Some firms may have to pay over the odds for their desired .eu domain names because many of the most sought- after names have been bought by speculators, according to .com registrar GoDaddy.com.

A small number of companies currently control hundreds of registrars that are currently buying up some of the most highly demanded domain names in order to sell them on at a huge profit, according to Bob Parsons, chief executive of GoDaddy.com.

Parsons argued that the .eu registry, Eurid, has not done enough to prevent speculators from setting up as .eu registrars, with the result that people can "abuse" the system by registering hundreds of companies to act in this way.
"There are probably around 20 players or more involved here and well over 720 'fake' registrars. The accreditation [for .eu registrars] was about as loose as I have ever seen it," Parsons commented.

Although Eurid provides a list of accredited registrars on its web site, the registry allows any registrar to opt out of this list if they wish, so there could actually be many more speculative registrars involved, Parsons added.

"Our analysis showed 400 registrars listed in New York, none of which have web sites, and all with the same agent," Parsons said. "Unless the European Commission gets involved I can't imagine Eurid doing anything [about this] – it has allowed itself to be manipulated by crafty businessmen."

Eurid said its process for allowing registrars to lodge their applications is designed to ensure fair treatment for all, and that it has the power to cancel its agreement with any registrar it finds has breached their signed contract.

"We are not doing anything because we don't agree with what [Parsons is] saying," said a Eurid spokesman. "We don't see why we have to restart the process or allow only established registrars to participate [as Parsons recommends], because this would discriminate against [the newer registrars]."

Damian Schmidt, chief executive of Strato, another .eu registrar, denied that there was a major problem. "The number of [speculative] registrars out there is not the main point. [Our customers] have a success rate of 70 percent [and we are] just one company," he said.

"There will always be registrars grabbing names and selling [them on for a higher price]; .com is the same," Schmidt added.

Parsons' plea to Eurid to freeze all .eu registrations and investigate the speculative registrars is also misguided, argued Schmidt.