Ask HN: "Preferred Domain Availability Notification" - Is it bait?
"Preferred Domain Availability Notification:
cooldomain.com will be listed for auction in a few days. This domain might be useful for you, since you own a domain similar to this domain.
To confirm interest in owning this domain, fill out the simple form here: cooldomain.com [link]
Sincerely,Alexander 718 Thompson Lane Suite 108142 Nashville, TN 37204
If you do not want more of these messages, please click the link above and follow instructions at the bottom of the page
I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake. Rene Descartes"
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The link forwards to a site which reads:
"Auctions close daily at 10am. COOLDOMAIN.COM has been flagged as a premium domain and we expect it to sell quickly. Since you received a priority notice from us, you will be given first chance to acquire this domain.
Fill out the form below and you will be contacted with the opportunity to purchase the domain when it is made available to the general public."
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cooldomain.com is not the real domain name; I am obscuring the real name simply so as not to pre-empt the 'Show HN' post I am hoping to make in the near future. The e-mails come from two different addresses: alex@e-pedagogy.com and alex@tintaquick.com. Both these domains forward to http://dnidomainmarket.com, which appears to be a low-key domain reseller.
This has alerted me because I currently own THEcooldomain.com and am fully aware that cooldomain.com is about to become available because I've been watching it for a number of months and intend to snap it up as soon as it does so. I've made backorders on a couple of different registrars, for example.
My initial reaction is to believe that if I sign up to this site then I am essentially indicating my interest in the domain and therefore prompting them to also attempt to register it; so that they can then sell it back to me (or some one else) for a premium. So, the best course of action is to do nothing. Alternatively, they fully intend to pursue this domain anyway and therefore would my best chance be to subscribe to their auction and enter a bidding war? Would that auction even be a real auction?
If anyone has any advice I'd really appreciate it.