Dynadot.com's annoying 30 days auction lock

Erdy · Nov 10, 2010

I'm annoyed with Dynadot.com and their attitude towards feedback. I gave them detailed feedback on how to improve their service and all they said they have added this to their to do list. After a while I sent them another email. This time they say they have no intention of changing anything. What happened to the to do list? It is like talking to a wall. They never listen.

They keep locking domains for 30 days that I buy at their expired domain auctions. They say they wait to make sure the funds are clear. However I suggest them to pre-fund my account in advance. If this is about waiting and making sure the funds are clear then I don't mind paying money into my account one month in advance. They don't seem to understand nor they listen.

18 Oct 2010 My first email:

If a domain is on auction lock can I push it?

The reason I'm asking is because I bought a few domains at your expired domain marketplace and I don't want to wait until the auction lock is lifted to sell them.

18 Oct 2010 Dynadot's answer:

Hello,

Unfortunately, you can not move or transfer a domain while it is in auction lock status. Please read the following help topic for more information:

What does it mean when a domain is in "auction lock" status?
http://www.dynadot.com/help/question.html?aid=172

Best Regards,
Dynadot Staff

20 Oct 2010 My second email:

Hi,
I bought a few domains from your expired domain marketplace.
I find the 30 day auction lock time too off putting. I buy those domains to sell. I don't want to wait so long.

Even at Godaddy I wait only a week. I'm sure you can do better than 30 days.
If this is about previous owner still being able to renew, I think you should never list those domains while they can still be renewed.

If this is about funds clearing, I suggest you differentiate between expired domain auctions and private sale auctions. Maybe keep 30 days auction lock for private sales and reduce to 10 days for expired domains.

In general the 30 day auction lock for expired domains is far too long.
Thanks
Erdinc

20 Oct 2010 Dynadot's answer:

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback, but the auction time is set to 30 days to avoid fraudulent payments. We have to make sure the payment is not a fraudulent one before we release the domain.

Best Regards,
Dynadot Staff

20 Oct 2010 My third email:

Hi,
I wrote you about auction lock time being too long you and you wrote back saying it is to avoid fraudulent payments.

However I have put money in my Dynadot account longer than 1 month ago. You have this "bulk pricing" option which I use. I already pre-fund my account long before I spent the money. But still you make me wait 30 days for auction lock. I'm buying domains to sell them. The 30 day auction lock makes your expired domain marketplace undesirable.

Example:
I pay $500 into my Dynadot account. 30 days later, today I purchase an expired domain using funds that are waiting in my account for 30 days. You apply auction lock and keep me waiting for a further 30 days because you want to avoid fraudulent payments. It doesn't make sense because these funds were already in my account for 30 days. Do you see my point here?

Possible Solutions :
Solution 1: Create a system where there is account balance and there is also "marketplace cleared funds". Funds that have been waiting in your account balance for 30 days show up in your "marketplace cleared funds" automatically. When you make a purchase in the marketplace, it automatically uses your marketplace cleared funds if there are enough funds here. Otherwise it uses your normal account balance. These two sections hold the same total balance.

For instance if you have $550 in your account balance and $500 of it was added over 30 days ago and the other 50 was added newly, your account balance will show $550 and your marketplace cleared funds $500.
It would then show like this:
Account balance: $550
Marketplace cleared funds: $500 (These are funds that were added more than 30 days ago)

Solution 2: Create a system where there is, account balance and "marketplace instant balance". Funds that have been waiting in account balance for 30 days can be moved manually by the used to "marketplace instant balance" section. These two sections hold their own separate balance.

For instance if I have $400 in my account and it was added 30 days ago, I can manually push $150 to marketplace instant balance section.
It would then show like this:
Regular account balance: $250
Marketplace instant balance: $150
Total account balance: $400

Thanks
Erdinc

20 Oct 2010 Dynadot's answer:

Hello,

Thank you for your suggestion. We will add that feature to our todo list. But currently, we have to keep the auction lock feature. This feature can help us to reduce fraudulent payments and lower the price for our customers.

