alert The fund can't be withdrawal from Epik.com via Masterbucks wallet

[enamebroker]

It happened on 23rd Aug 2022 and this matter lasted almost one month without any process. Masterbucks.com declined my fund withdrawal and disabled the button of fund withdrawal. And I contacted Epik.com and got no further action even if Rob Monster got involved in it for two weeks. All the time I was told in email by management review.

What is wrong with Epik.com? Do you think it is normal to disable fund withdrawal? How can I get back my fund from Epik.com? Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[Jim Holleran]

Anything to do with Rob Monster always stay away from. Dude is sketch AF

 

[Derek Peterson]

Anything to do with Rob Monster always stay away from. Dude is sketch AF

Any stories? We'd all love to hear.

 

[Jim Holleran]

Any stories? We'd all love to hear.

Rob never takes reponsibility for anything he messes up from Digitown to Epic breach and now this mess.

 

[Derek Peterson]

Rob never takes reponsibility for anything he messes up from Digitown to Epic breach and now this mess.

I have heard bits and pieces of digitown. Do you know that story? Didn't he get booted from that board or something?

 

[asxforum]

Any stories? We'd all love to hear.

Well my experience in dealing with Rob Monster has been a very positive one and will always thank him .

 

[Jim Holleran]

I have heard bits and pieces of digitown. Do you know that story? Didn't he get booted from that board or something?

You can read it here: https://domainnamewire.com/2018/09/17/rob-monster-exits-digitaltown-george-nagy-takes-over-ceo-role/

Rob mention in the article Quote: "I also plan to devote more time to Christian ministry and philanthropy"

LMAO Rob Monster is so full of BS

 

[GNP]

Yeah, I have never seen 2 dates displayed either and it seems that Epik is showing is only showing their registrar exp date, which, like everything epik does is a joke and/or a scam. Perhaps people with a couple domains important to them would check/double check exp dates in whois but these guys with dozens, hundreds or even thousands will almost never do that. They will rely entirely on that exp date column, order them by ascending and select the ones they want to renew.

It would be very easy for super admin to change exp date, let it expire, snatch it, and then update exp date to correct date. But it would take a real slimy person to do something like that.

I agree that it makes sense to be suspicious of everything Epik does.
HOWEVER, I know there are other registrar's that seemingly use THEIR expiration date instead of the registries date. (Since this is the only explanation that accounts for renewals at some registrar's losing a day each time). To be perfectly honest, how could a user even tell if the registrar is using THEIR expiration date or the registries expiration date??? (If the date matches, you can't tell which expiration date is being used, if the date does NOT match then it would be an indicator what date is being used.)

 

[Derek Peterson]

I agree that it makes sense to be suspicious of everything Epik does.
HOWEVER, I know there are other registrar's that seemingly use THEIR expiration date instead of the registries date. (Since this is the only explanation that accounts for renewals at some registrar's losing a day each time). To be perfectly honest, how could a user even tell if the registrar is using THEIR expiration date or the registries expiration date??? (If the date matches, you can't tell which expiration date is being used, if the date does NOT match then it would be an indicator what date is being used.)

You're not following what I am saying. Picture this, Rob sees a good domain held by large domainer, or domain receives a big offer, he changes the date to +9 months, when it expires on actual registry date, he then snatches domain and restores correct date. If customer notices and complains he can either restore as a favor to customer or simply say it is their fault and keep it.

 

[maheen]

Should employees who knew about the crimes and participated in them be liable with their property?

Yes, They are.

 

[jmcc]

Oct 24, 2018

Rob Monster, Epik.com Founder and CEO and Filip Borcov, Site.pro CEO discussing about Domains Lifehack: Buy Domain Forever.

During the 63rd convocation of global domain industry regulator, ICANN in Barcelona, perpetual domain ownership achieved an important milestone as Seattle-based Epik.com became the first domain name registrar to offer perpetual domain registrations for hundreds of popular domain extensions. Although perpetual registrations are not yet available for every domain extension, a growing number of popular domain extensions can now be secured perpetually for a one-time fee.

