Domain Name Set Up/ Thievery and Websites for Wholesaling

[Alicia Prokos]

Hi, I am starting out in wholesaling and intend to move on in a few months to fixing and flipping. I am in search of information related to setting up domain names and web sites.  I have heard that if you start a search to see if a domain name is taken that sometimes hackers will purchase the domain name you are interested in, snap it up and buy it cheap right from under you as you are inputting your credit card number.  Then, apparently, they mark it up hugely and you have to pay much more to secure your domain name(s).  Has anyone else heard of this, and is there any way around it?  I am afraid to even search on GoDaddy.

Also, any advice on setting up multiple web sites for wholesaling?  I was thinking one to establish legitimacy with my actual S Corp name, largely informational, a few others with a "we buy houses" type of domain for lead generation, and then another one on which to showcase deals to investor buyers. Does this sound logical or overkill?  

I truly appreciate any advice.  Thank you.

[Ceili Cornelison]

Checking a domain name's availability on a domain name seller's site (eg, GoDaddy) will always run you the risk that the domain itself will sweep it up by that seller. A good option is checking on whois, which is provided by a party which does not sell domains (and as such would have no reason to steal your domain), or alternatively by using the terminal-level whois command if you are familiar with your command line or UNIX at all. It takes like 10 seconds -- if you want to PM me your domain names I can run that kind of search on them and let you know, if you don't have the skills yourself.