question I own a .de domain that is registered to Epik. Now this denic send me a letter. Is this a scam?

John Rey · Nov 17, 2020

Today I have received a letter from a company called DENIC, according to the letter they are the "German Network Information Center, is the center registry for all domains with the ending .de."

In the letter they talk about that "your provider ( for the .de domain) has stopped administering these domains." They are administering it through the so- called TRANSIT procedure. It is according to the letter "standardized process meant to protect your domains and ensure that they they cannot simply be deleted and and consequently become available for registration by others"

Now they are giving 2 choices "without being charged any fees by DENIC:
1. Delete the domain via a deletion request
2. Select a new provider who shall administer the domains in the future by carrying out a provider transfer.
And the "free-of- charge TRANSIT period will end on 9 October2020" if I did not managed to delete the domains on the specific date the domain will administered by DENIC and I have to pay 58 euros euros per a year.
I check the domains in epik and they are expired so I thought that I don't have to worry about anything. I send Epik an email and I have yet to receive their response.

Here is the reason why I think this a scam they send the letter on 10 September 2020, in the middle of the pandemic were many countries were lockdown and I'm not from Germany. The free-of-charge TRANSIT due on on 9 October 2020. If these is a legitimate company they could just send me an email. But no they have to send a physical letter in the middle of the pandemic. I have a feeling that they just want me pay the fees.

Can anyone give me an advice on how to deal with this.

Also sorry if I posted this on the wrong section I'm just panicking right now.

Samer · Nov 17, 2020

@DanSanchez,
@Jess Robison,
@Sumeeth.

Sufyan Alani · Nov 17, 2020

Hi John,
DENIC is the registry for .DE (I know it's hard to believe, but they're still using "physical" mail in their formal correspondences).
This is a legit company, and there isn't fraud unless you're receiving some communications from someone who's pretending to be DENIC.
However, I can take a further look if you can send me the domain name & the ticket number in a private message.
Regards,

Quick question: Why didn't you contact us before, if you've received the notification back in September?

John Rey · Nov 17, 2020

Are you part of Epik?

If you are part of Epik here is my answer.
"Why didn't you contact us before, if you've received the notification back in September?"

What notification are you talking about?
If you are talking about the emails I received about the renewals about the domains, I thought that you will automatically expire the domain, if I don't pay thehthe renewal,to and I don't have worry about anything, like in godaddy or namecheap. And in the emails that Epik send they mention that "If you do not wish to renew, simply ignore this message." So I ignore.

Now if you're talking about email that I received regarding DENIC i do not receive any.

tonyk2000 · Nov 17, 2020

John Rey said:
I check the domains in epik and they are expired so I thought that I don't have to worry about anything

John Rey said:
I'm just panicking right now

Did you renew the domain(s), but the renewal was not processed? Or, if you did not renew the domain(s) and want to let them expire, what is the issue?

https://www.denic.de/en/about-denic/members/member-list/list-of-members-according-to-countries/

Epik is not listed. Why? Was it listed at some point of time? Maybe @Sufyan Alani can clarify. In any case, if you want your domains to be renewed and manageable, you should then transfer them to another provider.

John Rey · Nov 17, 2020

"Did you renew the domain(s), but the renewal was not processed? Or, if you did not renew the domain(s) and want to let them expire, what it is the issue?"

I did not want to renew the domains. And I thought that I if i just dont pay the renewal fee Epik will just have to delete the domain and I don't have to worry about about ( just like in other registrars). Then I received letters from DENIC stating that they are now administering it and if did not delete the domains in certain date haveIto pay 58 euros per domain for the first year. Now they are like 6 domains so 58x6= 348 euros that I have to pay, so that is why I am panicking.

tonyk2000 · Nov 17, 2020

I heard that the things may be different in Germany. So, are you saying that you have a legal obligation to pay Denic, if the domains were not explicitly deleted, even though you knowingly did not renew them with Epik?

tonyk2000 · Nov 17, 2020

If there is anything specific with .de domains expiration process, I am sure @frank-germany can enlighten us

John Rey · Nov 17, 2020

"So, are you saying that you have a legal obligation to pay Denic"
To be honest I don't know I'm not from Germany and I'm beginner when it comes to domaining. They are administering the expired domain ( I did not renew the domains in Epik) so like they are asking me to pay.

blogspotter · Nov 17, 2020

John Rey said:
"So, are you saying that you have a legal obligation to pay Denic"
To be honest I don't know I'm not from Germany and I'm beginner when it comes to domaining. They are administering the expired domain ( I did not renew the domains in Epik) so like they are asking me to pay.

If you are not from From Germany you cannot buy de domains. You need a physical address in Germany to own a de domain.
If you are a beginner why did you even dable in .de

DENIC is legit and they need a physical address where you can actually receive any formal communication or something of that sort..

PS: I am not givng advice as a DE investor but as someone who looked at some really nice ccTLD domains and let them go because a basic search revealed that it was messy to own a .de or .com.au unless you are a resident.

