[dkonofalski]

No they don't. At least not in the way that GoDaddy does it... NameCheap does this with domains that have expired and domains that are searched and reserved but fail for some reason. Since part of the service they provide is contingent on covering for people in the event of failures (missed renewals, misspellings, etc.), NameCheap auto-renews domains and reserves variations of others when they're registered. If the user doesn't end up actually renewing the domain, they mark it up and sell it as a premium domain since they now have paid for a domain without a buyer. NameCheap mostly does this as a service for existing customers. GoDaddy, on the other hand, does it explicitly for the revenue they can generate from desperate people who need domains they previously searched for.

[viraptor]

Doesn't match my experience. I used them to check the price of A...B...C...D....com.au which was available. A few days later, I came back to register it, just to find that that domain, ABC...D...com.au and ABCD.com.au are reserved and available via auction. Checking with national registrar directly I confirmed the domain is not reserved. With that information I contacted the namecheap support who gave me some direct "add to cart" url which was not normally available.

I don't trust any registrar anymore.

[dkonofalski]

I think you're projecting some ill intent here on the part of NameCheap that may be unwarranted. It's quite possible that someone had purchased the domain but it failed for whatever reason or that the cached version of the whois database that NameCheap was using was outdated. I've tried to register a name from the .AZ (Azerbaijan) registry through multiple sites and was able to successfully place an order only to be refunded because the information in the registry was cached and almost 4 months out of date. Additionally, some registrars are not actually able to register certain TLDs and so they use a proxy service to facilitate the transaction. It's possible that NameCheap isn't even a .com.au registrar and was simply passing along a result from whoever they partner with to fulfill those requests.

I'm not disputing that what happened to you happened the way you describe it but I am disputing that NameCheap did anything nefarious in order for the situation to play out exactly as you've described.

[sublupo]

Yes they do, see my other comment:

Namecheap is also scammy. I searched for a random URL (smithstein.co.ru) and it said that while they don't sell co.ru they sell smithstein.com ( https://i.ibb.co/FxmMH81/Screenshot-20181212-133716.png ) . After clicking the button to buy it shows an error ( https://i.ibb.co/2Zbp7hB/Screenshot-20181212-133828.png ) and then when trying to search for smithstein.com I am given the option to make an offer (ie. not buy because someone else owns it)

[dkonofalski]

No, they don't. See my other comment.

NameCheap provides auction services through third parties for certain domains. You're confusing a poor experience caused by a bad response from one of these third party services with them doing something malicious. GoDaddy actively sells lists to "Executive Domain" accounts specifically so they can make money off the resale of these domains. NameCheap is just listing domains from third parties that provide auction services and sometimes they either don't get a response (so they show the general "buy" option) or they get an incorrect response (so you get an error). You're suggesting malicious intent on the part of NameCheap without any evidence that it exists.

Also, how is what you described scammy in any way? There's a difference between an error showing up for a domain name vs. a domain name showing as available and then later in the day showing up for an exorbitant price on the same site. NameCheap even labelled that domain for you as coming from a third-party but you're choosing to ignore that to sell the narrative that they're scammy.

[sublupo]

Let me rephrase it. It is not scammy like GoDaddy, but it is scammy like when a newspaper publishes sponsored content.

It is not that important what happened behind the scene. In the end, I went to their site and I saw something that was not clearly marked as an ad. The listing looked almost exactly like their other listings. There, there was a button that said "buy", I clicked it and was unable to buy. It is the responsibility of NameCheap to make sure that their ads are not scammy. Just like if Facebook started showing porn ads, there would be blowback and people will stop using FAcebook.

[dkonofalski]

Ok... but that's completely moving the goalposts from what you said earlier. I disagree that it's not clearly marked as an ad because, even in your screenshot, there's a link and a differentiator that says the domain is coming from Kingcom, not from NameCheap. You can ignore that or say that it's not clear enough for you and that's fine but the debate here was whether or not NameCheap was kiting and front-running domains like GoDaddy and my initial statement said that they were not. Your response was "Yes they do" and that's clearly not the case here.

[sublupo]

Correct, I moved the goalpost because, thanks to your comment, I realized that saying that NameCheap is just as scammy as GoDaddy is an exaggeration. Nonetheless, I wouldn't trust a site with ads that outright lie. It's not like we are forced to choose between GoDaddy and NameCheap. There are other options that don't reserve searched domains, and don't show ads that lie. Since that is the case, I will opt for one of those other sites when looking to purchase a domain.

[dkonofalski]

Again, you're projecting malicious intent. What's the difference, in your opinion, between a lie and a mistake? If NameCheap is labelling those domains (again, according to your own screenshot) as coming from a third-party and they get a bad response from that third party, what should their case be? The ad wasn't a lie. A lie assumes that the intent is to defraud or fool you. This sounds more like a mistake that, ultimately, didn't harm you in any way whatsoever.

That being said... you do you. I have no horse in the race with NameCheap. I just think their service is great and the customer support is awesome. If you prefer another registrar, you live your best life there.