Domain Name Tasting

Domain name tasting exploits the fact that someone registering a domain can keep it for up to five days and then return it for free. Some operators are using that grace period to test domain names for marketability. Visitors find an empty site.

A proposal has been put to ICANN, which oversees the grace period, to limit the number of refunds any registrar can claim on behalf of customers.

It wants the operators of generic top level domains (gTLDs) such as .com or .org to be restricted in the refunds they can offer. It has proposed that they only be allowed to offer refunds to 10% of the newly registered domain names in any given month. If that number is under 50 they will be allowed to refund up to 50 fees.