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[RESOLVED] - Domain Name Stolen...A Horrible Story and a Warning...

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Hi All. I've not been in here for a number of years, but a week ago I had my domain of 20 years (dustie.com) stolen and I have to tell the story. it looks like I'm out of luck here, and out a lot of money, but maybe my story can help prevent this happening to someone else. This happened at Godaddy, though I don't blame them, and i still have all of my domains with them, as well as my websites. I blame the no good slimy thief who stole my domain name!

Here's the story... First off, my name is Dustie, and I've owned Dustie.com since 1998.
Sometime in 2017 (I think) I decided to go ahead and list dustie.com as a premium domain for a high price. It being my name, I wasn't real keen on selling it, but, as they say, everything is for sale for the right price. I'd had someone offer me 5,000.00 for it, but after taxes (it would have put me in a higher tax bracket for the year) and commisison, it wasn't worth it wasn't worth it to sell it for that amount. However, I figured that if someone were willing to pay that for it, maybe someone would pay even more. So I listed it as a premium domain for 20,000.00. I seriously didn't think it would sell but it woudn't hurt to list it (or so I thought).

All was well, until a bit over a week ago. I had been out that evening and didn't get home till nearly 10:00 PM. It was 11:00 before I was able to get onto the computer. That's when I saw the 5 emails from Godaddy.... I'm sure you can imaging my reaction when I saw that, within 20 minutes, my domain name, dustie.com, which I have owned since 1998, sold and transferred for a mere 450.00? I was sick...simply sick. How could this happen! First off, I've never had a domain name sell and transfer inside of 21 minutes and then be paid for it a little over a day and a half later. That's unheard of!

Immediately after reading those 5 emails and realizing my domain name had sold for less then 5% of what I'd had it listed for on Premium Domains, I was online with Godaddy help. Though they were sympathetic, no one there could help. They said I'd have to wait till morning and call auctions help. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well and was on the phone as soon as they opened their office. Though I was on the phone for a good 30 or so minutes with them (a good part of that time on hold), I was ultimately told there was nothing they could do for me. My domain was bought, paid for, and transferred and that was that! (Oh, and this even though they found the price had been tampered with twice that same night, long before I got online). They said this had to be me because no one else had access to that account! That was proof to me that someone was in there messing with my account and screwed me over big time, but not to them.

So I've been sick all week...trying to forget that someone illegally reached into my pocket and stole a lot of money , as well as my NAME! Needless to say, even a week later, I'm just sick about the whole thing.

Today, on a lark I looked up dustie.com on godaddy and was sick all over again when I saw that it is now listed as a premium domain for 12,000.00 (by the person who stole it from me?). That's just wrong, in so many ways! How do I get over this? I want to know how this could have happened!!??

I am posting in here as a warning to you all, as well as wanting to go on record that this did happen, regardless that the guy at [email protected] said that dustie.com had always been listed at 450.00 and it was a legitimate sale! I know how to use GoDaddy. I'm a long time user and have over 50 domain names with GoDaddy, more the half listed as premium domains! Ever since Dustie.com was originally listed as a premium domain at 20,000.00 that was the price that showed up whenever I went to maintain my premium listings. It always stuck out like a sore thumb, because most my other domain names are listed below 1000.00. There is simply no way Dustie.com was ever listed for as little as 450.00. Even go daddy suggested a price of nearly $5,000 as a premium listing starting point for dustie.com.

Without a doubt, my godaddy account was hacked and my domain name of 20 years stolen from me and relisted for 27 times what they paid for it! That burns me to the core!!!

I'm sure that, since this happened to me it will surely happen again. If any of you hear about such a thing, could you please have them get in touch with me? If I can find others that this has happened to, maybe we can do something as a group?

In the meantime, if you have a valuable domain name on Godaddy Premium domains, then you might want to take screen shots of the listed prices. Also, I was told that if I had the original email when it was listed that would be proof that it was listed at 20,000.00. Alas, I did not have it...I had, not long ago, deleted emails that were more then a year and a half old. If you don't have emails for your most valuable domain names, then remove them from listing, then relist them to get a new email and save those emails just in case!!

And Thanks for listening to my very long rant!

