diff --git a/layers/registry/server/api/orgs/[owner].get.ts b/layers/registry/server/api/orgs/[owner].get.ts
index 8b96c7b5..2b071a7e 100644
--- a/layers/registry/server/api/orgs/[owner].get.ts
+++ b/layers/registry/server/api/orgs/[owner].get.ts
@@ -168,22 +168,25 @@ export default defineEventHandler(async (event) => {
 
 async function loadOrgProfile(event: H3Event, owner: string): Promise<OrgProfile> {
   const db = getDB(event)
-  const [registryResult, ownerRow] = await Promise.all([
-    querySkills(event, {
-      owner,
-      sort: 'stars',
-      page: 1,
-      limit: 200,
-      officialOwners,
-      includeDependencies: true,
-    }),
-    loadOwner(owner, db),
-  ])
+  // querySkills must gate loadOwner: an owner with no registry skills is a
+  // garbage path and 404s here, before loadOwner pays a GitHub users API call
+  // and upserts a permanent sync_status='404' owners row for every crawler
+  // miss (issue #260). Do not run the two in parallel.
+  const registryResult = await querySkills(event, {
+    owner,
+    sort: 'stars',
+    page: 1,
+    limit: 200,
+    officialOwners,
+    includeDependencies: true,
+  })
 
   if (registryResult.items.length === 0) {
     throw createError({ statusCode: 404, message: `No skills found for @${owner}` })
   }
 
+  const ownerRow = await loadOwner(owner, db)
+
   const manifestKind = kindByOwner.get(owner)
   const kind: OrgKind = manifestKind
     ?? (ownerRow?.kind === 'user' ? 'user' : 'org')
diff --git a/test/unit/org-profile-garbage-owner.test.ts b/test/unit/org-profile-garbage-owner.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..517d872b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/org-profile-garbage-owner.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+import type { H3Event } from 'h3'
+import type { SqliteD1 } from './helpers/d1-sqlite'
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+import { allMigrations, createSqliteD1 } from './helpers/d1-sqlite'
+
+// Crawler-invented owner paths used to 404 correctly but still paid one
+// unauthenticated GitHub users API call per miss and upserted a permanent
+// owners row with sync_status='404' for every garbage path (issue #260).
+// The registry query gates the owner load, so a path with no skills must
+// 404 before either side effect happens.
+describe('org profile garbage owner', () => {
+  const owner = 'not-a-real-owner-xyz'
+  let harness: SqliteD1
+  let githubFetch: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>
+  let handler: (event: H3Event) => Promise<unknown>
+  let cacheMap: Map<string, unknown>
+
+  vi.stubGlobal('defineEventHandler', (handler: unknown) => handler)
+  vi.stubGlobal('createError', (input: Record<string, unknown>) => Object.assign(new Error(String(input.message)), input))
+  vi.stubGlobal('getRouterParam', (_event: unknown, key: string) => (key === 'owner' ? owner : undefined))
+  vi.stubGlobal('$fetch', async () => {
+    throw new Error('ungh.cc must not be reached for a garbage owner')
+  })
+
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    vi.resetModules()
+    harness = createSqliteD1(allMigrations())
+
+    githubFetch = vi.fn(async () => {
+      throw new Error('GitHub users API must not be reached for a garbage owner')
+    })
+    vi.stubGlobal('fetch', githubFetch)
+
+    cacheMap = new Map()
+    vi.stubGlobal('useStorage', () => ({
+      getItem: async (key: string) => cacheMap.get(key) ?? null,
+      setItem: async (key: string, value: unknown) => {
+        cacheMap.set(key, value)
+      },
+    }))
+
+    handler = (await import('../../layers/registry/server/api/orgs/[owner].get')).default
+  })
+
+  it('404s without a GitHub fetch or an owners row', async () => {
+    await expect(handler(event())).rejects.toMatchObject({ statusCode: 404 })
+
+    expect(githubFetch).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+
+    const row = harness.raw.prepare('SELECT owner FROM owners WHERE owner = ?').get(owner)
+    expect(row).toBeUndefined()
+    expect(cacheMap.size).toBe(0)
+  })
+
+  function event(): H3Event {
+    return {
+      context: {
+        platform: { db: harness.db },
+        cloudflare: { context: { waitUntil: () => {} } },
+      },
+      node: { req: { headers: {} } },
+    } as unknown as H3Event
+  }
+})