report Cannot get the domain I won from GoDaddy

[alico]

Hello all,

I had a very interesting problem (possibly fraud) with Godaddy:

11 Mach 2016: I won the domain on Godaddy expiring auctions for $15 (It was backordered i guess, price was $10, I made a bid of $15 and won it. I made the payment on the same day.

18 March 2016: I received this message from Godaddy:

-----------
Your winning bid for xxxxxx.com has been reviewed by our verification office as a precautionary measure in an effort to preserve the integrity of your payment method. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in verifying your purchase. As a result of our review, the referenced bid and shopper account have been suspended and payment refunded.

Immediate action is necessary. Requests for reinstatement must be received within 24 hours to ensure your bid is not canceled. To request reinstatement of your shopper account and fulfillment of your bid, please have the payment method account holder provide correct billing information and government-issued photo identification to substantiate the account.
-----------

I'm a Godaddy customer for more than 10 years and I was using that credit card for nearly 1 year and already made around $3-4K transactions with it on Godaddy. I called the customers service and they said "everything is all right, it is just a security check, just send the documents" so I sent the documents they asked. By the way I bought another domain from auction with the very same credit card on 18 March before sending documents!

22 March 2016: I received this email:

----------
Due to an internal error we were unable to procure the domain xxxxxxx.com At this time we have canceled the transaction and issued you a full refund. We apologize for any confusion and for the inconvenience. Please let us know if you have any questions.
---------

I was like WTF? Whois info is changed and a new owner appeared. I wrote them an email asking what's going on but no answer yet, I want to ask you guys who are experienced in domain industry, what's happening and what can i do now?

I appreciate any help.

 

[pchip]

I also received that very same e-mail last week ( March 18, 2016 ) from Godaddy in regards to 2 auction domains. I first contacted their chat support to verify the authenticity of the e-mail - they did verify but couldn't tell me any details other than the e-mail was sent. I buy many names from them so I thought why now is there a problem.

The only real change that I made that could have maybe caused a problem was I did change my address to a PO BOX under my account settings. So, I went through my account and changed it back. While doing that I did notice that the CC address reflected the PO BOX even though I don't remember changing it. So Bingo, figured that was it and problem solved.

I e-mail auction support with that information and to not cancel my bid. Here's the first reply I got.

======
Thank you for contacting GoDaddy Auctions Support. This is a known issue that some of these issues were sent in error. We apologize for the inconvenience. Your account is not suspended and your purchase has not been cancelled and refunded. Please let us know if you require any additional assistance
======

I received another similar e-mail from another department basically saying the same thing (I e-mailed two different departments by accident), that it was an internal error, my account wasn't suspended and my purchases were okay.

During the weekend, I monitored my account for these domains and any other possible problems with my account. I did notice that both of the domains show "Registry Status: redemptionPeriod" in the whois, so I figured there's a problem.

It wasn't until Monday that I noticed that both domains disappeared from my 'auctions won' tab. I sent another e-mail to their support to ask what exactly happened, especially since I already paid for them and now there is no record of that other than the invoice.

Here's their response
======
Thank you for contacting Aftermarket Support. Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain these domains for you due to a technical error. You were issued a full refund yesterday. We apologize for any inconvenience.
======

In conclusion, even though they said that these e-mails were sent out in error, I'm guessing that the address change that I made probably caused me to be part of this unfortunate situation.

I'm fortunate that the two domains that I lost weren't really any big deal for me. It could have just as easily been the other way. I would be interested to hear if anyone else received an e-mail from Godaddy as well, more importantly, if they made any account changes that could have caused this, like in my situation. Of course, I'm just guessing because no one really said what triggered this.

 

[JImmyM]

I lost a couple of domains due to this same "internal error" also.

 

[domainsoup]

Hello all,

I had a very interesting problem (possibly fraud) with Godaddy:

11 Mach 2016: I won the domain on Godaddy expiring auctions for $15 (It was backordered i guess, price was $10, I made a bid of $15 and won it. I made the payment on the same day.

