advice GoDaddy new transfer policy

rockefeller said:

I used to transfer domain names for my clients

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G-d forbid, a fellow domainer using a humanised term as client NO! WE MUST ALL USE "END USER'" OBEY! OBEY the layfolk say!

There is no policy on domains not moving from account to account within GoDaddy. @canbrit Thanks for referencing the article. I had that article amended to remove any reference to a 5 day hold. There is a policy around moving domains out of GoDaddy to another registrar which I explained in more detail to Acro above. There is also a ten day hold on domains being moved out of GoDaddy to another registrar buy in almost all cases this is superseded by the 60 day policy thus in most cases your name is locked from transfer for 60 days from GoDaddy to another registrar. In your example of buying a name on the auction there would be a 60 day hold. This can be removed on a case by case basis as explained above, however there is no hold on moving the domain name to a different GoDaddy account.

That being said as I have said all along there are exceptions, especially regarding cctlds. There are other things that can prevent a name from moving to another account as I have previously stated. But there is no policy or rule in place to limit the movement of domains for a certain number of days.

While we have you Joe...

When I transfer a domain to Godaddy I need an Auth code from the old registrar and TWO codes from Godaddy. I know it is a small thing, but what is gained by having two codes? They come to me in the same email. Copying and Pasting two codes is more work, more chance for error, more hassle for newbiees.

If you gotta have both codes then why not jam them together into one? Don't waste our time.

I want to thank everyone who brought this up on the forum. Especially @rockefeller @canbrit and @wdexw who provided me with some valuable information to look into on our end. There is obviously some misinformation going around about this process inside GoDaddy and I spent most of the day trying to figure out where it came from. We have a lot of things in place to try and make sure all the help we give is accurate but sometimes we make mistakes. I've done all I can to help make sure that this is corrected company wide and apologize to anyone impacted by this. Thanks again for looping me in and pointing out examples I could look into. I also again want to say that this is not the level of service we strive for and we will continue to work on providing the best support in the industry. I personally apologize for anyone's wasted time and frustration over this and thank you all again for bringing it up.

@Joe Styler - So why was it @rockefeller was unable to push the domain after transfer? I can understand that their might be some misinformation going around GoDaddy, and to a certain extent it might not be able to squash that 100%. But it was the system which was preventing him from pushing the domain, not a misinformed person.

I think Stub is saying, a 10-day limit is too specific to have been just a technical glitch. Some Godaddy employee must have deliberately altered system code or settings without informing Joe. The software couldn't have imposed that limit on its own..... unless it has become self-aware like skynet. Some human tinkered with it on purpose.

imadoer said:

this is horrible. very bad for us domain traders. I have a deal in escrow right now that that is going to ruin!!!!

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Lol, man me too. I have a deal set and the only we are waiting on is this 10 day transfer rule. I'm hoping the client stay patience.

stub said:

@Joe Styler - So why was it @rockefeller was unable to push the domain after transfer? I can understand that their might be some misinformation going around GoDaddy, and to a certain extent it might not be able to squash that 100%. But it was the system which was preventing him from pushing the domain, not a misinformed person.

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That is correct. But I cant tell you. I can only tell you there is no policy. I have said throughout the thread there could be many reasons, I asked for the domain itself that may help me troubleshoot it depending on how long ago it was. What tld it was etc. There are way too many possibilities to speculate. I can only say there is no policy. We sell a lot of domains on the Aftermarket at Godaddy, which means we move thousands and thousands of names pretty regularly and they move to other accounts in almost all cases without error.

alien51 said:

I think Stub is saying, a 10-day limit is too specific to have been just a technical glitch. Some Godaddy employee must have deliberately altered system code or settings without informing Joe. The software couldn't have imposed that limit on its own..... unless it has become self-aware like skynet. Some human tinkered with it on purpose.

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The 10 day limit is on transfers out not change of account - ie push to another GoDaddy account. On the ten day transfer out lock you can contact support and fill out a form that can remove the lock.

I'm still a bit confused LOL.

Only aware of the 60 day lockdown rule when: 1. Fresh domain registration occurs at GoDaddy 2. A domain that was just transferred to GoDaddy 3. A domain's registrant info was edited while at GoDaddy.

The latter (3) has been a policy of GoDaddy for a few years now.

So what is the 10 day lock down on transfers about?

Acroplex said:

I'm still a bit confused LOL.

Only aware of the 60 day lockdown rule when: 1. Fresh domain registration occurs at GoDaddy 2. A domain that was just transferred to GoDaddy 3. A domain's registrant info was edited while at GoDaddy.

The latter (3) has been a policy of GoDaddy for a few years now.

So what is the 10 day lock down on transfers about?

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There's also the 60 day transfer (not push) lock when you win a domain at auction, under domain details it shows at "Transfer locked until 4/27/2016: Auction purchase"

And also when you push the domain name to a new account, which I guess falls under the domain registrant "changing" their info. Under domain details it says "Transfer locked until 4/25/2016: Registrant (account) change"

I can't even begin to count how many times these two locks complicated sales.

Yes, the 60 day auction lock as well, although that can be lifted - as Joe explained.

stub said:

@Joe Styler - So why was it @rockefeller was unable to push the domain after transfer? I can understand that their might be some misinformation going around GoDaddy, and to a certain extent it might not be able to squash that 100%. But it was the system which was preventing him from pushing the domain, not a misinformed person.

