[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.