question Do any registrars ever hold back expiring domains?

[jake daniel]

Do registrars ever hold back an expiring domain for themselves? Meaning, can a registrar just decide to keep an expiring domain that was originally registered with them (i.e. by re-registering it for themselves) or are there any (ICANN) rules against this?

 

[Hashim]

Good question, also curious about this.

 

[dombastic]

Do registrars ever hold back an expiring domain for themselves?

Is this step necessary? They send the domain to an auction and get the money...

 

[Hashim]

Is this step necessary? They send the domain to an auction and get the money...

He's referring to instead of allowing them to get drop caught. Isn't it only GoDaddy that auction their domains off before allowing them to go to closeout domains?

 

[dombastic]

He's referring to instead of allowing them to get drop caught. Isn't it only GoDaddy that auction their domains off before allowing them to go to closeout domains?

Why only GD?

e.g. Dynadot has expired domain auctions

 

[Hashim]

Why only GD?

e.g. Dynadot has expired domain auctions

Yeah I only just checked out ExpiredDomains, turns out there's quite a few, my bad. I'm confused about how to go about using this, is there a way to download lists for all the sites in the marketplace tab or do you have to download lists separately?

 

[jake daniel]

Is this step necessary? They send the domain to an auction and get the money...

I was more wondering if registrars ever just hold back a domain entirely? Meaning, not to sell it or letting it go to auction, but to just keep it (e.g. re-registering it) for themselves. I read about domain warehousing and that ICANN doesn't really have a policy preventing registrars from doing this, but just wanted to get a sense from others of how common this actually is or if I'm missing something here? I feel like I must be misunderstanding something, because it just seems crazy to me how this practice of registrars (read: someone who works at a registrar) can legally just hold onto an expired domain -- it seems like the definition of unfair competition.

 

[tonyk2000]

Tucows/Opensrs does this for years. Unsure what branding they currently use for this portfolio, as they changed it a few times. Yummynames? They however do (or, at least, did) provide an opportunity for original registrant to buy the domain back with a discount during some time.
Domains they do not like for themselves are sent to godaddy expired auctions.


Also, Networksolutions runs "New ventures services corp" for the same purpose, was discussed here @ np a number of times.

 

[Grego85]

Rob Monster over at Epik has freely admitted he does this all the time. This is coupled with the fact that he has the shortest default grace period of any registrar I know of (only two weeks). Extremely fishy and certainly uncouth to say the least.

 

[jake daniel]

I honestly don't understand why no one has brought a lawsuit against one of the more notorious registrars who do this...especially if it happened with a particularly valuable domain. I mean, how the hell isn't there some kind of regulation against doing this?

 

[tonyk2000]

I mean, how the hell isn't there some kind of regulation against doing this?

ICANN accredited registars cannot warehouse domains, no doubts. They can only own domains necessary for their operational activities. It is what their contract with ICANN says.

Nothing prevents them from being owners (or otherwise control) other legal entities though. It simply happens that exipred domains end up in hands of these entities. All are happy!

 

[jake daniel]

ICANN accredited registars cannot warehouse domains, no doubts. They can only own domains necessary for their operational activities. It is what their contract with ICANN says.

Nothing prevents them from being owners (or otherwise control) other legal entities though. It simply happens that exipred domains end up in hands of these entities. All are happy!

The fact that registrars can create shell companies to warehouse expired domains under seems like a pretty obvious conflict of interest, which clearly undercuts any other potential buyer's ability to compete in registering the expiring domain.

 

[mayhemalex]

Rob Monster over at Epik has freely admitted he does this all the time. This is coupled with the fact that he has the shortest default grace period of any registrar I know of (only two weeks). Extremely fishy and certainly uncouth to say the least.

EPIK or Epik... Yes be careful with these guys, unfortunately. I was really liking them. Besides the really short grace period (shorter than GoDaddy) apparently, they are claiming that when the domain is auto-renewed on expiration, they are charged for that and we must pay for that!! wow.. never have I been asked to pay for an auto-renew before I get unlock/auth inside the registrars designated grace period... fishy as f&*K

Pretty sad since its very domainer friendly and their presence on here would have indicated as much so.

The reason I even cried out for help on NP was because their email support never responded and chat did not work!

Just for the record I asked for 5 unlock auth with the oldest domain expiring 9/25 and the newest 9/29.. is that even two weeks??

 

[mayhemalex]

I have asked the Epik rep on NP for unlock/auth for a domain that expired 29/9.. I can force it through immediately.. lets see how honest they are..