18 March 2016: I received this message from Godaddy:

-----------
Your winning bid for xxxxxx.com has been reviewed by our verification office as a precautionary measure in an effort to preserve the integrity of your payment method. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in verifying your purchase. As a result of our review, the referenced bid and shopper account have been suspended and payment refunded.

Immediate action is necessary. Requests for reinstatement must be received within 24 hours to ensure your bid is not canceled. To request reinstatement of your shopper account and fulfillment of your bid, please have the payment method account holder provide correct billing information and government-issued photo identification to substantiate the account.
-----------

I'm a Godaddy customer for more than 10 years and I was using that credit card for nearly 1 year and already made around $3-4K transactions with it on Godaddy. I called the customers service and they said "everything is all right, it is just a security check, just send the documents" so I sent the documents they asked. By the way I bought another domain from auction with the very same credit card on 18 March before sending documents!

22 March 2016: I received this email:

----------
Due to an internal error we were unable to procure the domain xxxxxxx.com At this time we have canceled the transaction and issued you a full refund. We apologize for any confusion and for the inconvenience. Please let us know if you have any questions.
---------

I was like WTF? Whois info is changed and a new owner appeared. I wrote them an email asking what's going on but no answer yet, I want to ask you guys who are experienced in domain industry, what's happening and what can i do now?

I appreciate any help.

So you sent what they asked and they didn't give it you?

Sounds shady.

 

[Asfas1000]

Godaddy was having a few technical issues lately, I happened to experience 3 different problems which eventually got sorted out.

 

[SirDrago]

Has anyone contacted @Joe Styler to shed some light on this problem?

 

[brindle123]

Weird. I wonder if the old domain owner paid the fee to re-instate the domain.
Did you guys check the whois info before and after.

Godaddy seem to have some people working there now that don't know what the heck they are doing. I called in to support and was told to email support.

 

[MisterSoft.com]

I also received that very same e-mail last week ( March 18, 2016 ) from Godaddy in regards to 2 auction domains. I first contacted their chat support to verify the authenticity of the e-mail - they did verify but couldn't tell me any details other than the e-mail was sent. I buy many names from them so I thought why now is there a problem.

The only real change that I made that could have maybe caused a problem was I did change my address to a PO BOX under my account settings. So, I went through my account and changed it back. While doing that I did notice that the CC address reflected the PO BOX even though I don't remember changing it. So Bingo, figured that was it and problem solved.

I e-mail auction support with that information and to not cancel my bid. Here's the first reply I got.

======
Thank you for contacting GoDaddy Auctions Support. This is a known issue that some of these issues were sent in error. We apologize for the inconvenience. Your account is not suspended and your purchase has not been cancelled and refunded. Please let us know if you require any additional assistance
======

I received another similar e-mail from another department basically saying the same thing (I e-mailed two different departments by accident), that it was an internal error, my account wasn't suspended and my purchases were okay.

During the weekend, I monitored my account for these domains and any other possible problems with my account. I did notice that both of the domains show "Registry Status: redemptionPeriod" in the whois, so I figured there's a problem.

It wasn't until Monday that I noticed that both domains disappeared from my 'auctions won' tab. I sent another e-mail to their support to ask what exactly happened, especially since I already paid for them and now there is no record of that other than the invoice.

Here's their response
======
Thank you for contacting Aftermarket Support. Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain these domains for you due to a technical error. You were issued a full refund yesterday. We apologize for any inconvenience.
======

In conclusion, even though they said that these e-mails were sent out in error, I'm guessing that the address change that I made probably caused me to be part of this unfortunate situation.

I'm fortunate that the two domains that I lost weren't really any big deal for me. It could have just as easily been the other way. I would be interested to hear if anyone else received an e-mail from Godaddy as well, more importantly, if they made any account changes that could have caused this, like in my situation. Of course, I'm just guessing because no one really said what triggered this.

They just goofed up. They won't admit they dropped the ball. That's what these sleazy registrars do....

 

[alico]

Weird. I wonder if the old domain owner paid the fee to re-instate the domain.
Did you guys check the whois info before and after.

Whois info updated with a different name. Ex-owner was a Turkish guy, the new owner is from Canada.

