ya it's a bit confusing. I do see in recent days there are Show HN posts being posted by new accounts with quite low karma but their submissions went through.
I think only Porkbun and Namecheap has reasonable programmatic access. And I am curious what are the use cases where someone needs to register and setup 20+ domains on a recurring basis?
Interesting idea for sure. I am just thinking, intuitively couldn't I 'game' the mediator by overstating my preference and requirements to achieve a more favorable outcome?