Registrars buying and reselling names?

[DomainNames]

Hi is it allowed for Registrars to buy names and resell them? I notice www.mail.com.au with an asking price of $1 million for sale
http://www.netfleet.com.au/index.php?a=d&id=1772

Whats to stop Registrars using their own drop services backordering or snapping names for their own companies / associated business entities and later trying to sell them? Is this drop / snapper service still running? http://www.domainsentry.com.au/

http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2004-04/

4.3 Domain Name Suppliers must not register or renew Domain Names (in advance of a request from a Customer or Registrant) for the purpose of restricting a competitor of the Domain Name Supplier from registering the Domain Name on behalf of the Registrant, or for the purpose of later offering this Domain Name to potential Customers.

There is apparently some registrars offering "premium names" for sale they own themselves.

It would have to be tempting for those with access to the drop/ snapper technology to set up a seperate company or business entity then registar all the good names you can get an the drop and then keep them or resell them if you had access to the technology?

Not saying anyone has done this at all but it would have to tempt some people with the big money now possible from aftersales?

drop and netfleet already have stated they wont and dont do it.. but what about others who have the same snapper technology?

 

[FirstPageResults]

I'm no policy expert but AFAIK as long as the names are come under the close and substancial rule than it's fine to register for themselves, not sure about snapping.. but technically is there any difference?

I think that policy below is to prevent front running which is fair enough.

In regards to selling, I don't see how a registrar selling a name is any different from you or me - hard to prove they registered with the intent to sell.

 

[AndyC]

The owner of mail.com.au appears to be a re-seller, not a registrar. In the case of re-sellers my understanding is that it is free for all and they are allowed to register names as long as they meet normal eligibility requirements. In the case of registrars my understanding is that they can only register domains related to their registrar business / related services. mail.com.au might be ok in that sense anyway.

This understanding is based on a response from auDA to a complaint I made when I registered a domain through Hostess (now Zip Hosting) and in the two days it took for them to actually process the registration the domain was registered by a re-seller of another registrar (this registrar was also however part of Online Growth Solutions).

auDA responded that the re-seller's registration was ok:

I refer to the issue regarding the reseller registering a .au
domain name for their own use. This is permissible under paragraph 4.4 of
the 2004-04 .au Domain Name Suppliers' Code of Practice at
http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2004-04/

That is one reason why I would never search for domain name availability via a re-seller and generally even avoid doing so on registrar sites.

Regarding Drop / Netfleet they both seem to have arrangements with a somehow related party for each where they will catch names if they have no bids on them. In the case of Netfleet's snapper service I remember that you would see these bids suddenly pop up just after the auction finishes i.e. they were hidden bids during the actual action. Not sure if they are still doing this?

Most on this forum didn't seem to care about this but I thought it was a bit sneaky as our own bids on Snapper broadcast to the world an interest in the name but their's did not. I think Drop has clearly stated their policy clearly on this forum before. I do not recall seeing a clear policy from Netfleet on this but could be wrong.

Re 'There is apparently some registrars offering "premium names" for sale they own themselves.' do you have any examples of actual registrars selling domains?

 

[DomainNames]

The owner of mail.com.au appears to be a re-seller, not a registrar. In the case of re-sellers my understanding is that it is free for all and they are allowed to register names as long as they meet normal eligibility requirements. In the case of registrars my understanding is that they can only register domains related to their registrar business / related services. mail.com.au might be ok in that sense anyway.

This understanding is based on a response from auDA to a complaint I made when I registered a domain through Hostess (now Zip Hosting) and in the two days it took for them to actually process the registration the domain was registered by a re-seller of another registrar (this registrar was also however part of Online Growth Solutions).

auDA responded that the re-seller's registration was ok:

I refer to the issue regarding the reseller registering a .au
domain name for their own use. This is permissible under paragraph 4.4 of
the 2004-04 .au Domain Name Suppliers' Code of Practice at
http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2004-04/

That is one reason why I would never search for domain name availability via a re-seller and generally even avoid doing so on registrar sites.

Regarding Drop / Netfleet they both seem to have arrangements with a somehow related party for each where they will catch names if they have no bids on them. In the case of Netfleet's snapper service I remember that you would see these bids suddenly pop up just after the auction finishes i.e. they were hidden bids during the actual action. Not sure if they are still doing this?

Most on this forum didn't seem to care about this but I thought it was a bit sneaky as our own bids on Snapper broadcast to the world an interest in the name but their's did not. I think Drop has clearly stated their policy clearly on this forum before. I do not recall seeing a clear policy from Netfleet on this but could be wrong.

Re 'There is apparently some registrars offering "premium names" for sale they own themselves.' do you have any examples of actual registrars selling domains?

No... with some research you will note webcity / enetica is the same owner, address, people, phone numbers etc... they are Registrars not resellers and they had one of the first snapper / drop systems in place.