The domain was very good, can be resold for $$$$, or $$$$$ to an end user and that makes me thinking

 

[wwwweb]

Whois info updated with a different name. Ex-owner was a Turkish guy, the new owner is from Canada.

The domain was very good, can be resold for $$$$, or $$$$$ to an end user and that makes me thinking

Well now the name is gone, what is the big secret, let's hear it, maybe it's not as great as you think if it only got bid up to $15

 

[domainsoup]

Well now the name is gone, what is the big secret, let's hear it, maybe it's not as great as you think if it only got bid up to $15

There are no good names at GD auctions for $15 anymore. 500+ every decent one.

 

[alico]

In conclusion, even though they said that these e-mails were sent out in error, I'm guessing that the address change that I made probably caused me to be part of this unfortunate situation.

I didn't change any account details lately, besides I'm an active auctioneer so other low profile domains went smoothly in the last month without problem...

Well now the name is gone, what is the big secret, let's hear it, maybe it's not as great as you think if it only got bid up to $15

yes you're right, it was hitmuzik.com

 

[Cdomains]

I have been experiencing a lot of errors and problems lately with GD auctions and also with other parts of their interface.

Everything was fine until a few months ago when they started to update the site and then it all went wrong.

I guess they still have not sorted things out. I hope they get their act together soon!!

 

[Joe Styler]

Thanks for bringing this up. I looked into it and there was a technical problem this past weekend on some auctions. We have a very robust anti-fraud mechanism in place to make sure that our auctions are above board and as trustworthy as possible. Auction integrity is of paramount importance to us. I will not go into details on our back end checks except to say that a very small number of bids were marked as suspicious due to a technical error. This was fixed immediately upon discovery so it will not be a problem again. If you did not receive a domain name you won because of this you should have been notified. I spoke with support and we will be happy to provide you with a free backorder credit which you can use on the domain you bid on or any other domain. You just need to respond to auctions support and let them know I said you could have a credit and we will place one in your account. Thank you again for bringing this up to me. We try really hard to make our auctions operate smoothly and without errors for everyone. I apologize for this technical problem.

 

[raubin]

Thanks for bringing this up. I looked into it and there was a technical problem this past weekend on some auctions. We have a very robust anti-fraud mechanism in place to make sure that our auctions are above board and as trustworthy as possible. Auction integrity is of paramount importance to us. I will not go into details on our back end checks except to say that a very small number of bids were marked as suspicious due to a technical error. This was fixed immediately upon discovery so it will not be a problem again. If you did not receive a domain name you won because of this you should have been notified. I spoke with support and we will be happy to provide you with a free backorder credit which you can use on the domain you bid on or any other domain. You just need to respond to auctions support and let them know I said you could have a credit and we will place one in your account. Thank you again for bringing this up to me. We try really hard to make our auctions operate smoothly and without errors for everyone. I apologize for this technical problem.

Free back order credit??? That's nice of you guys, when I purchased a domain at BIN price and then had it taken off of me due to an error your end I got absolute jack .... and told that they would do absolutely nothing to compensate me, plus I had to wait over a week for the refund so I couldn't go and buy anything else!

 

[TRY]

I recently checked the whois for a couple recently expired names I own to find out how much time I have to renew. Surprised to see the whois said they don't expire for another year with me as the registrant. But in my account it shows it had expired. So I renewed them. Good thing I don't rely on public whois and check my account on a daily basis.

 

[korganian]

I recently checked the whois for a couple recently expired names I own to find out how much time I have to renew. Surprised to see the whois said they don't expire for another year with me as the registrant. But in my account it shows it had expired. So I renewed them. Good thing I don't rely on public whois and check my account on a daily basis.

This is a real problem I am having with GD also. It is messing up my ability to keep track of my domain expirations in my Efty account.

 

[Joe Styler]

Free back order credit??? That's nice of you guys, when I purchased a domain at BIN price and then had it taken off of me due to an error your end I got absolute jack .... and told that they would do absolutely nothing to compensate me, plus I had to wait over a week for the refund so I couldn't go and buy anything else!

It isn't a policy on our side to give away backorder credits if there is a technical problem. I am just being nice and trying to help people the same way I would want things if it were me on the other end of it. If you had a technical error please email support and reference the domain and the error and this conversation with me and they can help you as well.

