Former Googler Sanmay Ved reveals how he successfully "bought" the domain Google.com which cost him only $12.
Ved posted a screenshot of his search which showed that buying the domain name would cost him $12 that is good for one year. Apparently, the screenshot also showed that among all the domain names that showed up in the search, it was only Google.com that was available. Others such as Google.net, Google.org, Google.co and Google.us are all unavailable.
"I used to work at Google so I keep messing around with the product," said Ved. "I type in Google.com and to my surprise it showed it as available. I thought it was some error, but I could actually complete check out."
Google Domains, the site where Ved reportedly bought the domain name Google.com, is currently in beta. While users can check the site for available domains, the feature on buying domains is only available to U.S. customers.
"Google Domains is currently available only for users in the U.S. Your location is determined at checkout by the billing address for the credit card you use with your Google account to purchase or transfer a domain," states Google's support page.
Google.com is currently the world's most visited site with more than 180 million unique visits recorded in August 2015, according to an analytics website.
According to Ved, he has purchased other domain names in the past which made him become familiar with how the process goes after one has just bought a new domain name. With that being said, he immediately sensed that something was wrong after getting email and text confirmations of his purchase.
It's definitely hard to believe that Google will ever think about selling Google.com on its Google Domains site. Ved's purchase rendezvous, while being unique, made most people think that it must be due to a system glitch. Luckily, the purchase was made by someone who remains loyal to the company even after employment.
Interestingly, the domain name "imagoogler.com" is unavailable or is already owned by a buyer.
"So for one minute I had access. At least I can now say I'm the man who owned Google.com for a minute."
