[Day 11] GoDaddy Seized a Name I Bought Here on NamePros

[Peak.Domains]

On August 24th, I purchased a name from [User 1] here on NamePros. Everything went smoothly, until a few days ago, when I received an unexpected email from GoDaddy:

"You’ve canceled a product.

You can review your full billing history and manage your preferences from your account. Here's what we removed for you today:

.COM Domain Registration
(associated with: "xxxxxxxx")
Purchased on original receipt: "xxxxxxxx"


This is alarming, since I did not cancel this domain name. There's nothing about owning them a single penny in my billing history, no requests for payment or anything of the sort. I didn't buy this name from them.

I hop on with their support staff, and after quite a wait, I'm told:

"Thanks for the patience as I have checked there was a invalid payment due to which your domain got cancelled."

This still doesn't make any sense to me, since I have no idea what payment they're talking about.

"CHARGEBACK DEPT: Domains have been repossessed due to an invalid payment. Have customer email [email protected] with domain names they are requesting."

"As I have checked there was a charge back on your domain due to payment disputes. that is why the domain has been removed. The bank must have found something wrong from your payment method."

I still have no idea what this has to do with me or why they're talking about MY payment method. I purchased this name from a user here, not from GoDaddy's marketplace. I'm not the one who paid GoDaddy for this domain.

I get a bit of a clarification finally:

"Alright,but at some point of time somebody has bought the domain,right.
However you have to send an email at [email protected] to verify that there was no dispute"

But how can I verify there was no dispute when I have nothing to do with whatever bank issued a chargeback?

I'm trying to understand how I can possibly verify something that has nothing to do with me...

"If you don not send an email then you will not get th domain back."

Ultimately, they told me I just need to email that address and tell them that I want the domain back. This seems like such a clunky process, and we're on day 3 now with no response from [email protected]. They still have my name, and I'm out a decent chunk of cash.

Getting to the bottom of this
I reached out [User 1] who I purchased the name from here on NamePros, who informed me they purchased it from [User 2], who informed me they purchased it from [User 3]. User 1 and 2 are reputable members here, I'm not trying to drag them into this since I genuinely don't think they did anything wrong and I have been in contact with both of them, they both responded instantly and were eager to help.

[User 3], however, is a new account with 0 feedback who hasn't responded to our messages and hasn't logged in since last Sunday. In this case, I'm okay revealing that User 3 is @Samsquantch . Be careful dealing with this user until they've come forward. I want to make clear: I have no reason to believe that this is an alt account of any of the other users I've dealt with.

I'm not accusing Samsquantch of anything at this point, but what could have happened was *somebody* purchased a liquid domain with a "questionable" payment method, they quickly flipped the domain, it got sold twice more since then, and I'm left holding the bag when someone wakes up and sees a charge they don't recognize on their credit card.

There are probably other explanations, the above is just my guess. I can only go with what I've been told my GoDaddy, which is next to nothing.

I genuinely don't know what I could have done differently to protect myself in this situation, I purchased a name from a reputable member who purchased it from a reputable member and it was still seized.

Thank you for reading, if anyone has tips on how to avoid getting our domain names sized by GoDaddy I think that would be helpful for a lot of people here.

(edited for brevity)​

 

[Lord Antares]

While I do agree that people eating losses for GD's mistakes is shitty and that GD is a shitty registrar, Joe Styler has a point.

If they could just refund you or let you keep the domain, it would be very easily abused. You make two accounts. First one makes a fraudulent payment, then the second one pretends to buy the domain off-site and thus you get a free domain or free money.

I'm sure you specifically wouldn't do this, but this is what Godaddy are afraid of. This is why they're asking you for your ID. To try and make sure you're not the thief.

I 100% agree that you eating the loss for what wasn't your fault is unfair; in fact godaddy should eat the loss, but it's a tricky issue to resolve.

 

[xynames]

Disgusting - #boycottgodaddy

AVOID GoDaddy hosting company they will shut down all your sites if even one Trademark claim is made
https://www.namepros.com/threads/av...-if-even-one-trademark-claim-is-made.1110373/

 

[Peak.Domains]

I get why GoDaddy would seize the name, they have the power to do that and there's really no reason not to from their point of view. They could have handled it infinitely better at any point at all. They definitely couldn't have handled it worse.

