Dynadot.com's annoying 30 days auction lock

[Erdy]

I'm annoyed with Dynadot.com and their attitude towards feedback. I gave them detailed feedback on how to improve their service and all they said they have added this to their to do list. After a while I sent them another email. This time they say they have no intention of changing anything. What happened to the to do list? It is like talking to a wall. They never listen.

They keep locking domains for 30 days that I buy at their expired domain auctions. They say they wait to make sure the funds are clear. However I suggest them to pre-fund my account in advance. If this is about waiting and making sure the funds are clear then I don't mind paying money into my account one month in advance. They don't seem to understand nor they listen.

18 Oct 2010 My first email:

If a domain is on auction lock can I push it?

The reason I'm asking is because I bought a few domains at your expired domain marketplace and I don't want to wait until the auction lock is lifted to sell them.

18 Oct 2010 Dynadot's answer:

Hello,

Unfortunately, you can not move or transfer a domain while it is in auction lock status. Please read the following help topic for more information:

What does it mean when a domain is in "auction lock" status?
http://www.dynadot.com/help/question.html?aid=172

Best Regards,
Dynadot Staff

20 Oct 2010 My second email:

Hi,
I bought a few domains from your expired domain marketplace.
I find the 30 day auction lock time too off putting. I buy those domains to sell. I don't want to wait so long.

Even at Godaddy I wait only a week. I'm sure you can do better than 30 days.
If this is about previous owner still being able to renew, I think you should never list those domains while they can still be renewed.

If this is about funds clearing, I suggest you differentiate between expired domain auctions and private sale auctions. Maybe keep 30 days auction lock for private sales and reduce to 10 days for expired domains.

In general the 30 day auction lock for expired domains is far too long.
Thanks
Erdinc

20 Oct 2010 Dynadot's answer:

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback, but the auction time is set to 30 days to avoid fraudulent payments. We have to make sure the payment is not a fraudulent one before we release the domain.

Best Regards,
Dynadot Staff

20 Oct 2010 My third email:

Hi,
I wrote you about auction lock time being too long you and you wrote back saying it is to avoid fraudulent payments.

However I have put money in my Dynadot account longer than 1 month ago. You have this "bulk pricing" option which I use. I already pre-fund my account long before I spent the money. But still you make me wait 30 days for auction lock. I'm buying domains to sell them. The 30 day auction lock makes your expired domain marketplace undesirable.

Example:
I pay $500 into my Dynadot account. 30 days later, today I purchase an expired domain using funds that are waiting in my account for 30 days. You apply auction lock and keep me waiting for a further 30 days because you want to avoid fraudulent payments. It doesn't make sense because these funds were already in my account for 30 days. Do you see my point here?

Possible Solutions :
Solution 1: Create a system where there is account balance and there is also "marketplace cleared funds". Funds that have been waiting in your account balance for 30 days show up in your "marketplace cleared funds" automatically. When you make a purchase in the marketplace, it automatically uses your marketplace cleared funds if there are enough funds here. Otherwise it uses your normal account balance. These two sections hold the same total balance.

For instance if you have $550 in your account balance and $500 of it was added over 30 days ago and the other 50 was added newly, your account balance will show $550 and your marketplace cleared funds $500.
It would then show like this:
Account balance: $550
Marketplace cleared funds: $500 (These are funds that were added more than 30 days ago)

Solution 2: Create a system where there is, account balance and "marketplace instant balance". Funds that have been waiting in account balance for 30 days can be moved manually by the used to "marketplace instant balance" section. These two sections hold their own separate balance.

For instance if I have $400 in my account and it was added 30 days ago, I can manually push $150 to marketplace instant balance section.
It would then show like this:
Regular account balance: $250
Marketplace instant balance: $150
Total account balance: $400

Thanks
Erdinc

20 Oct 2010 Dynadot's answer:

Hello,

Thank you for your suggestion. We will add that feature to our todo list. But currently, we have to keep the auction lock feature. This feature can help us to reduce fraudulent payments and lower the price for our customers.

26 Oct 2010 My fourth email:

Hi,
I need to make some domain sales but because of the 30 day auction lock I can't. Can you please reduce the auction lock time ...

I paid you over six hundred dollars in the last few months. ... I'm not going to start scamming you now. I bought those domains in your expired marketplace for cheap.

Thanks
Erdinc

26 Oct 2010 Dynadot's answer:

Hello,

We can't reduce the auction lock period. Please understand that the auction lock can help us prevent fraudulent orders and lower the price for our customers.

Best Regards,
Dynadot Staff

10 Nov 2010 My fifth email

Hi,

A few weeks ago I wrote you an email about the 30 days auction lock that you apply to domains bought at your expired domain auctions.
You said this is to protect against fraudulent funds.

However I can pre-fund my account in advance and leave the money waiting in my account for 30 days. Then you wouldn't need to apply auction lock. I understand that this option requires programming. I'm just wondering if this is on your to do list.

Thanks
Erdinc

10 Nov 2010 Dynadot's answer:

Hello,

The 30 day auction lock is a company policy and we have no plans on changing this any time soon. We appreciate your suggestion; all feedback from our customers is considered.

Best Regards,
Dynadot Staff

 

[Daniel Owens]

After, the 15 days are up I understand we can move to another dynadot account. However, after 15 days I need to know is there a 60-day lock on transfer to another register (such as GD for example)?

 

[Name Trader]

After, the 15 days are up I understand we can move to another dynadot account. However, after 15 days I need to know is there a 60-day lock on transfer to another register (such as GD for example)?

To my knowledge. (I've not experienced this). Dynadot opt you out of any new transfer lock when change of owner happens at Dynadot. So you should be able to transfer out after the auction transfer lock has expired. As the domain has been at Dynadot more than 60 days. At least, this is how I would interpret these transfer lock rules at Dynadot. But you should probably, ask @Dynadot, to be sure.

 

[Dynadot]

@stub is correct. Our Auction Lock is 15 days long. After that time, you can move the domain to a new account or Registrar. That is, of course, unless you have chosen to enable the 60 day lock for contact record changes.

https://www.dynadot.com/community/help/question/auction-lock

 

[Daniel Owens]

Yes, once the auction lock ended I was able to successfully move a domain out of dynadot to godaddy. Glad, they shorted the auction lock to 15 days and that I was able to move out after that. I am in discount club at GD.

 

[jhmisher]

Apparently, the lock is 30 days again

 

[Dynadot]

Apparently, the lock is 30 days again

Our auction lock for domains purchased from our expired domain auctions would still last for 15 days, we don't have any plans to change that at this time. Domains purchased from our user auctions would be subject to the 'buy lock' however, which does last for 30 days, and also applies to domains purchased from the marketplace:

https://www.dynadot.com/community/help/question/auction-lock
https://www.dynadot.com/community/help/question/buy-lock

 

[wwwweb]

If people prefund their account 30 days out, why not automate the auction lock for cc funds, and waive them for aged funds etc... a simple code for programmer, and good for you as you have access to account funds for your day to day operations.

 

[Dynadot]

If people prefund their account 30 days out, why not automate the auction lock for cc funds, and waive them for aged funds etc... a simple code for programmer, and good for you as you have access to account funds for your day to day operations.

Thank you for the suggestion, I have passed that on to our team to see if it would be possible.