Dustie
(was [email protected] for over 20 years...now I am [email protected] and my site is dustie.art ... cool name, but it's certainly not worth what I lost in dustie.com!)
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I get a slight impression that she is not so much interested in an investigation. Reminds me another emotional lady, who loved horses...

You're slight impression is wrong. I am thrilled there's an investigation going on. As I posted yesterday, I've been in email touch with Joe Styler. He spent the better part of yesterday diligently looking in to this situation and is back at it today. I am more then satisfied with the seriousness that GD is taking this situation. BTW... I love horses too...used to own three of them back in my younger days...all rescues.
 
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You're slight impression is wrong. I am thrilled there's an investigation going on. As I posted yesterday, I've been in email touch with Joe Styler. He spent the better part of yesterday diligently looking in to this situation and is back at it today. I am more then satisfied with the seriousness that GD is taking this situation. BTW... I love horses too...used to own three of them back in my younger days...all rescues.
I am sure GoDaddy listed your domain for $450 by mistake, and they will not addmit it. I bought a valuable domain the same way for $500, just posted a story here
 
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BTW... I love horses too...used to own three of them back in my younger days...all rescues.
Yeah we love horses. The BIG badass horses
 
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Hey, the only 2 places I have ever been aggressively hacked from are Nigeria and Morocco, and 3 times from your country in the last year, so I fail to see how providing factual data on my own personal experiences is "racism" even when viewed in a highly liberal manner..

It is very sad that people are scammed this way, from any country. But I am glad that, at least some of that money, is going to good use by providing jobs which provides some money for families in countries that are rife with poverty. Sometimes there is good that comes out of bad deeds. I can image those workers being told that they are like modern day Robin Hoods...robbing from the rich to give to the poor and spreading the wealth.
 
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I am sure GoDaddy listed your domain for $450 by mistake, and they will not addmit it. I bought a valuable domain the same way for $500, just posted a story here
Hi...so sorry to hear your story. I posted on your thread.
 
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Adding a name to Afternic WILL OVERRIDE the existing GD Premium price (either by design or a bug - but it happens)
As per my experience, the opposite should be the case. So far, adding a domain as premium listing always overwritted afternic listing details (either my own or incorrect outdated listing submitted by somebody else) both on gd search results page and auctions ("buy now" listings).
But, if it was godaddy premium first and afternic listing later - who knows....
I love horses too...used to own three of them back in my younger days
@Dustie you might want to check this:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/resolved-domainer-loses-26k-on-a-stolen-domain.1068888/

Somewhat similar story. It is 51 pages long thread... But has a lot of useful info inside. About best practices to secure and/or sell valuable domains in particular.
 
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@Dustie -

1) For your site dustie.com, did you have a Login Lockdown plugin?

2) When you owned dustie.com, what Registrant Email did you have listed under Whois?

3) Did you use the same password for dustie.com as you were using with your GD account?


ps: And you can retrieve a domain if Fraud was involved. You need documentation and you need to engage Joe Styler (GD/AN).

dustie.com was/is registered with GoDaddy. No, I didnt know there was such a thing as a login lockdown plugin so I didn't have it. I know the whois registar had my my information as owner, so probably my email. I only have one password for GD and one for my email at GD. I have now put a 2 step authorization on my GD account so hopefully something like this can't happen again without my knowledge.

As far as I know I was never on Afternic, never even heard of Fast Transfer nor did I approve it. I sold a domain name in Febuary and it took 6 days for it to all complete and for me to get paid. This took under a half hour for it to complete/transfer and 1.5 days to get paid.

And Joe Styler is engaged...we've been in email touch. He's been trying to find the root cause for all this since early yesterday.
 
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As per my experience, the opposite should be the case. So far, adding a domain as premium listing always overwritted afternic listing details (either my own or incorrect outdated listing submitted by somebody else) both on gd search results page and auctions ("buy now" listings).
But, if it was godaddy premium first and afternic listing later - who knows....

@Dustie you might want to check this:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/resolved-domainer-loses-26k-on-a-stolen-domain.1068888/

Somewhat similar story. It is 51 pages long thread... But has a lot of useful info inside. About best practices to secure and/or sell valuable domains in particular.

I did not add dustie.com or any of my listings to Afternic. All my domains for sale have always been in the GD Premium program. Never were they in Afternic unless GD software put them there after I listed them as premium domains on GD.

