{"id":43675,"date":"2015-10-02T10:29:58","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T04:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/?p=43675"},"modified":"2026-10-12T13:56:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:26:48","slug":"google-com-domain-sold-for-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/10\/google-com-domain-sold-for-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanmay Ved Bought Google.com for $12: What Happened"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In September 2015, former Googler Sanmay Ved <strong>bought Google.com for $12<\/strong>. For about a minute he owned the world&#8217;s most visited domain. We covered the story in October 2015, and it&#8217;s still the best lesson in why every site owner should protect their domain name. Here&#8217;s what happened, what Google paid him, and how to keep your own domain safe.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> Sanmay Ved found google.com listed as available in Google Domains, bought it for $12 and briefly got ownership access, including Search Console messages. Google cancelled the sale and refunded him within minutes. Google later rewarded him $6,006.13 (it spells &#8220;Google&#8221; in numbers), then doubled it to over $12,000 when he chose to donate it to charity.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6adf32ce179e7\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6adf32ce179e7\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/10\/google-com-domain-sold-for-12\/#How_Googlecom_was_bought_for_12\" >How Google.com was bought for $12<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/10\/google-com-domain-sold-for-12\/#Googles_reward\" >Google&#8217;s reward<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/10\/google-com-domain-sold-for-12\/#Lessons_for_domain_owners\" >Lessons for domain owners<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/10\/google-com-domain-sold-for-12\/#Googles_other_slip-ups\" >Google&#8217;s other slip-ups<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/10\/google-com-domain-sold-for-12\/#What_is_cybersquatting\" >What is cybersquatting?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/10\/google-com-domain-sold-for-12\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/10\/google-com-domain-sold-for-12\/#Who_bought_Googlecom_for_12\" >Who bought Google.com for $12?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/10\/google-com-domain-sold-for-12\/#How_much_did_Google_pay_Sanmay_Ved\" >How much did Google pay Sanmay Ved?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/10\/google-com-domain-sold-for-12\/#Can_someone_buy_my_domain_if_it_expires\" >Can someone buy my domain if it expires?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Googlecom_was_bought_for_12\"><\/span>How Google.com was bought for $12<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ved was browsing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/01\/google-domains-free-private-domain-registration\/\">Google Domains<\/a> interface when he searched for google.com and saw it shown as available. He added it to his cart, completed the purchase and his card was charged. The domain even appeared in his Google webmaster console, with ownership confirmation messages.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-43680\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/buy-google-domain.png\" alt=\"Bought Google.com for $12 in Google Domains\" width=\"500\" height=\"261\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/buy-google-domain.png 500w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/buy-google-domain-150x78.png 150w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/buy-google-domain-300x157.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Within a minute the system caught the error, cancelled the order and refunded his $12. As an ex-Googler, Ved reported the glitch to Google&#8217;s security team.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Googles_reward\"><\/span>Google&#8217;s reward<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Google paid Ved through its security rewards programme. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/tech-news\/google-gave-much-money-guy-who-owned-google-com-minute-n506216\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NBC News<\/a>, Google first offered $6,006.13 and then doubled it to more than $12,000 after learning he would donate the money. He asked that it go to the Art of Living India foundation.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Lessons_for_domain_owners\"><\/span>Lessons for domain owners<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Glitches happen, and if they can happen to Google, they can happen to you. Google was lucky that google.com was registered with its own service. With another registrar, getting it back could have been much harder.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/07\/set-domain-locking-secure-your-domain-names\/\">Lock your domain<\/a> to block unauthorised transfers.<\/li>\n<li>Turn on auto-renew and register important domains for several years.<\/li>\n<li>Keep domain contact emails working so renewal notices reach you; remember when the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/9rules-domain-name-expired-update-your-domain-contacts\/\">9rules domain expired<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Use two-factor authentication on your registrar account.<\/li>\n<li>Watch out: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/how-to-snatch-expiring-domains-seek-the-professionals\/\">buying expired domains<\/a> is a big business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Googles_other_slip-ups\"><\/span>Google&#8217;s other slip-ups<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Google has had similar moments before. In 2006 the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/03\/when-official-google-blogger-blog-got-deleted-by-mistake\/\">official Google Blogger blog was deleted by mistake<\/a> and someone else grabbed its blogspot address before Google got it back.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_cybersquatting\"><\/span>What is cybersquatting?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Registering domains of brands or celebrities to sell them back at a profit is called cybersquatting. Trademark owners can often recover such domains through the UDRP dispute process, but it&#8217;s slower and costlier than protecting your names in the first place.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Who_bought_Googlecom_for_12\"><\/span>Who bought Google.com for $12?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Sanmay Ved, a former Google employee, in September 2015.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_much_did_Google_pay_Sanmay_Ved\"><\/span>How much did Google pay Sanmay Ved?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>$6,006.13 at first, doubled to over $12,000 when he donated it to charity.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Can_someone_buy_my_domain_if_it_expires\"><\/span>Can someone buy my domain if it expires?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Yes, after the grace and redemption periods end. Keep auto-renew on and your payment details current.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In September 2015, former Googler Sanmay Ved bought Google.com for $12. For about a minute he owned the world&#8217;s most&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":43680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-google","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64533,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43675\/revisions\/64533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}