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I would assume it was some sort of technical glitch that happened twice on two different names within 1-2 weeks, that being said, where did the "10 day transfer on recently transferred in domains" come from? I mean does that just appear out of nowhere?

By the way, I used to hold thousands of domains at Dynadot, I could update my contact info, transfer domains in, push them from account to account and never had to worry about locks. I think that's what frustrates most people..

Acroplex said:

Yes, the 60 day auction lock as well, although that can be lifted - as Joe explained.

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I've never been able to have it removed and I spend tens of thousands at Godaddy on auctions per year, not to mention the commission they earn on my premium listing sales is probably about that as well. I'm always told to email [email protected] and then further told that if the contact information is updated to what it used to be (AKA the old registrant that didn't renew the domain?) that the lock can be lifted.

There are many types of locks. Might be a good blog article. Registries have rules ICANN has rules and registrars have rules. I don't have time to cover them all here but maybe I will do a blog article on them. You can call in or use chat support to find out about a specific case you might want to know about.
Generally speaking A new registration or a transfer - one registrar to another registrar - is a 60 day lock that is not done by the registrar meaning GoDaddy cannot change that. You can do an account push - Enom to Enom, GoDaddy to GoDaddy etc. There is nothing you can do about that no matter which registrar your domain is registered with.

On a registrant change - Name or Company name there is a 60 day lock that GoDaddy places on the domain for transfers to another company, not for an account push to another GoDaddy account.
On an account push to another GoDaddy account with no Registrant change there is a 10 day lock for transfers away.

These GoDaddy locks can be removed with a call to support and an emailed form that is completed. This is done as a balance of security and ease of transfer which is why we have the form. Some registrars lock the domains for transfer out and some do not. We do it as an extra step in our security so that if someone is able to access your account somehow - say you got phished, bad business partner, ex or mad employee etc, you can have a chance to get that name before it moves to another registrar who may decide not to return it to you. I am going to be doing a live hangout on security in April. I will post the details when it gets closer.

In almost all cases we easily and quickly remove the 10 or 60 day lock with our process. But we have stopped names from moving to other companies that account holders wanted to keep here through this and the extra delay gave them time to catch it and contact us and work through making their case that this was not authorized. We believe this is an important step in reducing the transfer of domains that our customers want to keep. It should not hinder a sale as you can email us and remove the lock pretty easily and it typically is completed in a day which most of the time is as long as it takes to have someone pay you for a sale.

rockefeller said:

I've never been able to have it removed and I spend tens of thousands at Godaddy on auctions per year, not to mention the commission they earn on my premium listing sales is probably about that as well. I'm always told to email [email protected] and then further told that if the contact information is updated to what it used to be (AKA the old registrant that didn't renew the domain?) that the lock can be lifted.

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It depends on how you got the domain name. If it is an ICANN lock or a registry lock we cant remove it. I explained some of the differences above.

I really think it is important to point out that most names are able to move with no issues. Otherwise there would have been many more threads about this We move tens of thousands of names for transactions and very few have a hold or error of any kind. There are a lot of questions about edge cases in here and I would prefer to answer those on a case by case basis as they come up. Just pm me with the name if it is happening and I can look into it for you at the time and see what is going on. I am always around.

Thanks Joe, appreciate you taking the time to explain some of these transfers!

Sure the other important thing I forgot to mention is that these locks do not stop you from moving the name to another owner at another GoDaddy account. If you get an error on an account push please reach out and we can investigate it.

Acroplex said:

So what is the 10 day lock down on transfers about?

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Some buyers try to avoid the 60 days GoDaddy transfer lock when pulling a domain by requesting the seller to not change the WhoIs detail. Since there is no change in registrant's name and company details, GoDaddy default 60 days transfer lock will not be in place. That is when the 10 days transfer lock will come into effect.

Now that @Joe Styler has explained the ease to get the lock lifted for sales reasons, I think it is good practice to always update WhoIs details to the recipient's to avoid possible disputes of buyers claiming they did not receive the domain (as the WhoIs still shows the seller's details).

@Jen-Sin - My experience has been the same as @rockefeller's with getting the lock removed. It's never happened (for me). Actually, I had a quiet laugh to myself when I saw @Joe Styler's comments about that.

Joe Styler said:

The 60 day lock goes into affect if the registrant contact is updated - name or company name field - anything added/ removed/changed because the registrant contact denotes ownership so if the owner changes the names is locked as a security measure. However a call/email to us will allow you to initiate a manual review with a form that is filled out. It is a pretty easy process and most of the time the lock is removed within a day. If you are someone who flips a lot of domains chances are we know you well already and the process is further expedited. What we are trying to do is cut back on the ability to steal someone's domain and still not hinder a legitimate move to a new registrar if someone wants to move. If there is an emergency, say do or die on a sale or something similar we can expedite it and remove the lock quickly. Also this lock only impacts transfers to another registrar. You can push the name to another GoDaddy account with this lock in place.

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PS: Is there a specific number or some who we talk to there ? because i mistakenly changed the address and now I have a 60 day lock , i have a buyer for the domain ... Thankyou Paul

harpo said:

PS: Is there a specific number or some who we talk to there ? because i mistakenly changed the address and now I have a 60 day lock , i have a buyer for the domain ... Thankyou Paul

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email :

[email protected]

i am on hold by godaddy.

carbic bento said:

i am on hold by godaddy.

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Why?