RE: [registrars] RE: Network Solutions is Front Running!!!

["John Berryhill" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jay, I doubt that Jon Nevett is personally responsible for every decision
made at NSI.


>However you are ALSO exposing the consumers' ideas with NO permission 
>from the user. Verisign broadcasts to the world what your consumer 
>is thinking. Opportunistic Spies

Irony much?

I believe what NSI is doing might be better implemented - particularly by
consent as you mention.  I question where this is the appropriate forum for
group discussion of a particular registrar's business practices.

However:

http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/gnso-domain-tasting-adhoc-outcomes-report-final
.pdf


GNSO Outcomes Report on Domain Tasting v1.6
Authors: Mike Rodenbaugh, mxrodenbaugh@xxxxxxxxx , Olof Nordling,
olof.nordling@xxxxxxxxx , Patrick Jones, Patrick.jones@xxxxxxxxx, Page 25 of
144

AGP Use 2: Cart "hold" to provide access to domain names Some registrars
state that the practice of domain tasting is creating a confusing user
experience that is disruptive to their business. They contend that domain
tasting generates volumes of customer complaints to their customer service
departments, contend that a domain was looked up and available for their
company one day and approval or budget to proceed is obtained only to find
that within the time elapsed it had been registered by another entity.


By analogy, when a customer finds a unique item in a store, it is not
uncommon to ask the sales clerk to set it aside while the purchaser
continues to shop, confirms with a spouse, gets the necessary cash, etc. The
item is held for a period of time so that nobody else can purchase it as
though it was left on the shelf. In a similar fashion, many registrars leave
the item on the shelf, as it were, and only fully allocate it upon
completion of payment. This creates a circumstance where someone could
conceivably purchase the item elsewhere.


There are some registrars that have created a cart reserve process,
utilizing the AGP, that immediately reserves the domain at the registry once
it gets looked up by the user. This mitigates the issue of the domain being
otherwise provisioned by another while completing the sales process. If the
sales process is not completed, or nearly 5 days passes, the domain is
deleted at the registry. Some registrars contend that this solution could
easily be adopted by registrars that are concerned about customer confusion.
Yet it seems that many of the registrars that compete primarily on price and
operate on thin profit margins are unlikely to adopt this approach because
it means that their available funds at the registry are held in a non-sales
transaction until it closes. Many registrars claim that, from a budget
perspective, they opt to keep their balance available at the registry and
not commit funds at the registry with the add command until a finalized
purchase has completed with the registrant.