Dynadot Doesn't Have An Expired Auctions Problem

[nielsencl]

There is another thread about this topic, but the OP doesn't want to hear arguements, so I decided to start a new thread where people also can't post arguements against what I think.

While the Dynadot auction policy may frustrate dropcatchers and other buyers, the policy which allows a domain owner to renew pretty much up to the drop date, from what I understand, is not only fair, but has been needed for a long time. Registrars don't have any expense that is caused by a domain droping that I am aware of. But domain owners often, far too often, don't get renewal emails within 30 days of the domain expiring. When they do get a clue, they are faced with paying a stiff "fine" to the registrar to continue using their domain. Often they cannot afford to pay it and let the domain go, hopeing to register it again before a scavanger (Like me!) picks it up.

This policy is DOMAIN OWNER friendly and should not be changed, but adopted by ALL registrars IMO. If you agree that it's overall good for the industry, please post. If not, post in the other thread.

I have already emailed Dynadot to tell them how very pleased I am that they are so considerate of their current customers.

 

[lothos]

I agree, I wish more registrars would adapt a policy like this.

 

[DU]

I'd rather post where advice/opinion is valued even if it's totally wrong. lol

Here is is:

If the registrars are ALLOWED to have auctions then I believe that the renewal after the point of sale should not be allowed. If you win a domain you win a domain. I don't care if renewal is regfee or $80 or $200. It is annoying system.

Personally I have won auctions and not received the name
Personally I have not participated in auctions AND received the name

It sucks for the winner of the auction.

Simple premise here:
You cannot sell what is not yours

If you allow registrars to take ownership then I think the auction should be randomly started and a dutch auction - first come first served. Giving registrars ownership leads down a dangerous path so that's even worse. It is occurring today but it should really be prevented. This is a much more insidious issue with the process today.

I actually think that the domain should expire on the day it expires. The most confusing thing for end users and people is that they see a domain EXPIRES 20th April but its not available. They ask and you tell them to wait somewhere between 65-72 days depending on "factors" for it to delete.

My belief is that once expired it goes into a registry pending delete pool that is cleared randomly ending the drop catching business. The registrar is out of the loop. It expires? Straight back to the registry pool. End their involvement.

With regard to notification? Just start that earlier. There is also auto-renewal that is attempted 10 days before. You can also reg multi-years. No excuse for domains expiring. Domainers do it because they know they can and can get the domain back.

There is no need for the post expire drama.

If there is going to be an "extended renewal" period then that period should be managed as a standard registry enforced period.. take the fun and games out of it.

 

[slumdog]

liked

too bad had to type it in !

 

[nielsencl]

I just saw that I have replies and good ones too...!

No excuse for domains expiring.

I guess it has not happened to you, or someone clueless that you know. I have seen several cases where a non-profit organization or a person did not know to change their email address in their domain contacts and lost their domain. This really does happen quite a bit. While it is not the "responsibility" of a registrar to make sure a domain owner doesn't not lose their domain by accident, it should be in their interest to provide the best customer support possible and try to keep a customer from making a mistake.

Sure, we all want to reg a domain that is 10 years old with 3,700 backlinks from .edu sites. I'd like to find a wallet with $10,000 also, but I would not keep the wallet for myself. This doesn't mean I would give up a domain that I got if the real owner contacted me, but I might be willing to work out some kind of deal if I can.

But that's me. 2 or 3 times I have found something nice that dropped, and saw that the previous owner still didn't realize it. So I contacted them and told them about it. It's called "doing a good deed", and while it doesn't advance my plans for retirement, it sure made me feel good that I could help someone that way...!

I think the registars should let the domain owner know they can register the domain, and if they don't want to, let them know that the domain will be up for bid, to be sold off on the drop date. The owner can decide what they want to do. If the domain is sold at auction, why not give the previous owner some money? I would never use any other register if I had one that would treat me like that, as a partner and not a cow to be milked.

And yes, I like the idea of the domain not being auctioned or controlled by the registrar, just have it go back into the pool. Too many temptations for corruption and funny business. Remove the self-interest of the registrars, please.

 

[DU]

I just saw that I have replies and good ones too...!
I guess it has not happened to you, or someone clueless that you know. I have seen several cases where a non-profit organization or a person did not know to change their email address in their domain contacts and lost their domain. This really does happen quite a bit. While it is not the "responsibility" of a registrar to make sure a domain owner doesn't not lose their domain by accident, it should be in their interest to provide the best customer support possible and try to keep a customer from making a mistake.

Sure, we all want to reg a domain that is 10 years old with 3,700 backlinks from .edu sites. I'd like to find a wallet with $10,000 also, but I would not keep the wallet for myself. This doesn't mean I would give up a domain that I got if the real owner contacted me, but I might be willing to work out some kind of deal if I can.

But that's me. 2 or 3 times I have found something nice that dropped, and saw that the previous owner still didn't realize it. So I contacted them and told them about it. It's called "doing a good deed", and while it doesn't advance my plans for retirement, it sure made me feel good that I could help someone that way...!

I think the registars should let the domain owner know they can register the domain, and if they don't want to, let them know that the domain will be up for bid, to be sold off on the drop date. The owner can decide what they want to do. If the domain is sold at auction, why not give the previous owner some money? I would never use any other register if I had one that would treat me like that, as a partner and not a cow to be milked.

One could argue that you could just do a lot of that 15 days before expiry in month 11. I guess there's a market for cards wishing belated birthday...so I'd probably be ok with a grace 15 days. The whole 70 day thing is ridiculous. Getting a card 2 months late is not worth anything!