00:00 Rob Monster, Founder and CEO, Epik.com
01:00 A Domain forever
01:40 Some registries increased pricing by 30 times
02:40 Forever domain - permanent registration
03:28 Available for most domain names
04:00 You buy it, you own it
04:05 Domain as an estate
05:02 Transfer your domain and own it forever for fixed price
05:30 .com forever only for 420$
05:55 Forever hosting, forever domain, forever Site.pro
07:10 Be sure your domain price will not increase unpredictably
08:15 Registy, Registrar, ICANN, stakeholders recognise the idea of Forever
10:00 Epik.com sell and lease your domains

The body language from Monster in that video clip is quite odd in the way he keeps rocking back and forth. The whole rationale of "forever domains" goes against the commercial goals of registries. New gTLD registries are not price capped. Even .COM and .NET have had prices increases and these are authorised increases. The maximum registration/renewal period is ten years. Unless Epik had been renewing "forever" domain names for the maximum period then questions have to be asked about what it was doing with these payments. There should be a registry reports trail of ten year registrations and renewals.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Future Sensors]

The body language from Monster in that video clip is quite odd in the way he keeps rocking back and forth. The whole rationale of "forever domains" goes against the commercial goals of registries. New gTLD registries are not price capped. Even .COM and .NET have had prices increases and these are authorised increases. The maximum registration/renewal period is ten years. Unless Epik had been renewing "forever" domain names for the maximum period then questions have to be asked about what it was doing with these payments. There should be a registry reports trail of ten year registrations and renewals.

Exactly @jmcc.

Here is an archived overview of Epik's "Forever" registration pricing for all TLDs in that program (July 2022).

https://web.archive.org/web/20220702044052/https://registrar.epik.com/prices/registration/toplevel

How Epik arrived at those "forever" prices is not at all clear, but as you can see, it could be significant amounts of sometimes many thousands of dollars. The multiplication factor is not the same for each TLD in the overview. For ngTLDs it was probably estimated that those prices could rise excessively, but even Epik couldn't know in advance by how much.

 

[jmcc]

Exactly @jmcc.

Here is an archived overview of Epik's "Forever" registration pricing for all TLDs in that program (July 2022).

https://web.archive.org/web/20220702044052/https://registrar.epik.com/prices/registration/toplevel

How Epik arrived at those "forever" prices is not at all clear, but as you can see, it could be significant amounts of sometimes many thousands of dollars. The multiplication factor is not the same for each TLD in the overview. For ngTLDs it was probably estimated that those prices could rise excessively, but even Epik couldn't know in advance by how much.

The new gTLD registries can set their own pricing. The Uniregistry gTLDs were kicked off Godaddy (effectively shut out of the North American market) when the renewal fees were raised. Ironically, Godaddy now owns some of those gTLDs.

Looking at it from a numbers point of view, here are the netadd (new registrations for Epik from 2018 to September 2022 in .COM gTLD:

| Epik, Inc. | 201801 | 1,673 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201802 | 1,273 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201803 | 2,201 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201804 | 1,916 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201805 | 1,585 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201806 | 1,185 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201807 | 667 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201808 | 1,065 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201809 | 901 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201810 | 769 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201811 | 2,000 | 24 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201812 | 1,384 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201901 | 1,539 | 22 | 12 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201902 | 1,347 | 15 | 18 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201903 | 1,018 | 10 | 19 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201904 | 1,042 | 27 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201905 | 1,054 | 42 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201906 | 1,108 | 23 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201907 | 1,313 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201908 | 4,594 | 24 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201909 | 35,001 | 74 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201910 | 21,144 | 40 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201911 | 7,306 | 51 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201912 | 6,743 | 24 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202001 | 5,028 | 24 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202002 | 6,955 | 31 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202003 | 5,254 | 53 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202004 | 5,903 | 93 | 22 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202005 | 8,393 | 87 | 25 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202006 | 9,526 | 98 | 25 | 5 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202007 | 7,025 | 128 | 22 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202008 | 7,092 | 107 | 23 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202009 | 6,019 | 64 | 29 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202010 | 6,377 | 31 | 47 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202011 | 5,487 | 40 | 9 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202012 | 5,081 | 62 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202101 | 5,473 | 118 | 51 | 16 | 26 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202102 | 5,996 | 124 | 37 | 3 | 29 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202103 | 9,247 | 89 | 48 | 8 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202104 | 8,886 | 85 | 41 | 7 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202105 | 7,136 | 107 | 38 | 4 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202106 | 8,024 | 92 | 40 | 6 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202107 | 6,397 | 80 | 33 | 6 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202108 | 8,398 | 69 | 25 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202109 | 8,196 | 113 | 31 | 8 | 21 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202110 | 8,268 | 70 | 39 | 3 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202111 | 10,149 | 55 | 23 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202112 | 7,486 | 63 | 26 | 3 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202201 | 8,129 | 63 | 30 | 5 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202202 | 7,399 | 71 | 27 | 2 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 22 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202203 | 9,695 | 79 | 15 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202204 | 7,371 | 88 | 32 | 2 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202205 | 6,478 | 57 | 32 | 8 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202206 | 7,131 | 42 | 23 | 4 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202207 | 5,990 | 65 | 21 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202208 | 15,279 | 51 | 22 | 9 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202209 | 5,538 | 78 | 18 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 |

