They sent an email message informing Domain Name owners (you) that your Domain Name was being (stolen) transferred away; they could lose their rights to their Domain; and did they request a transfer to an unknown party? Most of public had no idea who was Network Solutions or who held management of their Domain Name. Out of fear and misunderstanding of message, most said they did not know that their Domain Name was being transferred to another party.

To prevent this mass exodus Network Solutions seems to have develop several quasi legal techniques: put off renewal process until name is close to expiration, they can then legally lock up Domain and prevent you from transferring away from their control.

They do this, by at least two ways we know. When Network Solutions receives notice of transfer, they...

1. Sent a notice that someone is trying to transfer your name. You will get feeling that someone is trying to steal your Domain. This frightens most people who respond to not approve of transfer (or do they nothing). Network Solutions then sends an email telling renewing registration company that Domain owner refused to reply (timed out) and transfer was canceled.

2. Somehow don't send required notices. They say they did not receive an answer and lock up name. The Domain Name owner must now quickly renew with them or Domain Name goes up for resale.

This is borderline honest but... YES, plot thickens.

When a Domain Name nears renewal time Network Solutions will lock up Domain Name and not transfer it. If a transfer has been requested, using one of above rip-off techniques, Network Solutions denies transfer. Then they will quickly immediately after expiration date, offer Domain Name for resale on one of their many sites. If they can not sell name (after an unknown time) Domain Name will then be available to general public.

This problem swells when somehow Domain owner requesting a transfer does not receive notice. Without notification their name can be resold to a third party. Bam... total rights to their Name belongs to third party. Although this is legal, it is not fair. We have seen this happen several times. They seem to only cancel quickly if a transfer has been requested. We have seen expired Domain Names sit for as much as four months before cancellation.

There are several other nasty quasi legal tricks being performed by Network Solutions. We will get into these at another time.

Our partners, Tucows, have filed an official complaint to governing body, ICANN, against Network Solutions for these and other borderline practices but it will take months before this is resolved.

The Bottom Line. You have right to chose who manages your Domain Name in master database. You can reduce yearly cost of your Domain Names by 50%, but you should renew at least a month before expiration date. In fact, you can renew at any time with no loss and renewal is added to your current expiration date. You can renew a year or two years in advance with no loss of time. A month before expiration date will give you time to get by tricks of Network Solutions. Do not wait, if your Domain expires in a week, it is too late to transfer. You can pay Network Solutions for one year only. They will try to get you to renew for two years. You can then choose a new registrar and get your Domain Name management moved.

Blatant Plug... Of course, there are benefits with going with a smaller company. You can get a real email answer from us as to your Domain problems within 24 hours. We do not use autoresponders to reply. You can get us on phone between 1 and 5 P.M. EST, most time on first try. Please call us with only Domain problems we have registered or renewed.

At DomainNameVault.com our security is unique, a human firewall, all of our registrations and renewals are hand processed by a live body. This prevents hackers from getting control of your Domain through automatic processing.

Really, it doesn't matter if you renew with us or one of our competitors, like Register.com, but it is wise to do it now and get it out of control of Network Solutions. Who knows what they will try next.

Unclaimed Domains - http://join.at/unclaimed

DNSIndex Expired Domains - http://join.at/DNSIndex

These lists are literally worth thousands of dollars. To get lists all you have to do is subscribe, which is easy and cheap. Then each week you will receive a fresh list of expired domains in your email inbox.

You may also purchase a custom keyword search in recently expired domain name pool from DNS research - http://buy.at/DNSResearch .

Other tools to help you find great domain names:

DNS Research - http://buy.at/DNSResearch sells lists of all available Dictionary Word .COM, .NET, and .ORG domain names. They also offer lists of remaining three character domain names.

DNS Index - http://join.at/DNSIndex - sells lists of available three character and four character domain names as well as custom searches of expired domain pool.

FREE tools to help you find great domain names:

DomainsWeekly.com offers a free weekly e-zine that includes a list of over 200 high quality expired and available domain names. The website also has tons of domain related links, resources, services, news and more.

NameBoy.com has a great search engine that recommends available domain names based on a keyword you enter.

NameU.com has a search engine that does pretty much same thing except you have to click on each name individually to see if it is available.

DOMAIN REGISTRATION:

After you find some good domain names, you will need to register them. Not too long ago cost to register a domain name was $70 for two years. But with new regulations and distribution of registering privileges cost of registration has become more affordable. Meaning more profit for you! You can now register a domain name for as little as $14 for a year. One place to do this is at DomainsWeekly.com

SELLING YOUR DOMAIN:

The most effective place on Internet to sell your domain names is on auction sites. List them first on Ebay.com, Afternic.com, and Ezdomainauction.com. There are also domain name brokers that will list your site for free, a fee when sold, a fee to list, or both a fee to list and when sold. GreatDomains.com is a great high traffic site to list on and you only pay them only a small percentage when you sell your domain. If you have a good domain name, and your price is right it won't be long before a buyer bids or contacts you.

Many new domain sellers make mistake of trying to sell every domain name for thousands of dollars. When, in fact, you will do much better selling more domains for a few hundred dollars. This way you will have a much higher turn around rate. Remember you are registering names for $14 and if you sell one for even $200 that is still a huge 2600% profit!

CONCLUSION:

As you can see, domain name buying and selling is a good way to make a great deal of money. It's very easy and you can do it in your spare time. Get started today by subscribing free to DomainsWeekly.com, subscribing to DNSIndex - http://join.at/DNSIndex (instant access to expired domains) and any of other available and expired domain lists listed above. Register with Ebay.com and Afternic.com and begin selling! Good Luck!