26 Oct 2010 My fourth email:

Hi,
I need to make some domain sales but because of the 30 day auction lock I can't. Can you please reduce the auction lock time ...

I paid you over six hundred dollars in the last few months. ... I'm not going to start scamming you now. I bought those domains in your expired marketplace for cheap.

Thanks
Erdinc

26 Oct 2010 Dynadot's answer:

Hello,

We can't reduce the auction lock period. Please understand that the auction lock can help us prevent fraudulent orders and lower the price for our customers.

Best Regards,
Dynadot Staff

10 Nov 2010 My fifth email

Hi,

A few weeks ago I wrote you an email about the 30 days auction lock that you apply to domains bought at your expired domain auctions.
You said this is to protect against fraudulent funds.

However I can pre-fund my account in advance and leave the money waiting in my account for 30 days. Then you wouldn't need to apply auction lock. I understand that this option requires programming. I'm just wondering if this is on your to do list.

Thanks
Erdinc

10 Nov 2010 Dynadot's answer:

Hello,

The 30 day auction lock is a company policy and we have no plans on changing this any time soon. We appreciate your suggestion; all feedback from our customers is considered.

Best Regards,
Dynadot Staff

Dynadot · Nov 10, 2010

We apologize if you feel that we have not taken your suggestions into consideration. Your suggestions have been put into a to-do list. However, with this particular matter we need time to assess whether implementing the changes into our system would still compromise the security of our customers. It may be an inconvenience to you but the security of our customers is at the highest of priorities.

For now, we do not have any plans to change our policies. Your feedback has created internal discussions on the matter and we may consider changes in the future.

Thank you for your feedback. Please let us know if you have any further suggestions; we will carefully consider those as well.

Name Trader · Nov 13, 2010

Looks like your stuck with their company policy, Erdinc. But I agree with you that it doesn't make any sense, if the auction lock is to prevent fraudulent payments, then I would consider payment by any account balance older than 30 days, perfectly legitimate payment, so no need for an auction lock. So, just start your selling 30 days later or tell you customers the domain is locked until, xx date.

Does the lock prevent pushing to another Dynadot account as well?

Erdy · Nov 13, 2010

stub said:
Does the lock prevent pushing to another Dynadot account as well?

Yes, it does. You can see this in their first reply and in this link as well:
http://www.dynadot.com/help/question.html?aid=172

While in this status, the domain cannot be unlocked or moved into another Dynadot account.

Godaddy applies a 60 day lock to their expiring domain purchases however this is only for external transfers. Therefore you can sell the domain as soon as it arrives in your Godaddy account because you can push it. I hate Godaddy but in this case they are one step ahead of Dynadot.

With expiring domains the owner and the seller of the domain is Dynadot. They sell those domains starting fro $11.75 a piece. Technically there is no difference between Dynadot selling new domain registrations or expiring domains. In both case the same chargeback risk applies.

You can push a newly registered domain however you can not transfer it out during first 60 days. For instance Dynadot sells a dot CO domain for $25 whereas they sell most expiring domains for $11.75. But still they are more protective with expiring domains although it has the same risk as a newly registered domain regarding fake funds.

I think they are confusing their private sale marketplace with expiring domains. With private sales the seller is a client and the buyer is another client. They should differentiate between those two.

I have over 80 domains in my Dynadot account. I spent over $700 in last few months. I'm one of their bulk pricing customers where you pay $500 in advance and get cheaper prices. They still treat me like I'm a potential scammer.

Dynadot has some smart features. However this 30 day lock is not one of them. I would expect better. I am not impressed.

D. Wells · Dec 9, 2012

dynadot said:
We apologize if you feel that we have not taken your suggestions into consideration. Your suggestions have been put into a to-do list. However, with this particular matter we need time to assess whether implementing the changes into our system would still compromise the security of our customers. It may be an inconvenience to you but the security of our customers is at the highest of priorities.