There is some 10 year registrations activity so this might have been Forever Domains registrations. However, it is just background noise compared to the new registrations concentrated in the netadd1 column. These are domain names registered for one year only.

Here are the renewals for .COM in the same period:
| Epik, Inc. | 201801 | 14,569 | 66 | 9 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201802 | 12,265 | 48 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201803 | 16,308 | 87 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201804 | 15,135 | 31 | 8 | 19 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201805 | 11,364 | 31 | 7 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201806 | 13,225 | 58 | 4 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201807 | 15,946 | 42 | 8 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201808 | 15,072 | 46 | 22 | 19 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201809 | 16,442 | 18 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201810 | 15,714 | 49 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201811 | 13,635 | 45 | 18 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201812 | 15,445 | 42 | 12 | 215 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201901 | 17,757 | 56 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201902 | 14,597 | 62 | 29 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201903 | 16,650 | 57 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201904 | 18,212 | 40 | 18 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201905 | 11,749 | 59 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201906 | 16,057 | 26 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201907 | 17,278 | 64 | 37 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201908 | 19,274 | 79 | 30 | 15 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201909 | 20,714 | 47 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201910 | 17,060 | 46 | 15 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201911 | 18,194 | 52 | 25 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 201912 | 20,890 | 81 | 21 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202001 | 26,847 | 94 | 21 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202002 | 25,815 | 105 | 25 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 13 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202003 | 19,350 | 80 | 19 | 13 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202004 | 22,471 | 63 | 64 | 24 | 26 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 14 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202005 | 18,016 | 56 | 11 | 6 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202006 | 19,853 | 90 | 16 | 14 | 34 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202007 | 21,088 | 100 | 35 | 8 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202008 | 20,081 | 107 | 28 | 15 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202009 | 23,754 | 115 | 31 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202010 | 23,702 | 95 | 29 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202011 | 22,866 | 120 | 23 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202012 | 22,664 | 89 | 33 | 5 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202101 | 38,763 | 111 | 30 | 10 | 21 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 27 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202102 | 24,778 | 141 | 31 | 10 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 25 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202103 | 23,616 | 153 | 40 | 11 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 13 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202104 | 26,552 | 94 | 25 | 10 | 22 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 27 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202105 | 36,562 | 158 | 28 | 19 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202106 | 35,598 | 153 | 45 | 20 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 32 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202107 | 28,322 | 117 | 27 | 7 | 22 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202108 | 37,385 | 130 | 51 | 49 | 21 | 5 | 13 | 8 | 23 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202109 | 37,014 | 281 | 63 | 16 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 32 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202110 | 22,563 | 77 | 25 | 6 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202111 | 22,055 | 109 | 36 | 14 | 27 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 25 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202112 | 24,169 | 117 | 35 | 7 | 45 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 39 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202201 | 45,194 | 196 | 62 | 18 | 39 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 37 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202202 | 27,461 | 126 | 55 | 21 | 45 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 29 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202203 | 29,957 | 145 | 62 | 10 | 42 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 56 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202204 | 28,658 | 129 | 35 | 23 | 23 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 46 | 2 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202205 | 30,555 | 118 | 44 | 16 | 29 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 35 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202206 | 28,014 | 135 | 39 | 9 | 25 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 21 | 1 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202207 | 31,053 | 120 | 48 | 16 | 47 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202208 | 41,919 | 305 | 85 | 31 | 66 | 8 | 16 | 17 | 62 | 0 |
| Epik, Inc. | 202209 | 51,255 | 196 | 83 | 14 | 55 | 10 | 3 | 15 | 20 | 0 |

It looks like the Forever Domains was not even a blip on the radar. Both the Netadd1 and Renew1 figures are typical for a retail registrar. The Forever Domains thing would have bee pitching to a market already occupied by big players like Markmonitor, Comlaude, etc who provide brand management services to their clients and take care of registrations. Monster was trying to pitch such a service to the retail market. Again, Epik is following the pattern of a typical retail registrar.

