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I would also like to add, I have seen people report that a domain they searched for, but not bought, was later registered and available for purchase as a 'premium domain'. However, personally, I have not seen any concrete proof of this. With that being said, it have seen this complaint multiple times.

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I tell people thinking about setting up websites for personal or business project that you need to make your list of potential domain names FIRST, then buy immediately if you find any available. ISPs have been selling NXD data since 2007 to domain frontrunners [1] and I wouldn't be surprised if frontrunners are behind the plethora of free whois services that show up on a Google search.

[1] http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/data-center/domain-name-fro...

What you describe is probably domain name 'front running', which was an abuse of the domain name 'tasting' scheme that some Registrars engaged in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_front_running

So called premium domains are set by the Registry managing the TLD, and Registrars offering those domains for sale pass along the premium price.

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