About five times a week I say to myself “I’d be rich if I could go back in time and buy all the popular domain names.” Yes, it’s ridiculous that a) I talk to myself and b) I think about domains so often, but I have a feeling you’ve thought the same thing as well.
So that’s why I was amazed when I read last Wednesday about a random guy who was able to purchase Google.com for a whopping $12.
Samay Ved, an ex-Googler and current MBA student, wrote a piece on Linkedin documenting how he was able to buy Google.com because of a glitch in Google’s new domain buying service.
In his article, Ved explained how he bought Google.com and owned it for roughly one minute on September 29 at 1:19 AM. Unfortunately, Google caught the glitch and reverted ownership.
“As soon as I completed purchase, I received two emails [from Google], which is not the norm when you book domains via Google Domains.” Ved said.
“I was hoping I would get an error at sometime saying transaction did not go through, but I was able to complete purchase, and my credit card was actually charged!” Ved wrote.
Ved even provided screenshots to prove that he had successfully bought Google.com and that Google reached out to him to acknowledge the error. Vice reported that a Google spokesperson is investigating the issue.
Amazingly, Ved explained that he temporarily had access to Google’s Webmaster tools and a few other bits confidential from Google.
Here’s to you Mr. Ved, for pulling a fast one on the man. Score one for the nerds.