Regards...jmcc

 

[jmcc]

Just for comparison, these are the figures for Markmonitor over 2022 in .COM gTLD. It is a brand protection/IP firm and has very different characteristics:
New:

| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202201 | 903 | 739 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202202 | 1,138 | 881 | 12 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202203 | 1,038 | 823 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202204 | 1,574 | 885 | 19 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202205 | 1,300 | 1,150 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202206 | 718 | 499 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202207 | 807 | 1,126 | 13 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202208 | 1,077 | 858 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202209 | 690 | 421 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |

Renewals:
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202201 | 26,582 | 11,949 | 83 | 13 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 7 | 0 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202202 | 29,930 | 11,987 | 73 | 11 | 14 | 1 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202203 | 25,891 | 12,117 | 82 | 25 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202204 | 24,067 | 11,874 | 79 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 34 | 14 | 0 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202205 | 28,902 | 11,604 | 134 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202206 | 20,525 | 11,350 | 36 | 7 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 0 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202207 | 26,477 | 12,124 | 46 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202208 | 29,783 | 11,437 | 55 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MarkMonitor Inc. | 202209 | 22,876 | 10,909 | 49 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |

The brand protection market is very different from the retail market in that the retail market runs on one year registrations and renewals.

Regards...jmcc

 

[jmcc]

This is a Quick Delta 5 comparison (basically comparing the domain names from a zone file five years ago to the domain names in the current zone file to see how many are still in the zone). The .COM is quite solid for a mainstream gTLD.

gTLD - 2018 Count - Retained - Deleted - Ret % - Del %

.COM 130,374,998 81,274,107 49,100,891 62.34% 37.66%
NET 14,254,997 7,938,004 6,316,993 55.69% 44.31%
ORG 10,324,447 6,054,867 4,269,580 58.65% 41.35%

When it gets to the new gTLDs, things change dramatically.
loan 2,100,650 2,230 2,098,420 0.11 99.89
xyz 1,944,155 320,328 1,623,827 16.48 83.52
top 1,294,411 178,681 1,115,730 13.80 86.20
club 1,007,936 135,786 872,150 13.47 86.53

That really is a 99.89% deletion rate for .LOAN (one of the infamous Famous Four new gTLDs). The Quick Delta measures the old zone against the new zone file. It is checking the domain names from the old zone that are still in the new zone. They may have been reregistered but it is a good metric of how a TLD changes over time.

Epik is a relatively small player in a very big market and it is understandable that Monster was trying to innovate to gain market share. He's a marketer. The problem is that domain name registration is a volume game where the domain names are a route to upsell the customers to other products (hosting/site builders/certs etc) with higher profit margins. Epik's main success has been its marketplace but it still pales in comparison to big players like Afternic, Dan, etc.

Regards...jmcc

 

[J.R.]

I started moving the dozen or so domains I had registered at Epik last week.
I've never had an issue transferring domains from a registrar to another registrar.

I paid to transfer 4 domains out on 24 Jan 2023, and they should have transferred to NameCheap yesterday 29 Jan 2023/6:15P. Yet, here I am this morning (US time) and all 4 domains show in NC account as awaiting transfer release from Epik.

I'll be relieved once all my domains are transferred from Epik. I don't trust their product anymore.

Anyone else having problems transferring out of Epik the last few days?

Never before have I encountered a transfer issue, especially with domains in ACTIVE status. Epik has dropped the ball, and it is time for ICANN to step in and do their job.

 

[jmcc]

The transfer period for gTLDs is approximately 5 days.
https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/deta...ame-heres-what-you-need-to-know-11-10-2017-en
As long as the transfer happens within the 5 day transfer window, ICANN probably will not do anything. It looks like it is outside the transfer window.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Embrand]

I started moving the dozen or so domains I had registered at Epik last week.
I've never had an issue transferring domains from a registrar to another registrar.