 

[Joe Styler]

This is a real problem I am having with GD also. It is messing up my ability to keep track of my domain expirations in my Efty account.

I would always reference your account the domain is registered in over the Whois. There are easy ways to download lists from your account that include the expiration date. Most people who are active in drop catching domains know the whois will many times reflect an extra year. I am not going to go into all the details of why and how, if you really want to know all the scenarios there was an @DomainSherpa interview with Chris Ambler about expiry process that is an hour and a half long and covers things like this in detail. http://www.domainsherpa.com/tag/chris-ambler/

 

[Rich]

There are some gems, paid 15 to get a name back that I sold last year for xxxx.

There are no good names at GD auctions for $15 anymore. 500+ every decent one.

 

[alico]

Thanks for bringing this up. I looked into it and there was a technical problem this past weekend on some auctions. We have a very robust anti-fraud mechanism in place to make sure that our auctions are above board and as trustworthy as possible. Auction integrity is of paramount importance to us. I will not go into details on our back end checks except to say that a very small number of bids were marked as suspicious due to a technical error. This was fixed immediately upon discovery so it will not be a problem again. If you did not receive a domain name you won because of this you should have been notified. I spoke with support and we will be happy to provide you with a free backorder credit which you can use on the domain you bid on or any other domain. You just need to respond to auctions support and let them know I said you could have a credit and we will place one in your account. Thank you again for bringing this up to me. We try really hard to make our auctions operate smoothly and without errors for everyone. I apologize for this technical problem.

Hi Joe, thank you for your reply but a free backorder credit is not what I want. I only want the domain I already won and paid on auction. If an error happened on your side, please DESCRIBE it because I'm going crazy to know what exactly happened...

I won it, I paid it instantly, the domain was on WON list for a week! But suddenly my account got suspended, I sent the documents you asked (my account was OK all the time...) but with no explanation you cancel my bid and refunded me. The domain is moved to a new owner...

SO, if there is a real technical problem, move domain to my account and say to other lower bidder that "sorry, there is a technical problem and you didn't even won it..."

 

[DN_Hunter]

I got the same email about "Account Suspended" on Friday the 18th. When I called them they looked into it and told me my account was fine, and that I still had the winning bid on the domain name. The domain was supposed to hit my account on Saturday the 19th, but it never did. I watched for it on Sunday and still nothing came to my account. Then finally on Monday I checked the Whois for the name, and it went to "Hugedomains" and I was very upset. I called GD and they told me the owner redeemed the name, but that's a bunch of crap because it was purchased by Hugedomains. I think that glitch on Friday the 18th released my domain name, and Hugedomains scooped it up...

 

[East Street]

It has often been my experience that the phrase 'technical glitch' in corporate speak often means Uh-ohhhh we screwed up.

And then the tap dancing starts.

Good luck, I hope you get a real answer as to what happened at some point.

 

[canswift]

This was fixed immediately upon discovery so it will not be a problem again

This isn't just corporate-speak is it? I have several auctions coming up where I am prepared to go all out to get the names I want. This whole thread is making me very nervous about bidding, although I've not had any issues to date. I would be beside myself to win these names, have GD cancel my bids and then see these names end up at HugeDomains.

 

[wwwweb]

I got the same email about "Account Suspended" on Friday the 18th. When I called them they looked into it and told me my account was fine, and that I still had the winning bid on the domain name. The domain was supposed to hit my account on Saturday the 19th, but it never did. I watched for it on Sunday and still nothing came to my account. Then finally on Monday I checked the Whois for the name, and it went to "Hugedomains" and I was very upset. I called GD and they told me the owner redeemed the name, but that's a bunch of crap because it was purchased by Hugedomains. I think that glitch on Friday the 18th released my domain name, and Hugedomains scooped it up...

Can you cut, and paste bid history for that auction.

I have noticed huge domains bidding at godaddy auctions, they seem to have some automatic process, would be interested to see their bidding pattern. As I have noticed if you place a last second bid in the 5-6 minute before expiry, someone counters with a $100 bid very quickly.