GoDaddy 60 day hold

Isn't this illegal? Substitute 60 days with 1 year, what's the legality that any registrar can impose a holding period much longer than what ICANN is imposing?

It's not illegal, but I think it is against ICANN policies.

this policy is there for years already

Recently when I called godaddy support the guy who I talked with told me that this is ICaNN policy :D lol

I don't think with other registrars if you change your email address or phone number due to typo or whatever, they will reset your holding period to another 60 days. So it can't be an ICANN policy, am i right?

Of course it's a customer retention ploy. In other circumstances you can transfer domains out of GD in <40 minutes. So it has nothing to do with security.

Look it up. It's an ICANN policy.

It's meant to prevent sites from shifting registrars all the time and avoiding takedown notices.

mrjohn said:

Look it up. It's an ICANN policy.

It's meant to prevent sites from shifting registrars all the time and avoiding takedown notices.

Click to expand...

ICANN policy is to lock domain for 60 days after transfer and registration, but not after whois change.
It is only godaddy policy.

Just don't mess up or you'll do 60 more days! :lol:

Last I checked ICANN policy, upon request by the registrant, GoDaddy must provide the authcode and unlock within 5 calender days.

http://www.icann.org/en/transfers/policy-en.htm
(some portions of this may not applicable to every registrar, but is to most, since the vast majority, including GoDaddy, have agreed to the 2009 RAA)

Below is an excerpt - emphasis mine:

------

Instances when the requested change of Registrar may not be denied include, but are not limited to:

* Nonpayment for a pending or future registration period
* No response from the Registered Name Holder or Administrative Contact.
* Domain name in Registrar Lock Status, unless the Registered Name Holder is provided with the reasonable opportunity and ability to unlock the domain name prior to the Transfer Request.
* Domain name registration period time constraints, other than during the first 60 days of initial registration or during the first 60 days after a registrar transfer.
* General payment defaults between Registrar and business partners / affiliates in cases where the Registered Name Holder for the domain in question has paid for the registration.

------

One can file a complaint at http://www.internic.net/ - click link on right hand side under "Have a Problem with a Registrar?"

ICANN itself likely isn't going to do much about the matter, but puts the incident on record and may, if many others file similar complaints, help motivate the registrar to follow-through.

Most likely with some persistence, and reminding GoDaddy about the 2009 RAA, which they agreed to, will get things moving in the right direction.

Ron

@Domagon - You are going to need a lot of persistence, Ron, when my Account Manager is telling me he can no longer unlock the domain. He's been doing that for me for years. Thanks for the ICANN link.

@alien51 - Read my post again. It's only if the company name, firstname, lastname, changes, you can change your email for example or make corrections to your address. But if you mis-spell your company name, firstname, lastname, then maybe you deserve to be blocked for 60 days

@domeen - No it hasn't. I've been unlocking any blocked domains for years.

This is an annoyance to domainers mostly. Corporate end users and the average Joe are not concerned about domains being locked, cause the seldom sell any or transfer away...
In fact, GD is not so domainer-friendly. Their CP is crap and slow, everything at GD is designed to waste your time.
Vote with your wallets.

It's true most GoDaddy registrants don't notice, don't care, etc ... but domainers do, and if GoDaddy isn't careful, their 60 day hold policy could result in a class action lawsuit...

It's likely among the reasons, when pressed, GoDaddy releases the lock - they know darn well their 60 day policy is in gross violation of the original registrar agreement they signed with ICANN, plus the 2009 RAA.

Stub- as for the account manager, perhaps he's under extra pressure to keep domains from transferring out due to the recent elephant killer flap; they've lost a lot in recent weeks. Anyways, try again, pointing out the 2009 RAA ...

And if no good, contact GoDaddy's legal department - don't threaten suing, etc ... but rather remind them of the 2009 RAA and that you simply want the domain(s) unlocked and authcodes provided within 5 calendar days as required by the 2009 RAA.

Ron

I actually like GoDaddy, a lot. But I am transferring my domains out (to DynaDot) as they become due for renewal. Because, as a domainer, I need to do more than 2 port 43 whois lookups, a day before being blocked from the GoDaddy whois servers. It's outrageous. They're losing a lot of money from me (insignificant to them, I know).

stub said:

I actually like GoDaddy, a lot. But I am transferring my domains out (to DynaDot) as they become due for renewal. Because, as a domainer, I need to do more than 2 port 43 whois lookups, a day before being blocked from the GoDaddy whois servers. It's outrageous. They're losing a lot of money from me (insignificant to them, I know).

Click to expand...

I don't like Godaddy at all.

BTW if you didn't know, Dynadot is running a $6.99 transfer special until the 25th.

stub said:

Read my post again. It's only if the company name, firstname, lastname, changes, you can change your email for example or make corrections to your address. But if you mis-spell your company name, firstname, lastname, then maybe you deserve to be blocked for 60 days

Click to expand...

That makes their intentions more confusing. How can such policy make your domains safer from stealing, by leaving out the email address, phone numbers, from the restriction?

If a thief broke into your Godaddy account, he can just change the email address, move the domain to another registrar, and then change the rest of the WHOIS contacts after the transfer. Am i right?

