Domain purchased from closeout is now GONE?

[CryptoInvestor]

Hello! I purchased a domain from GoDaddy back in December, I got it from a closeout deal for about $17 total. I just got it Brandpa approved and went to change the nameservers, and its gone! I checked the whois and found it was transfered back to another user on the 6th of this month. I emailed him but, why was he able to do this and how is this allowed?

 

[Arca]

OK that's not good. At least you will get the owner's cut of the sale, though. Did they say how much it sold for?

No, but I saw it listed at $2495, so I assume they took the domain from me so that he can get $2495.

I lose the domain I rightfully took ownership of and will get a refund.

 

[Galaxy Traveller]

For those who are crying now. Suppose if you renew your expired domain within redemption period and you cannot get the domain back. Then?

 

[campout]

They said the former owner will get paid for it.

No. That's not right at all. On what possible basis should the former owner be compensated here? That's insane.

I assume GoDaddy is trying to save face with the buyer. They owe absolutely nothing to the seller though, who did not deliver and instead let the name expire.

 

[Arca]

For those who are crying now. Suppose if you renew your expired domain within redemption period and you cannot get the domain back. Then?

The domain expired on Dec 2.

It was "renewed" today on Jan 17.

Didn't know you could renew on the 47th day @ GoDaddy.

 

[Arca]

No. That's not right at all. On what possible basis should the former owner be compensated here? That's insane.

I assume GoDaddy is trying to save face with the buyer. They owe absolutely nothing to the seller though, who did not deliver and instead let the name expire.

They said the former owner sold it, forgot to transfer, and forgot to renew. He/they just discovered that, and they picked the domain out of my account directly into the buyer's account.

 

[Galaxy Traveller]

The domain expired on Dec 2.

It was "renewed" today on Jan 17.

Didn't know you could renew on the 47th day @ GoDaddy.

The domain is not Godaddy domain. Godaddy rules not applicable for the domain.

 

[anantj]

You cannot within 60 days. I cannot see Godaddy done anything wrong.

If they sold a domain listed by an old owner (and now purchased by someone else) and instead of voiding the sale, they took away the domain from the new owner and you cannot see how this is wrong then you sir, are blind as a bat

 

[Galaxy Traveller]

If they sold a domain listed by an old owner (and now purchased by someone else) and instead of voiding the sale, they took away the domain from the new owner and you cannot see how this is wrong then you sir, are blind as a bat

Are you sure domain listed by original owner for sale?

 

[Arca]

Looks like former owner wasn’t just a regular domainer. It was YummyNames (Tucows' warehousing operation). No wonder GoDaddy went all out to fix their mess up, as I have seen time and time again at GoDaddy (and Afternic) that corporate portfolios get treated very differently and get to to play by different rules that everyone else. Looks like this is a lost cause then. Just taking my refund and moving on...

Historical WHOIS:

 

[tldboss]

The problem is that a domain was removed from an account and pushed /transferred to another account without owner's approval

Commission from the sale is more than the $$ plus renewal from closeout sale.

 

[anantj]

Are you sure domain listed by original owner for sale?

@Arca specifically said that it was sold by the previous owner. Can you prove otherwise?

 

[Galaxy Traveller]

@Arca specifically said that it was sold by the previous owner. Can you prove otherwise?

Expired domains automatically goes to auction etc. and finally drop.

 

[Arca]

@Arca specifically said that it was sold by the previous owner. Can you prove otherwise?

I called GoDaddy customer support. They called the transfer department. The transfer dept told the customer support that the former owner sold the domain, forgot to transfer, forgot to renew, and they just now discovered this.

To complete the sale on behalf of former owner they said they transferred the name out of my account today.

I asked them to confirm that former owner messed up, now gets bailed out by them, and on top of that gets paid for the sale, and I lose the domain that was under my ownership. The customer support confirmed that this is exactly what will happen, and that they will transfer the domain to the buyer on behalf of the former owner.

 

[Joe Styler]

There are two different issues. One where the domain name was never in the account or with GoDaddy and another where it was. The domain for @CryptoInvestor was never with us it was a request to transfer the domain only the domain never transferred.

 

[Jasonn]

@CryptoInvestor Do you have an e-mail from GoDaddy regarding this name with the subject "Domain Transfer Confirmation?"

In the body, it would say this:

"Your transfer request is complete

Congratulations! We've completed the transfer request for the following domain names:

__________.com"

He already said he never got that email so the transfer never completed. I'd be pretty shocked if domains are showing up in godaddy accounts before the transfer to godaddy is even complete.

 

[Jasonn]

That's your choice. The OP has stated multiple times that the domain was in their account and I have no reason to disbelieve them.

Edit: Btw, your own comment stated that the domain was likely in the OPs account for a day and not weeks as they stated. So you're contradicting your own statement.

I was speaking hypothetically. and the OP has said they never got an email saying the transfer was complete so that is a big part in the reasoning to believe it was never there. I buy dozens of domains from godaddy auctions weekly and have always gotten the email stating the transfer is complete when the domain are coming from other registrars.

 

[Jv1999]

Wow just had the same thing as @CryptoInvestor happen. I'm really shocked.

Bought a name from GD closeouts, received the domain into my account on Jan 13, and then today the domain was removed from my account!

I am 100% sure that the domain in my GoDaddy account as I took screenshots of the domain in my account to verify ownership and remove listings of the domain from various marketplaces (still have this screenshot, so I'm certain the domain was in my account).