John Rey · Nov 17, 2020

"If you are not from From Germany you cannot buy de domains. You need a physical address in Germany to own a de domain."

I buy the .de domains in Epik and they have a service that like bypass the need of a physical German address, that is the reason I'm able to buy .de domains. I forgot the name of the service.

blogspotter · Nov 17, 2020

John Rey said:
"If you are not from From Germany you cannot buy de domains. You need a physical address in Germany to own a de domain."

I buy the .de domains in Epik and they have a service that like bypass the need of a physical German address, that is the reason I'm able to buy .de domains. I forgot the name of the service.

I know. You can buy on dynadot as well.
I didn't mean you cannot "check out", but the hassle of DENIC

kostaki · Nov 17, 2020

This is normal. The process for .de domain is different than you are used to. You own a .de domain until you cancel/delete it. Auto renew is the default for .de domains! Even if you can't pay your registrar you still own the domain. It doesn't just expire and is gone. You can read about it here:

https://www.denic.de/en/service/transit/

In your case (you don't want the domain anymore) you can just follow the steps in the letter to delete the domain on the TRANSIT website. Not sure how it works if you missed the deadline. Maybe there is a grace period?

John Rey · Nov 17, 2020

"In your case (you don't want the domain anymore) you can just follow the steps in the letter to delete the domain on the TRANSIT website. Not sure how it works if you missed the deadline. Maybe there is a grace period?"

I try to follow the instruction in the letter, but the problem is the password that they gave does not work anymore.

kostaki · Nov 17, 2020

Well I guess you have to contact them. Maybe they delete the domain for you even after the deadline. I'm sure this happens all the time, even more now with the pandemic.

frank-germany · Nov 18, 2020

tonyk2000 said:
I heard that the things may be different in Germany. So, are you saying that you have a legal obligation to pay Denic, if the domains were not explicitly deleted, even though you knowingly did not renew them with Epik?

you may ignore the denic invoices
in case you don't want to renew the domain
they then will expire to a redemption period

otherwise, use or ask for an auth code
you can choose and change a registrar anytime
no domain transfer lock

John Rey · Nov 18, 2020

Can you please explain more on why can I ignore the denic invoice? In the letter they also mention that they will send a bill on the first year.

frank-germany · Nov 18, 2020

John Rey said:
Can you please explain more on why can I ignore the denic invoice? In the letter they also mention that they will send a bill on the first year.

if you don't want the domain just ignore it
they will expire after a while
and there will be no charge

tonyk2000 · Nov 18, 2020

frank-germany said:
you may ignore the denic invoices
in case you don't want to renew the domain
they then will expire to a redemption period

I still remember early 2000x... 1and1, a German registrar, renewed a domain a had with them (which I did not want to renew) and sent my details to some sort of a debt collection agency. So I learned that German law may allow such things. I was a young domainer at that time... Hope that it would not be the case with @John Rey and his .de domains though. Common sense prompts that all should be fine, if he did not renew the domains with the registrar and ignored denic notifications - they should delete domains earlier or later.

John Rey · Nov 18, 2020

tonyk2000 said:
I still remember early 2000x... 1and1, a German registrar, renewed a domain a had with them (which I did not want to renew) and sent my details to some sort of a debt collection agency. So I learned that German law may allow such things. I was a young domainer at that time... Hope that it would not be the case with @John Rey and his .de domains though. Common sense prompts that all should be fine, if he did not renew the domains with the registrar and ignored denic notifications - they should delete domains earlier or later.

The domains expired in September, in Epik, so I hope Denic will just delete my domains and information. I should have research before those .de domains.

frank-germany · Nov 18, 2020

tonyk2000 said:
I still remember early 2000x... 1and1, a German registrar, renewed a domain a had with them (which I did not want to renew) and sent my details to some sort of a debt collection agency. So I learned that German law may allow such things. I was a young domainer at that time... Hope that it would not be the case with @John Rey and his .de domains though. Common sense prompts that all should be fine, if he did not renew the domains with the registrar and ignored denic notifications - they should delete domains earlier or later.

always avoid 1&1

(the holding sedo belongs to)

MapleDots · Nov 23, 2020

frank-germany said:
you may ignore the denic invoices
in case you don't want to renew the domain
they then will expire to a redemption period

otherwise, use or ask for an auth code
you can choose and change a registrar anytime
no domain transfer lock

I would listen to @frank-germany he is probably a go to expert in .de

If I had any questions to ask there I would probably ask him.

John Rey · Nov 23, 2020

I just receive an email from denic few days ago and they delete all the expired domains and they invoice is already cancelled, so it is ok now.

Thank you everyone for helping me.

Pusang Gala · Dec 29, 2020

John Rey said:
I just receive an email from denic few days ago and they delete all the expired domains and they invoice is already cancelled, so it is ok now.

Thank you everyone for helping me.

Did you email denic? I have also .de expiring soon

question I own a .de domain that is registered to Epik. Now this denic send me a letter. Is this a scam?

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