Domain Tasting (AGP)

Domain tasting was the practice of registering large batches of domains and then cancelling them within the add grace period (AGP) — a few-day window after registration in which a registrar could get a full refund — to "taste" each name's type-in traffic and keep only the profitable ones for free. ICANN curbed it in 2008 by making registries charge a non-refundable fee on excessive AGP deletions, and the tactic largely collapsed. It is mostly history now, but it explains why the registry lifecycle has the safeguards it does.