Thanks for the link tonyK.. I'll definitely read it later when I get some time later. 50 pages...wow..that must be some kind of record!
 
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Adding a name to Afternic WILL OVERRIDE the existing GD Premium price (either by design or a bug - but it happens).
This is an important point @BrandCougar makes. I had not realized that and may be relevant. Does anyone know if it was on Afternic? I know @Dustie did not put it on Afternic but did a third party manage to do so somehow?

PS I note that today it is listed for sale on Sedo for $12,000. Should not that listing be down? I see the Undeveloped one is now down.
 
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This took under a half hour for it to complete/transfer and 1.5 days to get paid.

I think I found what happened here. @Dustie : actually it is likely that GoDaddy did not pay you in 1.5 days... Domain was sold earlier, maybe 1-2 weeks before the payment was issued.

GoDaddy has a bug. When they send an email "You've been paid.", it contains the following text
inside:

We're sending your payment for the following Premium Listing(s), which sold on <date here>:

This date is always incorrect, it is email date -1 day.

Example of my sales emails. First one - domain sold, second one - payment note. One and the same domain... Date mismatch is clear.

=== (quotes begin)

1.

From: GoDaddy <[email protected]>
Subject: Your Premium Listing Just Sold
Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2019 07:02:41 -0700

Your premium listing just sold!

A special message from GoDaddy ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
Congratulations! Your Premium Listings domain has sold!

Date Sold: April 06, 2019

2.

From: GoDaddy <[email protected]>
Subject: You've been paid.
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2019 02:02:28 -0700

You've been paid.

Payment is on the way.

24/7 Support: +1 (480) 505-8855

You've been paid.

We're sending your payment for the following Premium Listing(s), which sold on April 17, 2019:

=== (quote end)
 
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Nice story and i'm impressed about other forum members behaviour.
 
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Hey, the only 2 places I have ever been aggressively hacked from are Nigeria and Morocco, and 3 times from your country in the last year, so I fail to see how providing factual data on my own personal experiences is "racism" even when viewed in a highly liberal manner.

And just to be clear, I am not talking about true "hackers" in the traditional sense, but whole buildings full of people who call up banks, telcos, registrars, and other Western institutions, using "bad actor" social engineering and pretending to be the customer in order to get passwords/SIM cards, addresses, etc. changed to facilitate illegal account access.

And according to law enforcement friends and stats online from other organizations, these "social engineering warehouses" are rampant in many parts of Africa, especially the two countries I mentioned. In fact, Nigerian social engineering scams have become legend.


I recall this starting 30 years ago the famous Nigerian Letter Scam, receiving hundreds of hand typed letters at our business. Postmarked for Nigeria with Nigerian stamps. Even today, It still exists and morphed off into email. Here the FBI calls it out by its name.

https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-fraud-schemes/nigerian-letter-or-419-fraud

Here is CNBC with an article even today years later about it. It must be working to dumb people.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/18/nigerian-prince-scams-still-rake-in-over-700000-dollars-a-year.html

I have had hackers attempt many times in my numerous sites from all over Europe, Turkish hackers ruined one site eventually or were spoofing their Countries IP address. I blocked all Russia and Ukraine IP’s and lately Ireland, Germany and France most recently the most frequent IP rule violator IP addresses logged. Daily Inundated with spoofed US number voip phone calls that origin all around the world calling, blocking them all.

Nothing by mentioning any country whose reputation and a few bad actors causing harm is racist. Its simply historical fact.
 
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But I am glad that, at least some of that money, is going to good use by providing jobs which provides some money for families in countries that are rife with poverty. Sometimes there is good that comes out of bad deeds.

Unbelievable starement. You condone Providing jobs in poor countries by stealing? I see, so being Robin Hood and stealing from others is ok by you. Oh, But wait, not by stealing your domain? Lmao. I am outta here.
 
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I think I found what happened here. @Dustie : actually it is likely that GoDaddy did not pay you in 1.5 days... Domain was sold earlier, maybe 1-2 weeks before the payment was issued.

GoDaddy has a bug. When they send an email "You've been paid.", it contains the following text
inside:

We're sending your payment for the following Premium Listing(s), which sold on <date here>:

This date is always incorrect, it is email date -1 day.

Example of my sales emails. First one - domain sold, second one - payment note. One and the same domain... Date mismatch is clear.

