Do Domain Registars nick your good domains?

Hi all.
I dont know if any of you have had the same experience, but i am sure some of you have had.
When researching new domain names i generally go to a domain name register site and type in the name i want to see if it has been taken.
I usually have a list of long tail search keywords which i want to see if have been taken for my domains.
I usually keep a list of available names once i have found they have not been taken already.
I did this the other day and when i went back the next day to register them i found that nearly half had been taken!!
These are long tail keyword domains (Like getthebestwashingmachinedeals.com for example) so the chances of them being taken within 12 hours are very slim.
Do you think that the domain registar can see what I typed into the search box and if i didn't register the name right away they registered the name themselves?
This seems to be happening a lot more lately.
Have any of you guys had the same experience?
Be good to get feed back on this.

Some domain registrars, such as Network Solutions and GoDaddy, have been known to participate in what is known as Domain Frontrunning.

They use user search data and register what they think are good domains with good keywords and have value. Then you have to buy the domain from them or they park it to earn revenue.

That's why I am very selective about registrars. What registrar were you using to do the searches?

OP, let me guess, the name of that registrar company was... 1and1 ?

bmoredcg said:

What registrar were you using to do the searches?

Click to expand...

Another vote for this. Which registrar was this?

Yes, some registrars have at times appeared to be engaged in front-running. And others have at times definitely registered most or all domains searched for but not registered, then dropped them before they had to pay the full reg fee (catch-and-release - Net. Solutions got caught doing this awhile ago). I wouldn't put *anything* past 1&1, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. The thing about front-running is it is actually pretty hard to definitely prove if it is done cleverly. But, in any case, you're always better off doing name availability checks through a non-registrar based whois service, then going to your favorite registrar and registering the name there.

Hi Guys.
The domain registar was 123 Reg as I register my .co.uk domains with them.

Does namecheap do this? I stopped checking with godaddy since it was mentioned in another thread some days ago.

I've been using namecheap for some time now, registered over 50 domains and never had any problems with stuff you describe.

However, godaddy is another story...

Just to reiterate part of my earlier post - you're always better off doing name availability checks through a non-registrar based whois service, then going to your favorite registrar and registering the name there. Always.