new registrations" is defined as the number of new registrations less the number of domains deleted in the Add Grace Period. The ICANN operating plan and budget was approved at the ICANN board meeting in Paris, France on 26 June 2008.
Starting in April 2009, many top level domains (TLDs) began transitioning from the $0.20 fee for excess domains deleted to implementing a policy resulting in a fee equal to registering the domain, generally several dollars in cost.
ICANN reported in August 2009, that prior to implementing excess domain deletion charges, the peak month for domain tastings was over 15 million domain names. After the $0.20 fee was implemented, this dropped to around 2 million domain names per month. As a result of the further increase in charges for excess domain deletions, implemented starting April 2009, the number of domain tastings dropped to below 60 thousand per month. However, these statistics only represent reports from the generic TLDs; ICANN does not set policy for the country code TLDs (ccTLD).
Domain tasting should not be confused with domain kiting, which is the process of deleting a domain name during the five-day grace period and immediately re-registering it for another five-day period. This process is repeated any number of times with the end result of having the domain registered without ever actually paying for it.
Controversy
The practice is controversial as practitioners typically register and delete many hundreds of thousands of domain names under this practice, with these temporary registrations far exceeding the number of domain names actually purchased.In April 2006, out of 35 million registrations, only a little more than 2 million were permanent or actually purchased. By February 2007, the CEO of Go Daddy
Go Daddy
Go Daddy is an Internet domain registrar and Web hosting company that also sells e-business related software and services. In 2010, it reached more than 45 million domain names under management. Go Daddy is currently the largest ICANN-accredited registrar in the world, and is four times the size of...
reported that of 55.1 million domain names registered, 51.5 million were canceled and refunded just before the 5 day grace period expired and only 3.6 million domain names were actually kept.
Some claim domain name registries
Domain name registry
A domain name registry is a database of all domain names registered in a top-level domain. A registry operator, also called a network information center , is the part of the Domain Name System of the Internet that keeps the database of domain names, and generates the zone files which convert...
such as VeriSign
VeriSign
Verisign, Inc. is an American company based in Dulles, Virginia that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains and the .cc and .tv country-code...
and the Public Interest Registry
Public Interest Registry
Public Interest Registry is a not-for-profit corporation created by the Internet Society in 2002 to manage the .org top-level domain. It took over the operation of the domain from VeriSign on 1 January 2003. Afilias manages the technical operations of the .org registry under a contract with the...
have turned a blind eye to the practice as it has dramatically increased the number of registrations secured and renewed. However, there are proposals by registries to introduce measures that would reduce or eliminate the practice.
In January 2008, Network Solutions
Network Solutions
Network Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
was publicly accused of this practice when the company began reserving all domain names searched on their website for five days, a practice known as domain name front running
Domain name front running
Domain name front running is the practice whereby a domain name registrar uses insider information to register domains for the purpose of re-selling them or earning revenue via ads placed on the domain's landing page. By registering the domains, the registrar locks out other potential registrars...
.
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
said in 2008 that their AdSense
AdSense
Google AdSense which is a program run by Google Inc. allows publishers in the Google Network of content sites to automatically serve text, image, video, and rich media adverts that are targeted to site content and audience. These adverts are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google, and they...
program will now look for domain names that are repeatedly registered and dropped. They say they will drop these domains (but they don't mention banning the users) from the AdSense program.
Reverse domain tasting
A number of registrars routinely change a domain's nameservers to those of their own, or a parking service when a domain has gone past its expiration or renewal date. Often, domains will still resolve for up to 30 days or more after they have technically expired. The advantage of this 'reverse tasting' is that the registrars or parking services can determine which domains have traffic before they are deleted, and hence maintain a list of domains that they might re-register (or even transfer) after the deletion date.External links
- Domain Name Marketplace Workshop - Global policy forum held to discuss domain tasting issues
- The Closing Window: A Historical Analysis of Domain Tasting - CircledID featured article on domain tasting
- Entrepreneurs profit from internet domain loophole - CBC.ca article on domain tasting