=== (quotes begin)

1.

From: GoDaddy <[email protected]>
Subject: Your Premium Listing Just Sold
Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2019 07:02:41 -0700

Your premium listing just sold!

A special message from GoDaddy ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
Congratulations! Your Premium Listings domain has sold!

Date Sold: April 06, 2019

2.

From: GoDaddy <[email protected]>
Subject: You've been paid.
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2019 02:02:28 -0700

You've been paid.

Payment is on the way.

24/7 Support: +1 (480) 505-8855

You've been paid.

We're sending your payment for the following Premium Listing(s), which sold on April 17, 2019:

=== (quote end)

i think gd goes fast with prem sales payouts.. it was 6 days max before I think.. now with their brand new payout system for all listing typs.. maybe prem sale payouts were cut down to even less time? @Joe Styler

either way I'd be very suprised if it takes like 2 weeks to payout for prem listing.

@Dustie do you have the conclusion of this investigation as to what happened to price?
 
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I'd be very suprised if it takes like 2 weeks to payout for prem listing
I have both afternic sales and prem. listing sales, but could not yet determine an exact timeframe. Usually I see anything between 1 and 2 weeks (international wire transfer in my case). Sometimes the payouts are combined, sometimes are not (once I've had 2 wires credited on the same day). In one case they completely forgot to pay for 1 domain, and I had to send a followup email. No major issues in any case... As for dustie.com sale, reported 1.5 days payout looks strange anyway. As @Joe Styler explained in another thread, GD pays their "payout company" first and then this company pays the seller. 1.5 days after the domain transfer? (And also GD had to receive payout from their CC processor). Who knows, maybe with paypal or local ACH it is possible, but unlikely.
 
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I think I found what happened here. @Dustie : actually it is likely that GoDaddy did not pay you in 1.5 days... Domain was sold earlier, maybe 1-2 weeks before the payment was issued.

GoDaddy has a bug. When they send an email "You've been paid.", it contains the following text
inside:

We're sending your payment for the following Premium Listing(s), which sold on <date here>:

This date is always incorrect, it is email date -1 day.

Example of my sales emails. First one - domain sold, second one - payment note. One and the same domain... Date mismatch is clear.
=== (quote end)

TonyK2000... I received the emails that are copied and pasted below... It was Date Sold: April 8th / Date Transferred April 8 / Date Paid: April 10th. The times on the emails indicate that payment came just a little over a day and a half from the first email telling me my domain had been sold on April 8th. So you're saying that the name sold a week before it's saying that it did?

I've a couple of questions upon re reading these emails. Can anyone tell me why the 1st email says Sold April 8th and the Last Email says it sold on April 9th. And what to they mean in the last email that it was sold by Method TILPATI?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations
! Your premium listing just sold!


Dear Dustie Meads,

Congratulations

! Your Premium Listings domain has sold!

Domain: DUSTIE.COM
Date Sold: April 08, 2019

Listing Price: $450.00

For current commission rates, please click here.

For more information on viewing your Premium Listings, click here.

Sincerely,
GoDaddy

P.S. Did you know we offer a number of payment options for your Premium Listings? Click here for more information.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

GoDaddy <[email protected]>
Mon 4/8/2019 9:41 PM
24/7 Support: +1 (480) 505-8877

Dustie Meads — Customer Number: ************

Your domain transfer is complete.


Dustie, we were able to successfully transfer dustie.com. You'll receive your payment shortly.

In the meantime, you can call us at +1 (480) 505-8877 or email us at [email protected] if you have any questions.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GoDaddy <[email protected]>
Wed 4/10/2019 4:01 AM
24/7 Support: +1 (480) 505-8855

Dustie Meads — Customer Number:************

You've been paid

Congratulations! We wanted to let you know you've been paid for the following domain(s) sold at auction on April 09, 2019:

dustie.com Sold at*: $360.00; Method: TIPALTI

Enjoy the proceeds. We look forward to seeing more of your domains at auction soon.

If you have any questions, contact Customer Support:


Online Support


Email: [email protected]


24/7 Support by Phone: +1 (480) 505-8855
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks!
 
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Any update? This shouldn’t take days to resolve.
 
