If you’re a freqent reader of DomainNameWire you know that I think the US should retain control of the internet and its naming system. I particularly fear China having a say in how the internet is governed given its position on free speech.

Here’s a case in point. China keeps managing to close down a blog by a critic of the current communist regime. Wang Yi’s Microphone has changed domain names many times in an attempt to avoid blockage but the Chinese governement keeps finding ways to block him. Read more here.

Earlier this month I wrote about buying domains on eBay. Although you can find some good deals, I listed a number of drawbacks to eBay versus other domain sales sites like Sedo and Afternic.

It was just a couple days later that I got an e-mail through eBay’s system from a user called “TopNotchDomains”. He contacted me because he saw that I had bid on domain names and he wanted me to look at his auctions for domains. (Using eBay’s member contact system for these purposes is against the eBay’s TOS, by the way). I clicked on the link to his auctions and found several good domains starting at $.01. But there was fine print at the bottom of his auctions: a $15 transfer charge. (Tacking on fees like this is also against eBay’s TOS). I decided that I wouldn’t bid on any of his domains even if they were good because he was trying to slip this transfer fee into his auctions. No one uses registrars that have transfer fees anymore and it was clear that TopNotchDomains was just pocketing this money from unsuspecting customers.

I wanted to find out more about this seller, so I copied one of his domains into Whois.sc to get his details. But whois didn’t bring up any results–because the domain wasn’t registered!! I then checked several other domains he had listed and found them to not be registered as well. After watching his auctions for a few days I figured out exactly what he was up to: find decent unregistered domains, list them on eBay, and then register them when someone bid on the domain. With the $15 transfer fee he was guaranteed of making money regardless of the final bid.

I thought about reporting him to eBay but then I got a better idea. Why not feed off of this guy’s research of available domains? Every day I checked in on his auctions to find new listings. When I found a domain I liked I registered it. Most of the time he then removed the domain from auction, but occasionally someone would bid on the domain before he did this. He must have cancelled the bids and claimed that someone had stolen the domain from him (or some other excuse). Amazingly he managed to avoid negative feedback. He also kept all of his auctions private so as not to identify the bidders. I bet this was so that no one could contact the bidders and tell them they were being scammed. I found it satisying to toy with this scammer, especially since I got some good domains in the process.

Alas, someone complained to eBay about the scam and TopNotchDomains is no longer a registered user.

Caveat emptor.

UPDATE 1:30pm cst:
Apparently TopNotchDomains is back on eBay and his status as “no longer a registered user” was only temporary. But he’s up to the same tricks, listing domains he doesn’t own.

UPDATE 11/8:
TopNotchDomains has been kicked off eBay again.

In a post on Monday (see Verisign to retain .com registry through 2012) I discussed the proposed settlement between ICANN and Verisign stemming from a lawsuit in 2003.

Details are starting to circulate the web, especially about the terms of Verisign’s contract extension through 2012. It would allow Verisign the raise the fee it charges registrars for each .com registration, renewal, or transfer from $6 now to $9 by the end of the term. Increases in the registry fee will be passed on to customers since many registrars offer domains at or near the $6 registry fee.

In the previous post I predicted that the internet community would call for ICANN to put the .com registry out for competitive bid. This has certainly happened, but apparently there’s a clause in Verisigns .com agreement that allows it to automatically renew.

Football great Emmitt Smith was awarded the domain name EmmittSmith.com in a UDRP decision. The domain expired during the proceedings, as noted in the National Arbitration Forum press release:

“During the course of the proceedings, the Respondent’s registration of the domain name emmittsmith.com was either deleted or expired, prompting Smith to redeem the domain name under the new Expired Domain Deletion Policy (EDDP) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This was the first decision issued by the National Arbitration Forum utilizing the EDDP.”

Stephen Michael Cohen, who famously tricked Network Solutions into handing over the Sex.com domain name to him, was arrested by Mexican authorities and handed over the U.S. authorities Thursday. Cohen currently owes $82M to the rightful owner of Sex.com.

Read more here.