Domain Kiting or Domain Tasting

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Domain tasting, or domain kiting, refers to a practice of registrants using the period at the beginning of a domain registration for ICANN-regulated generic top-level domains to test the marketability of a domain name. During this period, when a registration can be fully refunded by the domain registry, a cost-benefit analysis is conducted by the registrant on the viability of deriving income from advertisements being placed on the domain’s web site.

Domains that are retained are usually successful as they represent domains that were previously used and have since expired, or represent misspellings of other popular sites. These domains are still active in search engines and other hyperlinks and therefore derive enough traffic such that advertising revenue exceed the cost of the registration.