A domain at NameBargain suddenly appeared under my name!!!

[devolution]

:embarrass :embarrass :embarrass :embarrass :embarrass

Something's wrong at NameBargain.....
....seriously wrong


I received a renewal notice today from NameBargain about a domain. I usually get a lot of renewal notices from Register.com/NameBargain as I have a lot of domains there.

HOWEVER - this was for a domain I never registered.

I thought perhaps they might have sent it to my email by mistake.



BUT - I checked out the Whois details, and shock horror it's in my name!!! What's going on?

Surely this is weird. They've obviously messed up here, but I don't have a clue who it 'used' to belong to, if it did anyway.

 

[dotsofdomains]

Hey, I want some of those free registrations, too!!

 

So what is the opposite of domain hijacking?

-t

 

[David G]

Had this happen several times involving Registrars.com, which was later purchased by NetSol.

Could never figure out how it happened. On one name reg'd to me the alleged real owner called me several times asking how I had the name, which I said must be a registrar screwup. He never did get it reversed by NetSol, not surprisingly.

I did not want to simply give it to him as I thought perhaps he had one of my names in error. He also did not want to pay me a reg fee to get the name.

A few of these registrar error names are still owned by me as I ended up renewing them, 2 were renewed in error.

 

[flex]

Originally posted by RealNames
Had this happen several times involving Registrars.com, which was later purchased by NetSol.

Could never figure out how it happened. On one name reg'd to me the alleged real owner called me several times asking how I had the name, which I said must be a registrar screwup. He never did get it reversed by NetSol, not surprisingly.

I did not want to simply give it to him as I thought perhaps he had one of my names in error. He also did not want to pay me a reg fee to get the name.

A few of these registrar error names are still owned by me as I ended up renewing them, 2 were renewed in error.

hmm, possible flaw with their database?

 

[mole]

Moral of the story. Always lock your names (a feature still not possible with .info and .biz now unfortunately), do screen shots of your whois, and don't deal with a registrar with sloppy technology.

I think in this area, eNom reins supreme.

 

[flex]

Originally posted by mole
Moral of the story. Always lock your names (a feature still not possible with .info and .biz now unfortunately), do screen shots of your whois, and don't deal with a registrar with sloppy technology.

I think in this area, eNom reins supreme.

i didn't expect domain lock comes in handy this way before. anyhow, thanks for sharing

 

Would it be possible that former domain owner push to the wrong user , for example, he was intended to push to user name revolution but push to devolution instead...

 

[devolution]

Pushing isn't possible at NameBargain - you can only transfer domains to other people by upgrading to a full Register.com account, and I've done that before - you have to send faxes and stuff and everyone has to sign them and send them back.

But as the domain is now in my name, it must indicate some kind of database error.

If so, this is quite worrying as Register.com/NameBargain.com use the same database.

Originally posted by goh
Would it be possible that former domain owner push to the wrong user , for example, he was intended to push to user name revolution but push to devolution instead...

 

[Anthony Ng]

This database error could be just an isolate incident. (We all know that NameBargain.com does not have a particularly professional staff.) However, I would strongly recommend AGAINST renewing these heaven-sent names (unless "in error"); actually, you should either report this to the registrar or don't touch on them at all.
Imagine a relatively small amount of money (say $1,000) was mistakenly deposited into your bank account, what would you do? (Of course, if it is a million or so, I would pack my baggage and vapourize right away.)

 

Originally posted by mole
Moral of the story. Always lock your names (a feature still not possible with .info and .biz now unfortunately)[clip]

Domain locking works fine for .info and .biz domains at OpenSRS.

-t

 

[mole]

Originally posted by thewitt

Domain locking works fine for .info and .biz domains at OpenSRS.

hmm, anyone knows why this is not the case for eNom? It does all the .com/.net/.org fine, but there is no option for this on .info and .biz names.

I remember Neulevel was promoting this lock service as part of a value add security measure many moons ago. Heard nothing since.

 

Sounds like eNom needs to update their domain management control panel. The registry certainly supports locking today.

-t

 

[krisblade]

it happened to me once, with Stargate.com

One day I checked my list, and voila!, a new domain name that I never reg.