For now, we do not have any plans to change our policies. Your feedback has created internal discussions on the matter and we may consider changes in the future.

Thank you for your feedback. Please let us know if you have any further suggestions; we will carefully consider those as well.

Well, this was two years ago and still no changes to this policy. I love Dynadot, but Dyandot has a lot of policy's which greatly inconvenience customers.

We do not buy domains just for fun, we buy to sell them! Dynadot 30 day auction lock is a major inconvenience. Honestly, I stopped bidding on Dynadot just for this reason(As I am sure many others stopped for thi reason also.) Dynadot is a Domainers registrar, but your policies greatly inconveniences Domainers.

You buy a name from GoDaddy expired auctions the domain is in your account in less than 7 days normally, and you are free to do whatever with it.

This post has been more than 2 years ago, so basically Dynadot said, "f" what the customers think. If we took a majority vote, 9 out of 10 customers would say auction locks were bs. And guess what? The customer is always right.

Moral to this story is: Your primary customers are "Domainers," we do not buy domains to sit for 30 days... we buy domains to start trying to sell the moment we register...

Thanks for understanding........

---------- Post added at 02:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:31 AM ----------

Ironically, I tried to transfer a domain to someone 30 minutes after this post and I could not, because the domain was in "buy lock." This is total bs and starting to really piss me off honestly...

DU · Dec 10, 2012

TheChamp said:
The customer is always right.

No they're not. Often the customer is only worried about their own self interest.

Aggravating customers aren't worth having.

D. Wells · Dec 10, 2012

defaultuser said:
No they're not. Often the customer is only worried about their own self interest.

Aggravating customers aren't worth having.

To say a customer is not worth having is just absurd in any business. Without customers you have nothing. It is just that simple.

DU · Dec 10, 2012

TheChamp said:
To say a customer is not worth having is just absurd in any business. Without customers you have nothing. It is just that simple.

I didn't customers aren't worth having. I said aggravating customers aren't worth having.

I define aggravating as any customer that has a net negative impact on your staff or bottom line.

D. Wells · Dec 10, 2012

defaultuser said:
I didn't customers aren't worth having. I said aggravating customers aren't worth having.

I define aggravating as any customer that has a net negative impact on your staff or bottom line.

Well, I do not see how suggesting a change in policy which the majority of customers believe is an inconvenience is "aggravating." What you are saying makes no sense and you could not even justify this statement. Just a broad statement, that in all due respect, makes no sense.

FPForum · Jan 30, 2013

TheChamp said:
Well, I do not see how suggesting a change in policy which the majority of customers believe is an inconvenience is "aggravating." What you are saying makes no sense and you could not even justify this statement. Just a broad statement, that in all due respect, makes no sense.

You said it perfectly right there. Why does a business ask for customer feedback if they plan on doing nothing about it? This has been an issue with DD for a while now and I'm sure you're not the only one who's complained about it. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of the things people complained about to them the most.

That being said, their policy has been like this for some time now and hasn't changed. The only way to really make your voice heard is to simply stop spending money there. Take your business elsewhere (GoDaddy auctions have always been better than DynaDot) and when enough people do - they'll be forced to either make changes or go out of business.

sofiapartner · Jan 30, 2013

Dynadot, there is surely another reason for this 30 days lock. I dont know. Maybe parking profits or something else. But dont tell me security - because you are the ONLY register to do this.

And its really really ANNOYING!

dynadot said:
We apologize if you feel that we have not taken your suggestions into consideration. Your suggestions have been put into a to-do list. However, with this particular matter we need time to assess whether implementing the changes into our system would still compromise the security of our customers. It may be an inconvenience to you but the security of our customers is at the highest of priorities.

For now, we do not have any plans to change our policies. Your feedback has created internal discussions on the matter and we may consider changes in the future.

Thank you for your feedback. Please let us know if you have any further suggestions; we will carefully consider those as well.