I've been a customer at GoDaddy since 2010 with over 50 orders, which is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to many people, but you'd hope it would still be enough to get even the tiniest bit of respect through this process instead of being treated like I'm the criminal here.

Here's a hypothetical situation, food for thought...

Imagine you sold a name for $x,xxx or whatever amount, and shortly after it turns out that somewhere down the line, there was a payment issue that wasn't caught by GoDaddy soon enough.

GoDaddy is protected, they're fine, they can just take the name back. They accepted an unverified payment it seems, took too long to notice but still allowed people to pass the name around. What incentive is there to be careful in accepting payments when they just pass the risk off to their users, and our end-users?

Meanwhile, your end-user wakes up to an email that says "You have cancelled this product".

Your end-user isn't on NamePros, they don't have anyone advising them or offering any kind of support. All they know is their expensive new domain name is gone, and so is their money.

They reach out to GoDaddy support, after an hour they are informed they just need to send a quick email and they'll most likely get their name back.

It's been 3 days, they still haven't gotten a response.

All your end-user knows is they sent you a big pile of money, and you told them to create an account at GoDaddy, and now GoDaddy is telling them to send in personal documents after claiming your end-user deleted their own domain name.

Have fun with that...

 

[Jason Baudendistel]

Really sorry to hear about this situation. I understand why GoDaddy seized the name but also agree that customer service and communication were lacking on their part. They sound a lot like the Sprint of domain names.

 

[ResoluteDomains]

All the registrars should work on a solution for this because I think the current 'solution' encourages the scammers as they got away with their profit and were not harmed in any way, they would do this sh*t all over again and people with no morals who haven't done this yet just got a new idea for scamming people. When you think about it, it isn't that hard to buy at any marketplace and sell it for a quick profit and then do a chargeback. It doesn't matter if escrow was used because if the domain stays at the same registrar they will take it back from the buyer so the only way buyer can stay safe is by always transferring out the domain.

I agree. I have worked in several malls in my early life and can tell you that the mall management in conjunction with the retailers - especially the anchor retailer(s), all exchanged information on how to mitigate theft and shoplifting. I see no reason why the registrars cant come together to help fight this.

 

[ResoluteDomains]

I get why GoDaddy would seize the name, they have the power to do that and there's really no reason not to from their point of view. They could have handled it infinitely better at any point at all. They definitely couldn't have handled it worse.

I've been a customer at GoDaddy since 2010 with over 50 orders, which is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to many people, but you'd hope it would still be enough to get even the tiniest bit of respect through this process instead of being treated like I'm the criminal here.

Here's a hypothetical situation, food for thought...

Imagine you sold a name for $x,xxx or whatever amount, and shortly after it turns out that somewhere down the line, there was a payment issue that wasn't caught by GoDaddy soon enough.

GoDaddy is protected, they're fine, they can just take the name back. They accepted an unverified payment it seems, took too long to notice but still allowed people to pass the name around. What incentive is there to be careful in accepting payments when they just pass the risk off to their users, and our end-users?

Meanwhile, your end-user wakes up to an email that says "You have cancelled this product".

Your end-user isn't on NamePros, they don't have anyone advising them or offering any kind of support. All they know is their expensive new domain name is gone, and so is their money.

They reach out to GoDaddy support, after an hour they are informed they just need to send a quick email and they'll most likely get their name back.

It's been 3 days, they still haven't gotten a response.

All your end-user knows is they sent you a big pile of money, and you told them to create an account at GoDaddy, and now GoDaddy is telling them to send in personal documents after claiming your end-user deleted their own domain name.

Have fun with that...