Another thing, why 60 days? If this is not an ICANN policy, then why not just 30 days, or even 15 days? What benefit does it give to customers by setting the prison term that long? This is not an Anti-Thief policy, is it? This is an Anti-Domainer policy preventing you from moving domains you milked from Godaddy using those bait coupons?

I was just correcting your misconceptions. I'm not saying it's right or wrong. But if you push me , I will

Domagon said:

if GoDaddy isn't careful, their 60 day hold policy could result in a class action lawsuit...

Click to expand...

What are your damages?

DubDubDubDot said:

What are your damages?

Click to expand...

The inability of transferring out in a timely manner...

As for what that translates to in monetary damages in a class action lawsuit - well, leave that to the imagination of attorneys :D

Ron

This is the reply I got from my account manager about a refused unblock, after I pointed out that it was against ICANN policies.

When you accept a coa you have to accept the Go Daddy agreement in regards to the 60 day lock.
http://www.godaddy.com/legal-agreements.aspx

If that is not good enough for you then you can email [email protected], but that is something that I am not able to get into.

Click to expand...

So Parsons is aware of what he is doing. He's making you accept an agreement which is contrary to ICANN policy. They should have their ICANN Registrar status canceled, imho.

alien51 said:

That makes their intentions more confusing. How can such policy make your domains safer from stealing, by leaving out the email address, phone numbers, from the restriction?

If a thief broke into your Godaddy account, he can just change the email address, move the domain to another registrar, and then change the rest of the WHOIS contacts after the transfer. Am i right?

Click to expand...

There is no confusion. Their intention is to protect themselves from credit card chargebacks. When a domain is sold through auctions (either expired domain or private sale) it will get locked for 60 days so that in case of a chargeback, godaddy will avoid losing money.

They don't give a damn about security. Check my topic here:
http://www.namepros.com/warnings-and-alerts/708522-incredible-security-holes-at-godaddy.html

Another thing, why 60 days? If this is not an ICANN policy, then why not just 30 days, or even 15 days?

Click to expand...

The reason is to create confusion and to hide behind the other 60 day lock that happens after transfers. If godaddy did 50 days it would be absolutely clear that this is a made up rule by godaddy. Now they can lie and say it is an icann rule and when people search for 60 day transfer lock they will see some results which is related to the genuine 60 day rule and not to the made up one.

---------- Post added at 02:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:42 AM ----------

Domainers could force websites to correct their mistakes if the domainer community was acting together. This is a big community of around 30K members. A lot of them own websites. There are dozens of blogs and other domain sites.

If domainers would campaign for something they would make their voices heard. However, I don't believe in the domainer community anymore.

After the useless responses to my Dynadot topic , I think domainers deserve to be treated like rubbish. I don't want to do anything for any domainer now. I'm very annoyed.

stub said:

This is the reply I got from my account manager about a refused unblock, after I pointed out that it was against ICANN policies.

Quote:
When you accept a coa you have to accept the Go Daddy agreement in regards to the 60 day lock.
http://www.godaddy.com/legalagreements.aspx

Click to expand...

Stub,

Maybe you can direct your account manager to the
"Registrar Advisory Concerning the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy".

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/advisory-03apr08.htm

Excerpts:
"A registrant’s objection to transfer is not valid unless it is obtained voluntarily.

This section of the advisory considers the scenario when a registrar requires a registrant to provide consent to deny transfer requests for a certain period of time (usually 60 days) in order for the registrant to update its Whois data.

Registrant updates to Whois contact details is not enumerated as a valid basis to deny a transfer request in the Transfer Policy. In addition, ordinary changes to Whois data fields are not evidence of fraud and therefore not a basis to deny a domain name transfer request.

...registrars are permitted to deny transfer requests if they have obtained, "6. Express written objection to the transfer from the Transfer contact. (e.g. - email, fax, paper document or other processes by which the Transfer Contact has expressly and voluntarily objected through opt-in means)

Registrars that have implemented processes that require registrants to consent to deny transfer requests in order to update Whois contact information are not obtaining voluntary express objections and therefore such objections cannot be used as a basis for denying a transfer

Registrars are advised that any express written objections to transfer obtained by registrars through compulsory means, including express written objections obtained before allowing registrants to make required Whois data changes, are involuntary and therefore not a valid basis to deny transfer requests.

Just another idea expanding on tricolorro's. Although not guaranteed of course, cc ICANN if you email Go Daddy or your account manager about it while mentioning that transfer rule.

I'm not going to make any big waves at GoDaddy over this. I have thousands of domains there. I cannot risk/afford to be either a) locked out of my account, or b) told to move all my domains within the next 5 days. The domain in question will have expired by the time the 60 day hold expires. But, since GoDaddy allow you to transfer out expired domains, I'll just transfer out after the 60 days has expired.

That's not to say I agree with their POV. I agree with what Domagon and tricolorro are pointing out. They are in breach of their ICANN agreement in at least two places.

@tricolorro I think my account manager has already conceded to a higher authority. No point to go back to him, unless I want to upset him, which I don't. It's not his fault. His hands are tied-up by his superiors, and Bob Parsons.

@Erdy Dynadot are not the only ones doing this. GoDaddy does it too. I've transferred many domains which have been through the auctions already at GoDaddy.