Sammy Buys Google.com Domain Name for $12

Google.com  domain name was purchased by Sammy Ved for a mere $12, though the joy lasted for few minutes as the system recognized the problem and cancelled the sale, refunding the money. It is an example of how big companies need to realize how vulnerable domain name systems are and the need to protect and manage their domain names. Glitches do happen, if it can happen to Google, it can surely happen to your domain name!

Sammy Ved details his experience on Linkedin of how he ended up owning Google.com though for a small while. Searching through the Google domains interface, he found Google.com was available, he added it to his domain buying cart, and did actually manage to buy Google.co domain name. he completed the purchase, and his credit card was charged. The domain also got added to the Google webmaster console and he got confirmatory details of domain ownership!

buy google.com domain

Obviously the system realized the problem, cancelled the sale and fixed the issue. Incidentally Sammy is an ex-Googler and reported it to Google security.  Well so Google.com is back with Google.

Incidentally Google also has a history of deleting the official Google blog, and someone else grabbed the blogspot url! Of course it was a Google service and they could get it back easily.

Either way buying expired domain names is a big business and you should always be careful to protect your domain name. Its a good idea to lock domain names, register domains for a long 10 years,  remember to check that domain contacts are working and of course set it to autorenew. Remember when 9rules domain expired

Buying domains of brand names / celebrities (remember Jeffery Archer!) is big business and called cybersquatting. Selling the owners back their rightful domain earns huge money for the cybersquatter, unless a legal course might let the owners get back their domain name without the premium. Google got lucky Google.com was registered with their own service Google domains – any other registrar and it would have been gone…

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About the Author: P Chandra is editor of QOT, one of India's earliest tech bloggers since 2004. A tech enthusiast with expertise in coding, WordPress, web tools, SEO and DIY hacks.