It has probably occurred outside of our awareness. Wherever there is business and money being exchanged - there will be fraud attempts. I saw a tweet (I think it was a tweet) or maybe a post here somewhere that someone stated they sold their commercial office space for 6 figures and the deal took quite a while - over 30 days I believe. But the next sentence was something to the effect "can sell a 6 figure domain in a few hours with a few emails". Well, there are pluses and minuses to each. With real-estate you have deeds and attorney's and all these checks and balances probably because of the decades of scammers and fraud that laid the groundwork for all of that paperwork and checking to be required. This has not happened in our industry...... yet. Perhaps it will never but with the great power of selling a 6-figure (or any amount) domain in hours over a few emails will come great responsibility on all parts and the higher risk of failure. Either the buyer doesnt pay, or he scams the seller, or like in this case where he allegedly scammed the registrar AND the buyer that he first sold to.

Sorry for your problem, I do hope that it gets resolved to your satisfaction and that is all that I can say at this point.

 

[hookbox]

Is there a Cliff Notes version of this thread somewhere. Why do people have to write a book every time they respond to something

 

[DanSanchez]

@DanSanchez I thought you were already boycotting us I'm not aware of any other major registrar who would allow the domain to stay in the account in this circumstance. This is pretty standard in the industry. Although overall it is extremely rare at GoDaddy or anywhere else, which is why you not hear about it more often.

I have and will continue directing clients away from Godaddy, working with one today who has over 100 domains going to Epik. I have a collection of examples in this forum that makes my case very easy when they ask why Godaddy sucks...

My disgust comes from the lack of empathy for the end-user who you claim is a priority. He clearly wants to get the domain back and none of your staff are concerned about recovering that for him. There are thousands of "repossessed domains" in Godaddy's control, likely affecting thousands of customers. What is their recourse for recovery?

 

[Peak.Domains]

UPDATE:

A second name that I purchased from User 3 here on NamePros, that I then I sold to another user, has now also been repossessed by GoDaddy in the same fashion.

I refunded my buyer the full sale price instantly.

I didn't get an ideal outcome when this happened to me, but I can at least make sure that my buyer gets a better outcome.

It appears now that there were multiple names that were a part of the initial fraudulent payment that GoDaddy processed, and they both had the same origin of starting at Samsquatch and then going to User 2, then User 3, then to me, and in this case I sold the name to another user here on Namepros, who just messaged me to inform me that it was seized by GoDaddy.

Wow, a heads up that other names were involved in the fraudulent payment that GoDaddy accepted would have been REALLY NICE.

So now I'm not only out the initial name that this thread is about, but a SECOND name, too. Now I'm into this nonsense for hundreds of dollars, but there's no way I'm going to ask someone else to try to deal with this through GoDaddy like I had to.

My poor buyer had already wasted hours of their time trying to deal with GoDaddy today before I got online to help them. I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone, except GoDaddy. If I had one wish, it would be for GoDaddy to have to deal with GoDaddy's own support in an infinite loop for all of eternity like Dr. Strange, but I digress...

I have asked User 2 and User 3 to help me out with this by splitting the refund 3 ways with me, as they both sold this name on Namepros very recently, too, and one of them was the person who purchased it from Samsquatch for cheap. Samsquatch appears to be the origin of both of these unlucky names (but I can't confirm that, I don't know for sure, a lot of the details are muddy despite what Joe said earlier about being "pretty clear".)

It was suggested by @Ategy.com that the best way to deal with this is to have each person get a refund from the person they purchased the name from. In that case, it would leave User 3 on the hook for both of the names since they bought both of them from Samsquatch and I doubt Samsquatch is going to be giving any refunds anytime soon. This way, however, the three of us are taking an equal loss and the person I sold the name two isn't out a single penny.

That's a better resolution for my buyer than I received when this happened to me, and I'm happy that I was able to make this happen.

I trust User 2 and User 3 will come through, and I will keep you all updated. I still have no reason to believe either of them are involved in this in any malicious or dishonest way.

I will keep you all posted... thanks for reading and contributing to this thread.

 

[branding]

UPDATE:

A second name that I purchased from the same person here on Namepros from User 3, that I then I sold to another user, has now also been repossessed by GoDaddy in the same fashion.

I refunded my buyer the full sale price instantly.

I didn't get an ideal outcome when this happened to me, but I can at least make sure that my buyer gets a better outcome.

