Basically, if you use NetSol’s WhoIs search to find out if a domain is available, and if you don’t register the domain that very instant, NetSol “reserves” (read: registers) the domain. It appears to be a standard one-year registration, but because NetSol is a registrar, they can take advantage of their status and drop it after 5 days without paying for it.

What this means is, if you decide, a few hours after doing your search, that you want that domain, you can only register it through Network Solutions at their highly inflated $35 fee. Unfortunately, anyone else can also register the domain through NetSol, so they’re not really protecting you. This practice merely serves to lock in the registration at Network Solutions, preventing you from registering the domain at GoDaddy or somewhere else where you’d only have to pay $9 or $10.

Shame on Network Solutions. I’ve been advising clients for years not to register domains with NetSol. Now I have to start advising them never to search for a domain there either.

More info:

• Wikipedia
• Webmaster World
• Digital Point
• SlashDot