I searched for an obscure domain on pork bun. It was open. The very next day it was bought and up for sale for a higher price on some marketplace they own. They’re the same as any other registrar.

> I searched for an obscure domain on pork bun. It was open. The very next day it was bought and up for sale for a higher price on some marketplace they own. They’re the same as any other registrar.

For a counter anecdote: none of the potential domains names I kept tabs on for an organization had that happen, and it was nearly 6 months of regular checking before pulling the trigger.

That's not a counter anecdote. Both things can happen in the same world without invalidating each other.

Agreed. I'm switching all my domains over from NameSilo this year as they expire. Their shitty UI was one thing, but they jacked up their .com prices a lot, and I'm done with them.

You don't have to wait until expiry. Transfers generally add 1 year of service (for most TLDs), so unless you're already at the limit, you can transfer everything now.

in fact you should not wait till expiration. Some registries refuse transfers if the domain is too close to expiration.

This is the motivation I need to finally switch off NameSilo too

Agreed. They support ALIAS records in their DNS, which many registrars don't.

.com price looks decent too, only 62¢ higher than Cloudflare.

I've settled on Cloudflare + internetbs.net for the cheapest domains with no bs.