But let’s say they are 90% accurate in selecting which domains will make money if they are tasted. Then they can taste as many domains as they want and still not incur a big penalty, since they can return 10% of the domains.

If they register 25k domains per month for clients, and taste 100k domains themselves, then they can return 12.5k domains each month.

Here’s the thing…like clockwork, about 4 days later – just as the “test drive” period is about to expire – miraculously, NoDaddy informs me that the domain has been successfully registered.

It’s not the concept per se of tasting that is at the heart of the problem, it’s the rampant abuse of the AGP.

As Andrew points out, if you review some of the data – showing the ratio of # of registrations, compared to actual domains held/dropped – it’s ridiculous. Before the mandatory ICANN fee was imposed to halt kiting, nearly 90% of registrations would drop during the AGP. That’s the problem.

The most egregious offenders out there are the guys who setup registrars so they can engage in mass tasting – tasting 10s of thousands of domain names at a time – (so-called Drop Registrars) with the express purpose of bulk tasting, exploiting the AGP and monopolizing the aftermarket.

The same could be said of many existing registrars where there is a narrow line between warehousing and tasting. When registrars taste domain names the general public will never even get a look.

This practice will never completely disappear, but something needs to be done to level the playing field.

Broadcast News…

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