WORDSWORTH · Jan 31, 2013

I'm quite surprised by Dynadot's answer here. I always understood that an auction lock was in place in case the former registrant decided to redeem the domain whilst the domain was still technically his or hers. Were this to happen, the domain would be removed from the winner's account and moved back into the account of the original registrant and the auction bidder refunded. If the domain could be sold or transferred during this time, it would make it very tricky for the registrar to recover, especially if the domain had been transferred/sold multiple times. There is a similar auction lock in place with eNom domains won at NameJet. These registrars are basically profiting from the system - they win whether the domain is renewed or not.

The best solution IMO (that would keep most people happy):

Simply auction the domains later so the winner would have to wait less time for the auction lock to be removed whilst still preserving the rights of the original registrant. Netsol domains won at NameJet are only locked for a couple of days to the best of my knowledge so this must be possible.

sofiapartner · Jan 31, 2013

WordsWorth, that's not the case. The domain can be redeemed by the previous owner approximately one week after the auction is ended. After that - the domain moves to the new owner's account and is property of the new owner. HOWEVER he can't use it the way he wants (to transfer the domain to another dynadot account or to another register for example), until Dynadot removes this lock.

Dynadot · Feb 14, 2013

Thank you all for your comments. We wanted to take this opportunity to clarify some of the points here regarding our auction lock policy. The auction lock was created as a fraud-prevention measure. We wanted to keep the domain in the account it was purchased from long enough to be fairly certain the payment was valid. It is not because the original Registrant still has any rights to the domain. We do not add the domain to the winner's account until the original Registrant's Renewal Grace Period has passed. That happens 3-4 days after the auction's end. While auction locked, the domain can be used, but not pushed or transferred.

More importantly though, we wanted to address the idea that your complaints and suggestions are not heard or considered. That is simply not the case. Our team has discussed your comments and ideas in our meetings on more than one occasion. Ultimately, we decided not to make any changes to the policy. Our thinking was that the policy important for fraud-prevention and fair to our customers when you consider that the auction lock lasts only half the time as the lock on newly registered domains. Other services begin their auctions at a much higher rate, which may help offset any fees and losses related to chargebacks and reversals.

All that said, the last thing we want is for our policies to negatively affect our customers or drive people away from our services. We are currently examining, in depth, some alternative options to keep the auctions secure, but offer some more flexibility to our customers. We will keep you posted on any changes once things are finalized. Thank you all for your contributions to this conversation.

Billidn · Feb 17, 2013

dynadot said:
All that said, the last thing we want is for our policies to negatively affect our customers or drive people away from our services. We are currently examining, in depth, some alternative options to keep the auctions secure, but offer some more flexibility to our customers. We will keep you posted on any changes once things are finalized. Thank you all for your contributions to this conversation.

DYNADOT:
I agree with the OP and he gave you a GREAT solution to "escrow" money for 30+ days in advance. Simple, sraight forward, and 100% assurance to you since the funds have been in Dynadot's account for 30 days.

Why beat around the bush and drag your feet and not just implement it??

If you really want to be safe, insist the funds are wire transferred in, get copy of drivers licenses, and "verify" customers via phone and then still escrow funds for 30 days.

Listen to your customers Dynadot, this thread started 2 years ago and your still sitting on your hands on a solution that should take 15 minutes to sort out and resolve!

Makis.TV · Feb 17, 2013

@dynadot, being a customer for yrs now and influencing others to do the same I must say that I m not happy with the way approach this issue.

We are all here to make money and at the moment you are getting in the way, this alone is an important factor to consider alternative solutions.

Jawed · Feb 17, 2013

I agree with WORDSWORTH. My understanding was that the original owner still has some claim on the expiring name even after the 42nd day. I thought the rationale behind locking the domain was to wait till the name enters the deletion period.

Dynadot gives a different reason, yet I don't think on technical ground Dynadot can lift the auction lock and update the whois with the new owner's information even if they are paid by banker's draft.

DU · Feb 17, 2013

Billidn said:
If you really want to be safe, insist the funds are wire transferred in, get copy of drivers licenses, and "verify" customers via phone and then still escrow funds for 30 days.

