I regularly see people discuss the possibility of domain registrar front running. In fact, I’ve written about this topic before. By and large, I can’t imagine any reputable domain registrars doing this today for many reasons.
Front-running accusations often stem from someone searching for a domain name at a registrar, seeing that it’s available, choosing not to register it, and later finding it has been registered when they check again. Whois privacy complicates this because the actual registrant may not be shown. In fact, with some Whois privacy services, it can look like the domain name is owned by the registrar itself. In addition, default registrar landing pages can also muddy the waters.
When it comes to popular trends, people should not wait to register their domain names any longer than necessary. Popular trend domain names are searched by many people, particularly domain investors who might register large swaths of domain names in one swoop.
For instance, AI, AGI, Agentic, Agents, GPT, and many other artificial intelligence-related domain names are in very high demand right now. Some domain investors are registering dozens or even hundreds of keyword domain names they think will be in demand. This is perfectly legitimate, and it should serve as a reminder to not let trend domain names sit in a shopping cart for too long.
AI tools are helping people discover domain names that may have value now or in the future. These tools are good at identifying large lists of domain names that are purchased quickly in bulk. A trending domain name that is available this morning might be registered later on in the day as people hunt for domain names to purchase. It’s not front running, but it can be frustrating.
I completely agree.
Out of curiosity, did you recently search for a domain potentially containing a “trending” keyword or abbreviation related to AI and found that it was already taken?
I have personally been registering quite a few domains relating to “mcp” and “agentic” over the past week or so.
Bought a few and watched some get registered by others.
Actually happened to me about a week ago. I was waivering on a trending market name. Even put it in the cart only to find out that two hours later the name was registered.
Coincidence? Frontrunning? You decide but your post and warnings to investors are spot on here IMO
Think it – see its available – and Do Not hesitate – Buy it
In other words its your idea Protect IT!
-SB
I use whois….and then clear up the cookies.
So no one knows my tracks