[voxleone]

Registrars [like Namecheap] label short, original, distinctive domains [like the one you spent weeks, months brainstorming] as "premium" right at the moment of registration, even if they were available only days or weeks prior. Once these domains are marked as premium, they are sold at exorbitant prices, often far beyond their true market value. In essence, a registrar hijacks what would otherwise be a standard domain, inflating its value simply because it's easy to do so.

There's a sharp contrast when you work with, for instance, a Brazilian registrar, Registro.br, where all domains are treated equally.