Vicki Iseman: Did Network Solutions Poach VickiIseman.com?

I don’t care who John McCain has relationships with…that’s not the point of this post.

So, I learn about John McCain’s “relationship” with Vicki Iseman on Twitter slightly before 5PM Pacific Time. Immediately, I go to my domain registrar of choice and check to see whether vickiiseman.com is available (something I’ve trained myself to do in similar situations even if I’m not interested in purchasing the domain).

I see the following:

Somebody reserved the domain at Network Solutions. Well, we already know about Network Solutions and “Front Running”. If you look at the DNS, it even shows “NS1.RESERVEDDOMAINNAME.COM” (and the record says “Client Hold”)…so clearly, a person reserved the domain name with the intent to purchase it later at Network Solutions.

However, this explanation defies logic…somebody racing to get the domain name of a now “public” figure isn’t going to reserve the name to buy it later…they are going to buy it ASAP so they can monetize it immediately via parking.

So, I go over to Network Solutions and query the domain name.

It’s available. Oddly enough, somebody has bought the .net but not the .com (in real life, that never happens).

I go all the way through the checkout process…but then stop before actually buying the domain (because I’d don’t want it). Theoretically, I can purchase the domain myself only through Network Solutions.

Which gets me wondering, did Network Solutions reserve the domain themselves so they and only they can sell it at their ridiculously high registration fee? I would like to hear their explanation of what I just described.

Todd Mintz

Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.

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