If You Want Your Domain Back Alive...

Recently, we had some first hand experience with this. A couple of years ago, a former client of ours had asked us to reserve a domain for him and create a website. We were half way into the project when it became clear that his priorities were elsewhere. The project stalled when we could no longer get content, pictures or input from him. Despite repeated calls and e-mails, his website languished half built on his domain. By the way, he never did pay his bill to us.

We lost track of the site until recently when we were following up on some old clients. I went to the site and all I saw was a big ENTER in the middle of a splash page. This certainly wasn't the half finished site we had designed. Intrigued, I clicked on the enter and was smack dab in the middle of a hard core porn site. Hmmm! The client sold bicycles, and this didn't look anything like an online bicycle shop to me (you realize at this point I'm restraining myself from using a bunch of bad puns and double entendres in the name of taste). At this point the proverbial light went on over my head and I realized that about 2 years had passed since we first started work on the site. I wonder….

The Domain Renewal is in the Mail...

Sure enough, I checked the Network Solutions record and the domain registration had lapsed some months previous. Knowing our former clients complete lack of follow up or organizational skills, I'm sure the payment notice for the renewal from Network Solutions was totally ignored. Network Solutions will usually give you a month or two of grace, but sooner or later your domain will go back on the market, as it did in this case.

Here's where I have to give some grudging admiration to the cyber-pirate who snapped up this domain. Obviously he was tracking expired domains waiting for the chance to stake his claim. In this case, the domain was the name of the business. As soon as he had the chance, he popped up a splash page that redirected to a porn site. I'm not sure whether or not the porn site was his. In either case, the desired effect is achieved. If the site doesn't belong to the pirate, he can cut a deal with the porn site to redirect unsuspecting visitors to them for a flat monthly fee. Someone looking to find a online bike shop instead finds themselves adrift in hard core porn. The original owner of the domain, I'm sure, will be aghast to find potential customers being redirected to this particular destination.

Leave $500 in Small, Unmarked Bills...

It's the second part of this sting, however, that can become even more costly to the negligent original owner of the domain. On closer examination of the splash page, I noticed a small link near the bottom of the page labelled "domain4sale". Aha..the plot thickens! Sure enough, through the generosity of the new domain owner, the previous owner could purchase back his online identity, for a minimum bid of $500 US. And who knows what other pitfalls and catches could come as part of this deal? Do you have to host with the pirate for an extravagant monthly fee? Do you get full ownership of the domain back, or is it an ongoing fee?. What other charges could suddenly appear? Like most forms of extortion, this online twist could go on and on and on.

A Domain by any other Name...

Of course, the success of this scam depends on how valuable that original domain really is. In the case at hand, it's the logical name of the business. If someone were looking to see if this business had an online presence, this would be the name they would type in intuitively. It would be like www.ford.com for the Ford Motor Company. Not only does this business no longer have this domain for their own use, but anyone who does try to go to it will be treated to some of the most tasteless content available online. As is usually the case, the scam artist is holding all the cards.

Now, I have to admit, there is a small part of me that feels just a little smug as I look at my bad debts write offs and realize that this client could be paying far more than we charged to get his online identity back. But this small, satisfying irony aside, it really is an unfortunate position for a business to be found in. That's the reason I thought it important to pass this story along. Don't let those domain renewal notices go unheeded!

Make Yourself a NSI Contact!

So, how can you avoid falling victim to this scam? The first thing to do is make sure you're at least the administrative and billing contact for your domain. Often, when domains are reserved, the hosting company or web designer ends up as the contacts with Network Solutions or the registrar in question.

To find out, do a Whois search on your domain. You can do that at Network Solutions Whois page . If you're not the administrative contact, do everything in your power to become it. Contact whoever is the contact and ask them to submit a domain modification form making you the contact. Why is this so important? Even if you're the registered owner of a domain, unless you're listed as the administrative or technical contact, you're virtually powerless to make any changes.

E-mail

The second thing to make sure is that if you're using mail-from verification, the e-mail address you're using is a valid POP account and is not an alias. Network Solutions will check to see which address an e-mail is coming from to make sure it matches the e-mail they have on file for you. To find out more about Network Solutions Guardian authorization options, click here.

Also, if you change e-mail addresses, make sure you make the modification at Network solutions while the old address is still active. If your original e-mail address is gone, then you can still request changes by fax, but make sure it's on business letterhead and the address and phone number listed match what's on your Whois record. 

Network Solutions Customer Service???

If you've every spent anytime trying to deal with a NSI customer service rep on the phone, chances are the phone conversation ended with you beating your head repeatedly against the nearest hard, immovable surface. Next to government agencies, I've never found an organization with a greater supply of senseless bureaucracy or a shorter supply of real, helpful advice. We've had many clients ask us why a simple domain transfer can drag out for weeks on end. All we can do is sputter in fuming exasperation and gesture madly at our computer screens. Please, do everything in your power to avoid ever having to deal with Network Solutions other than through their automated modification request forms.

It used to be that there was no alternative to dealing with Network Solutions. They were the only game in town. You can now register domains at a number of places, often at a substantial discount to NSI's $35 US per year charge. We use bulkregister.com and currently pay around $12 per year per domain. After using them for about a year, the only problem we've ever run into is when we've had to transfer a domain previously registered with Network Solutions, and then the problems have all been with Network Solutions, not Bulk Register. Another registrar is www.verio.com, charging $19 per year.

One word of advice here. If you choose another registrar, use one that's likely to be around for awhile. You don't want the hassle of urgently transferring dozens of domains if the registrar you use suddenly goes out of business.