It is a good timing for a post about domain tasting since it was recently reported that Google is considering to stop serving AdSense ads on tasted domains. This is a good news, but Google AdSense is not the only revenue source for the domain tasting companies which means that you can still become a victim (yes, a victim!) of domain tasting.

How does it works

I have read about domain tasting for the first time on Bob Parson’s blog (GoDaddy CEO) and you can also check Wikipedia entry for more details. In brief:

• Domain tasting companies abuse the 5 days grace period when purchasing domains with some registrants.
• They buy domains and put ads on it.
• After 5 days they use 5 days money back clause to cancel the domain.
• Even if they had only one ad click in that period that earnd them $0.10 it is a pure profit since domain cost them $0 in 5-days period.
• Multiply this with tens of thousands domains registered per day and you have a very profitable business (to be more accurate, according to Bob, 32.000.000 domains have been tasted back in May 2006! 32M in one single moth!?!).
• Sometimes, they might hit the “jack pot”. For example, domain have earned whole $1 in 5 days. Domain tasters estimates that it will gain profit from that domain over the year so they usually keep those domains.

And they have registered the domain in the front of your nose?

How do the tasting companies decide which domains to purchase. Sometimes randomly perhaps or by trying different words combinations from the English dictionary. They also buy expired domains by default. But lots of people experienced that domain was registered in the front of their nose. One day you check the domain name and it is available. You come back tomorrow to buy it and the domain is sold?!?! And that doesn’t happen by accident, since the people who were searching for specific non-English word domains also experienced the problem. More likely is that you have some spyware installed on your computer.

Not so likely, you have some really evil spyware that track your searches on GoDaddy or any other domain registrants.

More likely, some extension that you are using is selling your anonymously data to the domain tasters. If you visit some domain from your browser and the domain doesn’t exist, browser extension can detect that and send the data back to the server. Domain tasters would kill for that information, unregistered domain name that someone has accidentally visited is what they are looking for. Various companies buys anonymusly statistic data directly from extension developers, so watch it! Check the privacy policies of the extensions you are using! Even some useful browser extension might collect and sell anonymously traffic data to other companies. Usually, that kind of things won’t heart you, but in this case it might cost you to lose your desirable domain name.

How to prevent

Now when we do know how they are finding all those domain names to buy, it is easier to prevent it.

• It might be a good idea to search for available domains by using whois from command line.
• Check privacy policies of the extensions you are using.
• If you have lots of browser extensions installed, use some other browser for domain searching. For example, if you are using Firefox, install Opera only for this purpose.
• If you find a good domain name, buy it immediately even if you are not sure is that what you are looking for! Domains are cheap today. If you decide to pick another domain name for your site, you can easily sell that domain later on a domain after market and possibly even earn a few dollars.

And how to react

But if it is already to late, and domain tasters have taken the domain in the front of your nose, don’t panic. The good thing is that you are now aware of domain tasting business model and how does it works.

• Check the whois for the domain and see who have registered the domain and when.
• Search for more info on the company that have registered your domain. Do a little Google research and you will find in which context the company is mentioned on forums and blogs. For example, when the friend of mine experienced the domain tasting problem, we have searched for the company and found this and similar posts. In that moment we knew that domain tasting company have bought the domain.
• If you realize that domain tasting company have bought your domain, there is a great chance that domain will be available again in 5 days. But, you have to be COOL!
• Don’t visit the domain in the next 5 days and even if you do by accident, don’t click on anything. Don’t generate any traffic or profit to them since domain tasting company might decide to keep your domain.
• Don’t tell anyone! Don’t write to your friend over IM that someone grab the xyz.com in the front of your nose since your friend will probably click on the link to see the homepage. And of course, don’t blog or twitter about it as well. Just sit and wait.
• If you stay cool and patient, your domain will probably become available again in 5 days so go register it as quickly as possible!