It appears now that there were multiple names that were a part of the initial fraudulent payment that GoDaddy processed, and they both had the same origin of starting at Samsquatch and then going to User 2, then User 3, then to me, and in this case I sold the name to another user here on Namepros, who just messaged me to inform me that it was seized by GoDaddy.

Wow, a heads up that other names were involved in the fraudulent payment that GoDaddy accepted would have been REALLY NICE.

So now I'm not only out the initial name that this thread is about, but a SECOND name, too. Now I'm into this nonsense for hundreds of dollars, but there's no way I'm going to ask someone else to try to deal with this through GoDaddy like I had to.

My poor buyer had already wasted hours of their time trying to deal with GoDaddy today before I got online to help them. I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone, except GoDaddy. If I had one wish, it would be for GoDaddy to have to deal with GoDaddy's own support in an infinite loop for all of eternity like Dr. Strange, but I digress...

I have asked User 2 and User 3 to help me out with this by splitting the refund 3 ways with me, as they both sold this name on Namepros very recently, too, and one of them was the person who purchased it from Samsquatch for cheap. Samsquatch appears to be the origin of both of these unlucky names (but I can't confirm that, I don't know for sure, a lot of the details are muddy despite what Joe said earlier about being "pretty clear".)

It was suggested by @Ategy.com that the best way to deal with this is to have each person get a refund from the person they purchased the name from. In that case, it would leave User 3 on the hook for both of the names since they bought both of them from Samsquatch and I doubt Samsquatch is going to be giving any refunds anytime soon. This way, however, the three of us are taking an equal loss and the person I sold the name two isn't out a single penny.

That's a better resolution for my buyer than I received when this happened to me, and I'm happy that I was able to make this happen.

I trust User 2 and User 3 will come through, and I will keep you all updated. I still have no reason to believe either of them are involved in this in any malicious or dishonest way.

I will keep you all posted... thanks for reading and contributing to this thread.

Man, what a mess. I feel for you. really do. Losing a name is bad but it's even worse when someone you sold a name to loses it.

I applaud you for giving him a full refund like a true gentleman!

On a side note, I'm really curious about the domains.if they cannot be shared I understand.

Respect!

 

[Ategy]

A second name that I purchased from User 3 here on NamePros, that I then I sold to another user, has now also been repossessed by GoDaddy in the same fashion.

I refunded my buyer the full sale price instantly.

That's the way it's supposed to be done.

For the previous transaction, the person who sold you the domain needs to refund you 100%. I'm not sure if it's in the @NamePros rules, but something for the @Support Team to maybe comment on.

In turn that person who sold you the first domain needs to be refunded from the person who sold it to them.

Then that person needs to take action against the original seller HOPEFULLY with help from GoDaddy who until now have been a complete disaster in this mess and handled things and communicated so incompetently that they need to shoulder some of the blame and responsibility for being a factor in a huge failure towards their client(s).


A few questions .. does GoDaddy own these domains or was it originally someone using their platform?

Also .. can you please put the dates each transaction in the chains (for both domains) occurred?


Any correspondence (dated) from GoDaddy (including from here at NP if it's not too private, otherwise just the date(s)) that you haven't shared so far would be helpful as well.


Ideally, depending on who the domains legally belong to now (not sure if it's GD or another previous owner), it would be nice if GoDaddy could step up to make amends for their complete gross incompetence, and for being a significant cause of stress to all parties involved because of their failure of communication on all fronts from accuracy to timeliness.

Maybe agree to sell the domains to 2nd the person in each chain for the price they bought it from the apparent fraudster .. so that the transaction chains of each could be repeated to the point where each person the domains were repossessed from would eventually have the domains again for the same price.


I'm not saying GoDaddy legally has any obligation to do this .. nor that they should do it for free (bad precedent) .. but they need to recognise how their platform's incompetence combined with their communications failures significantly increased the overall negative impact on all innocent individuals involved. So do what I said above .. AND apologise ... AND finally get serious about fixing their disaster of a platform!

 

[Silentptnr]

Still makes no sense to me why GoDaddy takes more than 5 minutes to verify payments electronically. I can't think of any business that is too big to be sure it is getting paid for the products it is selling.

