Domain Testing offered by Registrars?

[financialtraffic]

I heard a while back that some registrars are now offering a traffic testing grace period before you commit to registering a new domain. Is this true? Or are some people simply registering a domain, testing it and then deleting it if they find the traffic doesn't meet a certain level.

The reason I ask is this:

Once in a great while I do hand register domains that I feel have a chance at becoming a unique or valuable brand in the future.

I had my eye on a particular domain. I checked it via several whois services and confirmed in my notes that it was available.

The next day I checked again, before I was going to register the domain, and I noticed it was now taken! The Whois information had not yet posted, so I waited a couple of days.

When the information was posted I saw that sure enough, the domain was registered just a day after I first discovered it. The domain was pointed to a parking service.

The strange part is I checked the name again a few days later and poof, it was available again.

Can anyone explain what might be going on?

 

[financialtraffic]

Which registrars offer this service? Is this a special type of service you have to qualify or pay for?

 

[Anthony Ng]

I had monitored one with 3 different registrants just in 2 weeks before I eventually grabbed it for my client.

 

[Zoobar]

Someone regged the name to test for traffic and found it not traffic worthy and cancelled the registration within the registrar grace period for full refund.

All registrars can do this, not all registrars extend this grace period to their customers.

My guess at numbers.
100,000+ .com registrations per day right now
100,000+ .com cancellations (full refund) per day right now.

 

[actnow]

I believe ENom offers it to their ETPs.

They charge you $ 0.25 cancellation fee if you do it within 5 days.
????

 

[Anthony Ng]

I believe ENom offers it to their ETPs.

Are you sure? So I too (as an eNom ETP) have the power of the big guys? I could afford 25 cents per name (i.e. $25 for testing 100 domains).

 

[checknme]

Are you sure? So I too (as an eNom ETP) have the power of the big guys? I could afford 25 cents per name (i.e. $25 for testing 100 domains).

Very interested in this answer as well.

 

[Mr. Pim]

indeed very interesting..

 

[i m gr8]

Yes Enom offers this and I have just made a script to do this . You cant do it from your account area you can only do that through their API .
This is not limited to only ETP , it is available to All Resellers.