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Keith...perfect timing. I just read Joe Styler's email that came in at 2:13 today. First of all, I so appreciate all that GD did over the last day to try to get to the bottom of this issue. Bottom line is they didn't find anything on their side. Therefore, I have to conclude that there's a chance that I made a mistake somehow which caused the price on dustie.com to go from 20,000.00 to 450.00, though I still find that so hard to believe. But I also trust Joe, and the team he had working with him, and do believe they did what they could. This is actually a good thing. It would have been awful had they found something that would put all our domains at risk. I really just don't know what to think.

I do know that I'm very grateful that GD is willing to work with seeing to it that the buyer (not sure if they are referring to Maxtra or Maplebug) will be reimbursed for the full purchase price from them if they are willing to return the domain to me. Both Maxtra and Maplebug will be forever be in my debt for they are my nights in shining armor!!!

This whole thing has been an eye opener and a roller coaster of emotions for me. I am certainly grateful to EVERYONE involved here, and will forever love NamePros!

In a Nutshell, Joe Wrote:

Dustie,

I looked into it over the past 24 hours and involved a couple Vice Presidents who run the error handling at our company and Aftermarket. At this point we cannot find any evidence of a security breach, or technical issue on our side which would have caused this. As such we are unable to take the domain from the buyer. Doing so would be against our terms of service and normal policies. It seems that the buyer is willing to give the domain name back to you no questions asked from what he is stating on Namepros. I would pursue that route with him and get the domain name back. I will keep an eye on this situation and make sure that he is reimbursed in full for his purchase from us if he indeed returns the domain to you. I hope that this will work things out and provide everyone with a happy resolution.



Thank you


Joe Styler


GoDaddy |


Aftermarket Product Manager


602.420.4378

Scottsdale, AZ.

upload_2019-4-18_17-0-57.png
 
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Keith...perfect timing. I just read Joe Styler's email that came in at 2:13 today.

I so appreciate all that they did over the last day to try to get to the bottom of this issue. I suppose there's a small chance that I made a mistake somehow which caused the price on dustie.com to go from 20,000.00 to 450.00, but I find that so hard to believe. But I also trust Joe and the team he had working for him and do believe what he says about not finding any breaches. This is actually a good thing. It would have been awful had they found something that would put all our domains at risk. I just don't know what to think.

I am so greatful that GD is willing to work with seeing to it that the buyer (not sure if they are referring to Maxtra or Maplebug) will be reimbursed for the full purchase price from them if they are willing to return the domain to me. Both Maxtra and Maplebug will be forever be in my debt for they are my nights in shining armour!!!

This whole thing has been an eye opener and a roller coaster of emotions for me. I am certainly grateful to EVERYONE involved here, and will forever love NamePros!

In a Nutshell, Joe Wrote:

Dustie,




I looked into it over the past 24 hours and involved a couple Vice Presidents who run the error handling at our company and Aftermarket. At this point we cannot find any evidence of a security breach, or technical issue on our side which would have caused this. As such we are unable to take the domain from the buyer. Doing so would be against our terms of service and normal policies. It seems that the buyer is willing to give the domain name back to you no questions asked from what he is stating on Namepros. I would pursue that route with him and get the domain name back. I will keep an eye on this situation and make sure that he is reimbursed in full for his purchase from us if he indeed returns the domain to you. I hope that this will work things out and provide everyone with a happy resolution.



Thank you


Joe Styler


GoDaddy |


Aftermarket Product Manager


602.420.4378

Scottsdale, AZ.

Show attachment 116308
Now it’s on @maxtra to push it back to you. Pay the $450 back to him and call it a day!
 
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Hope you get your favorite domain back. It's scary when the people holding them decide to delete them rather than give.
 
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Hope you get your favorite domain back. It's scary when the people holding them decide to delete them rather than give.
JayT, you are right. I'd never thought of doing that with the domains I let expire if I don't want them anymore. Good Idea.
 
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It is still locked or I would have transferred it to you by now
 
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It is still locked or I would have transferred it to you by now

MAXTRA...YOU ARE A ROCK STAR! I have some skill in Photoshop and Graphics Art. If you ever need anything...like cool domain name graphic or anything, just shoot me off your thoughts and I'll try to make it for you. You have an amateur graphic artist on your side for life (or as long as I am able to type and use a Wacom Art Tablet).

Same goes for MapleDots, who is also a ROCK STAR!

You have me crying over here!
 
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