Perhaps GD needs to offer a simple "sale certification" of sorts that a GD customer can offer to a buyer of their domain. If they did, I would request them on my purchases.

Its not right that they aren't required to provide some proof of fraud before taking the domain. Also, they have yet to explain the triggers. Why is it when a domain is pushed, they repossess them. I cannot believe it is just coincidence that repossessions are occurring right when the domains are pushed.

Anyway, I don't know what the solution should be. Until there is one, on deals $50 or more involving a GD domain, I will call in advance and ask customer support if the domain has any chance of being repossessed.

I will record those calls.

 

[Silentptnr]

And btw, the domain GoDaddy supposedly "repossessed" from me.....Still shows repossessed and it's been probably over a month.

I would love to know what exactly GoDaddy does with these "Repossessed Domains".

Believe it or not, the GD representative told me they just sell them later.

Gotta love it.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

right that they aren't required to provide some proof of fraud before taking the domain. Also, they have yet to explain the triggers

This is the key point in all of the similar cases. It simply is not right that a registrar can seize a domain name without providing any proof whatsoever that there was anything fraudulent done by anyone.

 

[Silentptnr]

And one last, last thing.......

When GoDaddy repossesses a domain like they did mine (gxog.com), the whois is updated to show "Repossessed By GoDaddy".

However, a quick visit to the actual domain and this is what they put up...

Notice the auction is active and ends soon. @Joe Styler

And here the actual auction page...

This is a real asset. GoDaddy needs to provide details! GoDaddy needs to explain what the hell is going on!

 

[Tia Wood]

And one last, last thing.......

When GoDaddy repossesses a domain like they did mine (gxog.com), the whois is updated to show "Repossessed By GoDaddy".

However, a quick visit to the actual domain and this is what they put up...
Show attachment 129021
Notice the auction is active and ends soon. @Joe Styler

And here the actual auction page...
Show attachment 129022

This is a real asset. GoDaddy needs to provide details! GoDaddy needs to explain what the hell is going on!

Whoa....dude...WTF...this is NOT cool at all.....I really hope there is nothing shady going on.

 

[Silentptnr]

Whoa....dude...WTF...this is NOT cool at all.....I really hope there is nothing shady going on.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

Godaddy shareholders are still profiting from godaddy illegal activities.
Stock market people should look into this.
Has @Support Team been here to clarify things?
Keep up good work @DanSanchez

 

[draco]

GoDaddy auctions the domains to try to get their money back. I had this happen to me. GoDaddy took a couple domains from me. They offered to end the auctions and sell me the domains for the amount they were out from the original buyer's chargeback / theft. It was another multi purchase deal, where the domains changed hands several times. I got my money back from the person I bought them from, who got their money back from the marketplace (not GoDaddy) where they purchased the domains.

 

[D Haynes]

ABANDON SHIP!!

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Interesting that GoValue show the previous value of the sale of Silentptnr domain at $400 supposedly the one on their system they did not get paid for, but they now have a minimum bid more than double that. If they make a profit over the amount they claim they lost in payment method do they share it with people like @Silentptnr who are out money?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I see that the whois on the one now being auctioned shows the registrant as "repossessed by GoDaddy" Does anyone know if there is an automated way of seeing how many domains show this currently to give an idea of scope of problem?

 

[draco]

I think the minimum bid is the amount the original buyer paid for the domains. That's the amount they're out. I don't know what happens if they make a profit.

Interesting that GoValue show the previous value of the sale of Silentptnr domain at $400 supposedly the one on their system they did not get paid for, but they now have a minimum bid more than double that. If they make a profit over the amount they claim they lost in payment method do they share it with people like @Silentptnr who are out money?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I think the minimum bid is the amount the original buyer paid for the domains.

But my point is that the prior sale, listed on GoValue, supposedly that at Afternic /GD shows $400 not $975, unless their system deleted the sale with failed payment.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I see that the whois on the one now being auctioned shows the registrant as "repossessed by GoDaddy" Does anyone know if there is an automated way of seeing how many domains show this currently to give an idea of scope of problem?

Interesting, it seems that designation inder Registrar Status just got removed and it now shows blank.