I called GoDaddy and they said the former owner sold the name, didn't transfer it and let it expire - and now they have to take it from my account to give it to the buyer! Is the mistake of the former owner a valid reason for GoDaddy to take a domain out of my account? They practically stole the domain from my account on this pretense (how can they take a domain from my account after it has been there for several days?). So the former owner still gets paid for his failed sale, thanks to them taking what is now my domain from my account (the customer rep confirmed this when I asked in disbelief). Very disappointing by GoDaddy! I am shocked that GoDaddy can simply go ahead and steal a domain from my account that has been there since Jan 13. They didn't contact me in advance or anything to see whether I'd like to keep the domain, "help" the former owner, or even take over the sale of what was now my domain. They simply picked the name right out of my account, and I even got an account transfer confirmation email as if I had initiated the transfer out by myself! (how can they even initiate an account/ownership change without my approval?)

I believe op, because now arca said it happened to him, with screen shots

 

[Jv1999]

The whole point of drop catching is to grab a domain that's being dropped to the public.

The whole premise of domaining is rightfully registering a domain when it's officially available, then selling your ownership. It doesn't matter if a longstanding website was being hosted on the domain, and it dropped only a day later!

As long as there was no TM, arca had every right to his domain. The crux of domaining is there are no takebacks! It doesn't matter if you forget to transfer or renew, even if you're the empress of Japan! If it drops and someone catches it, THEORY THE DOMAIN IS NOW THEIRS! You can't just grab the domain from the new owner's account because you have the technical ability to do so!

 

[Arca]

The crux of domaining is there are no takebacks!

Not at GoDaddy. Whether you have had an auction won name in your account for a few days, or a few years, GoDaddy can and will take your domain if they want to.

Securing ownership of a GoDaddy auctions won domain is not achieved until you have transferred it out to another registrar.

 

[BrandMart]

lol.. i had a domain (elugahost.com), didn't renew and now when i look it up on whois, it's with Huge Domains. Weird people.

 

[Joe Styler]

As to @Arca we did take the domain from his account. This is exactly what happened. It impacts 33 domains I believe. A few weeks ago, GoDaddy bought a portfolio of domains from another party. As with any portfolio, some domain names were closer to expiration than others. Even though we purchased the names, they were inadvertently listed in data we received from a 3rd party and listed in expired auctions. We realized this only after the auctions had completed. The names should not have been listed for sale a second time. The sale was completed long before this happened. https://domainnamewire.com/2017/12/05/tucows-sells-domain-names-godaddy/

From there we followed our standard protocol. We discovered what happened and we took the names back. We would have done this for any other customer, if there is an error on a renewal that a customer can legitimately show they paid for or tried to pay for - say there was an error with a payment gateway that said the payment was accepted but it was not actually sent, etc, or human error, a customer called in and said renew my domains and we said ok and then didn't do it we would take the name back. It is in our terms of service. If it were another customer we would have taken the names without a second thought. Since it was us there was a lot of Second thoughts. We ultimately decided that although this will not look good for us, it was the right thing to do. We did pay for the domains first and we did pay to renew them. They were not delivered correctly due to a technical error.

We did provide some compensation to the accounts impacted by the 33 domains which we do not have to do according to our terms but felt it was the right thing to do. We do from time to time take domains back, it is extremely rare. I do not have the exact numbers but going off some quick math in my head I would say it is less than .0001% It is very rare. Errors do happen and for that I do sincerely apologize.

 

[DomainGist]

You cannot within 60 days. I cannot see Godaddy done anything wrong.

Did you read what Arca actually wrote? I'm not talking about the OP's problem.

 

[Arca]

So my domain was taken out of my account to be put into your own domain portfolio? That means you could easily have owed up to this mistake and let me keep the domain, but instead decided to take it out of my account, several days after I took ownership of it through the standard expired domain auction procedure. Instead of taking responsibility, you make your users pay for your mistakes and go ahead and break your own rules and take auction won names out of your users accounts (and that was after coming to the conclusion that "this will not look good" - at least you are open about where your priorities are).

I just received the $50 GD gift card notification for you taking a domain out of my account - if that's what what you think the domain is worth I'll gladly give up the gift card and instead pay you $50 for the domain.

 

[DomainGist]

So my domain was taken out of my account to be put into your own domain portfolio? That means you could easily have owed up to this mistake and let me keep the domain, but instead decided to take it out of my account, several days after I took ownership of it through the standard expired domain auction procedure. Instead of taking responsibility, you make your users pay for your mistakes and go ahead and break your own rules and take auction won names out of your users accounts (and that was after coming to the conclusion that "this will not look good" - at least you are open about where your priorities are).

I just received the $50 GD gift card notification for you taking a domain out of my account - if that's what what you think the domain is worth I'll gladly give up the gift card and instead pay you $50 for the domain.

And if you had yourself sold the domain during the period that you had it in your account on another venue... then you would have been sued.

This type of behaviour completely crosses the line of ethics, and $50 is a pathetic paltry figure. Considering it was a huge massive f*ck up from them, and it was only 33 domains affected.... I think they should personally have been giving you $2400 or whatever it was, which was clearly the market value of the domain that they took.

I'm going to start the process of transferring out my domains in case Godaddy ever decide at any stage that they want to sell one of my domains to whoever they choose.

Unfortunately their expiring auctions are the best so I can't close my account entirely, but I'll be transferring everything out after 60 days from now on.... out of principle.

"We did provide some compensation to the accounts impacted by the 33 domains which we do not have to do according to our terms"

Shocking that they allow for this activity within their terms.

You've basically had a domain stolen. Will take them doing it to the wrong person to set a legal precedent and make them change.

This is actually one of the worst things I've ever heard of from a registrar, apart from TNS who have done stuff like this for years.

 

[Galaxy Traveller]

Did you read what Arca actually wrote? I'm not talking about the OP's problem.

Yes Arcas problem is different but again that domain from another registrar and probably not transfered properly. And I can feel the feelings of emptyness if domain gone, though till now not happned with me.