Show attachment 231200

I paid to transfer 4 domains out on 24 Jan 2023, and they should have transferred to NameCheap yesterday 29 Jan 2023/6:15P. Yet, here I am this morning (US time) and all 4 domains show in NC account as awaiting transfer release from Epik.

I'll be relieved once all my domains are transferred from Epik. I don't trust their product anymore.

Anyone else having problems transferring out of Epik the last few days?

Never before have I encountered a transfer issue, especially with domains in ACTIVE status. Epik has dropped the ball, and it is time for ICANN to step in and do their job.

Did you try to expedite the transfers in your Epik account?

By the way, I just went to log in to my Epik account. Normally, I am forwarded to their FederatedIdentity site in order to log in, but it seems they are no longer using FederatedIdentity for single login to all their sites.

 

[Future Sensors]

Normally, I am forwarded to their FederatedIdentity site in order to login, but it seems they are no longer using FederatedIdentity for login to all their sites.

I see. It's redirecting to id.epik.com now.

So the federatedidentity.com domain can be put up for sale?

 

[GNP]

I see. It's redirecting to id.epik.com now.

When I logged into Epik a couple of days ago they were still using federatedidentity .com so it must have changed over the weekend or today (Monday).

 

[J.R.]

Did you try to expedite the transfers in your Epik account?

By the way, I just went to log in to my Epik account. Normally, I am forwarded to their FederatedIdentity site in order to log in, but it seems they are no longer using FederatedIdentity for single login to all their sites.

No I didn't expedite, because I didn't want to add any extra steps.
I've never had to expedite before, on the 5th day my transfers have always been automatic.

Even Epik acknowledges this standard in confirmation email, the transfer is automatic.

I don't trust Epik at all, they have a job to follow transfer OUT protocol according to ICANN policy. There is no expedition requirement for fully paid domains.

Epik is failing their customers, and I advise anyone with domains there to start transferring out ASAP. Save every invoice, copy all account records, because Epik is on the verge of total implosion by the end of Q1 2023.

 

[jmcc]

No I didn't expedite, because I didn't want to add any extra steps.
I've never had to expedite before, on the 5th day my transfers have always been automatic.

Have you checked the WHOIS on your domain name to see that it is not locked?

Regards...jmcc

 

[J.R.]

The transfer period for gTLDs is approximately 5 days.
https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/deta...ame-heres-what-you-need-to-know-11-10-2017-en
As long as the transfer happens within the 5 day transfer window, ICANN probably will not do anything. It looks like it is outside the transfer window.

Regards...jmcc

It's Day 6, as Epik's own confirmation email stated domains should have been released at 6:15P 29 Jan 2023. As of this reply, 30 Jan 2023 9:20A (US Central) the set of domains have not been released to Namecheap.

I will wait a couple of days to see what happens before filing a complaint with ICANN.

I've never had an issue transferring a domain name that was fully paid and ACTIVE.

I take this as a red flag to move everything away from Epik, and advise others to do so. The major domain blogs should be alerting the general public to this Epik disaster in the making.

 

[Embrand]

I see. It's redirecting to id.epik.com now.

So the federatedidentity.com domain can be put up for sale?

Yes, I was thinking that as well. But so far it still has a website - not forwarding to for sale at Saw.com.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

I transferred a domain from Create.com couple months back.
Got expedite email, go to epik control panel to speed it up. Course I cant, so on day 5 6:29 am I am waiting for email like you
Ended up being like 5 hours after the 120 hour time frame stated
It will happen

 

[jmcc]

It's Day 6, as Epik's own confirmation email stated domains should have been released at 6:15P 29 Jan 2023. As of this reply, 30 Jan 2023 9:20A (US Central) the set of domains have not been released to Namecheap.

I will wait a couple days to see what happens before filing a complain with ICANN.

I've never had an issue transferring a domain name that was fully paid and ACTIVE.

I take this as a red flag to move everything away from Epik, and advise anyone else to do so. The major domain blogs should be alerting the general public to this Epik disaster in the making.

It is a bad sign. Epik has lost so many employees recently that it may have too few people to deal with things. For any complaint, get Namecheap's follow-up on the transfer and if it has experienced any problem.

Regards...jmcc