This is better than just being patient?

Insist on a wire?

Get a copy of what drivers license?

Call customers to verify funds?

Implement escrow? I dont get this one at all unless you mean its prepaid 30 days in advance - but who wants cash locked up in a non refundable account?

Billidn · Feb 18, 2013

DU said:
This is better than just being patient?

Insist on a wire?

Get a copy of what drivers license?

Call customers to verify funds?

Implement escrow? I dont get this one at all unless you mean its prepaid 30 days in advance - but who wants cash locked up in a non refundable account?

Read the whole thread. These are suggestions and solutions to the OP's issue with the "waiting period".

I suggest wire transfers as they are typically safer and just about more foolproof than about anything except cold hard CASH. Credit cards can be charged back etc. and forget ANY security with Paypal transactions.

Companies like Escrow.com usually insist on photocopy of your Drivers License, and also copy of Credit Cards front and back, and some companies often call you (typically at your work phone number) to further verify etc.

No one really wants their cash tied up 30 days, but if thats what it takes for this customerr to get his name free to resell quickly then Dynadot they should implement a system to do so, even if they charge a fee for the service to cover the adminstrative cost. These are just some suggestions to make it ultrasafe if that is a concern for Dynadot.

I have a large portfolio of names at Dynadot myself, they have an exceptional interface (although I liked the old interface better) and a very responsive staff. Seems coming up with a solution to this issue would be an easy punt for them.

DU · Feb 18, 2013

Billidn said:
Read the whole thread. These are suggestions and solutions to the OP's issue with the "waiting period".

Erdy liked to complain. Pretty sure that all these suggestions would meet with the same disdain he showed everything.

Other than Dynadot bending over backwards and doing exactly what he asked he'd never be happy even if that means coding:

If forum_user = "erdy"
allow_transfer = true;

Dynadot · Mar 7, 2013

Hello,

We wanted to let you know that, as of today, the auction lock period has been cut in half. Domains won in our Expired Auctions will now be locked for only 15 days. I know this is not what everyone wanted to see, but we took many factors into consideration and feel this is a compromise that will benefit all of us.

Again, sincere thanks to all those who contributed to this conversation.

sofiapartner · Mar 7, 2013

Thats better. Thanks. Just in time. And lets hope to remove this lock in the future.

bmugford · Mar 7, 2013

dynadot said:
Hello,

We wanted to let you know that, as of today, the auction lock period has been cut in half. Domains won in our Expired Auctions will now be locked for only 15 days. I know this is not what everyone wanted to see, but we took many factors into consideration and feel this is a compromise that will benefit all of us.

Again, sincere thanks to all those who contributed to this conversation.

It is a step in the right direction.

Brad

GoWebnames.com · Mar 30, 2015

Just had an auction-won domain moved to my account at Dynadot.

It seems they not only put a push/transfer LOCK but will NOT allow even the update of WHOIS.
Spoke to a rep there over chat, he responded that he will escalate it. Being aggrieved on this account, I googled it and got to this thread.

Dear @Dynadot Staff, what's the point in NOT updating the WHOIS? Fradulent payment again? I guess someone suggested pre-funded account? Please understand unless the WHOIS points to the current owner, the domain can NOT be verified at Sedo! This is a great inconvenience and a real trouble, what do you plan to do about it?

Just in case you want to look at my chat session, id is #35860

SamuelLDotson · Apr 1, 2015

There is fraud, I'm sure every Registrar deals with it. That isn't the situation with our auctions, so prepayment isn't the issue, even though that was mentioned earlier in this thread.

It seems that there was some confusion between our auctions and our marketplace when this thread was started.

Sedo can do a manual verification for you if you ask them.

"what's the point in NOT updating the WHOIS"

The post expiration grace period ends 45 days after a domain expires and is renewed (by us). That time frame ends at the end of the 15 day waiting period before we update the Whois and remove the auction lock.

Dynadot.com's annoying 30 days auction lock

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