In part I'd like the drop system to be managed randomly anyway - drop between 15-30 days after expiry in a fairly non=deterministic manner so that could be supported easily enough. I'm not sure what happens if the money is taken out of the drop catch market though - whether the overall net impact would be good or bad. It may well be that the thing I hate about domaining funds many of the things I like. I don't know.

I too have contacted a number of people with domains dropping Sometimes they don't care. Sometimes they offer to sell them to you. Sometimes they get bounced.

I have an issue that is kind of relevant now. I sold a name at Godaddy (only really cheap - like $20 or something) but the transfer didn't happen and it's in Registry Redemption. I would love GoDaddy to be able to recover the domain and give it to the buyer but it's a case of it needing to be recovered. It's pure loss for the buyer. I feel terrible about it but there's not a lot I can do about it at this point.

Aside:

I found a wallet once with about $1000 in it. Found the owner and returned it. Not so much as a Thankyou. It pissed me off. Then I lost my wallet and it was returned to me with everything in it.

Keep Your Karma Kool!

I understand the position you hold. Given the current overall domain lifecycle - giving renew opportunities to the end of that lifecycle seem fair. We'll discuss the lifecycle another day.

 

[dotker]

All my previous auctions with them domain owner renewed it even for xxx n quite frustrating though..

The thing is the funds goes back as credit with them, i dont think you can withdraw it back.

 

[nielsencl]

You certainly should be able to get your money back if the sale falls through. Ask them and if they say no, please let me know.

 

[nielsencl]

I just got back a reply from my rep at Dynadot.com:

We appreciate your feedback. We have customers both for and against our policy. We will not make any changes to our policy unless it is beneficial to the majority of our customers. As of now that means the policy will stay as is.

 

[DU]

I just got back a reply from my rep at Dynadot.com:

Interesting that they aren't interested in the money they could make...

Dynadot is an odd operation. They have strange rules, strange practices, are up and down like a yo-yo... but then their panel and grace deletes are top class, best in business.

NOWHERE is as easy to navigate imho.

 

[bmugford]

My major issue with Dynadot.com is this -

You buy a domain for say $300. The owner renews it, and you are stuck with a $300 credit instead of a refund.

Brad

 

[Tippy]

So if I pay for an auction via PayPal/Credit Card the refund will be via a DynaDot credit, that is 100% wrong.

They are banking our $, heck for all we know they can be domain owners themselves letting names expire and go to auction, bid them up and then renew, either way its money in their pocket/invested with them.

I'm not saying they are doing this but with the current credit systemin place well it would be doable.

 

[bmugford]

So if I pay for an auction via PayPal/Credit Card the refund will be via a DynaDot credit, that is 100% wrong.

They are banking our $, heck for all we know they can be domain owners themselves letting names expire and go to auction, bid them up and then renew, either way its money in their pocket/invested with them.

I'm not saying they are doing this but with the current credit systemin place well it would be doable.

Yeah, it happened to me recently with an auction over $300. I am not really happy about it.

Since then I have bought (2) other domains on there. Both with account credit, both got renewed.

So now I am basically stuck with a credit I don't want.

Brad

 

[nielsencl]

[partial post withdrawal]

I don't think Dynadot should change their policy, except the part that allows them to retain funds if a winning auction is not awarded to the auction winner after they have paid. That is stupid and makes no sense and I have told my rep and the CEO of Dynadot via email this evening.

But allowing a domain owner to renew up to the last possible moment is fine with me. You see, I like domain owners more than I like those that dropcatch and pick up domains that have expired, despite the former owner still wanting them. Sorry, this may not be a popular view, but in many cases it's just an enduser who is clueless and made a big mistake, or someone they worked with forgot to renew the domain or maintain accurate contact information. At Dynadot, they don't have to suffer as much as they would if they registered someplace else.

 

[DU]

I publicly apologize for taking the thread offline a little. The main discussion focus is supposed to be that a DOMAINER benefits from being able to renew up until the last day.

I agree with this position with my own caveats. Those caveats are based on the a discussion on the overall domain lifecycle and auctions, which while interesting, should be their own thread (and have been before) including the thread that is the corollary to this one.

So if you can navigate through my mess, the point:

This policy is DOMAIN OWNER friendly and should not be changed, but adopted by ALL registrars IMO. If you agree that it's overall good for the industry, please post. If not, post in the other thread.

I think so far that the main contention is that the DOMAINER OWNER friendly policy of being able to renew has one main drawback policy which is that the money is tied up in credit. For me they have put back on credit card a couple of times on special request.

I think these are two separate issues but are both relevant.

Hopefully this gets the thread back on track and others will post. I'm genuinely interested in other opinion and will keep schtum from this point to let things move along.

 

[mhdoc]

I use them because I find their user interface to be the most intuitive of any registrar for someone like me who manages several hundred mini sites.

I never look at their auctions but keep close track of the expiration dates and many times let renewals slide until the last possible moment. If that date were a couple days sooner I wouldn't really notice.

The credit instead of refund isn't an issue in my case because ongoing renewals quickly use it.

 

[amcdonald]

IMO the only thing that needs fixing is to refund auction payments to the buyer not to their dynadot account.

 

[Dynadot]

Hello All,

Thanks for all the great feedback. We agree with your suggestions regarding our current refund policy. We will be changing our auction refund policy in the near future to include direct refunds as well as account credit. As always, we really appreciate your feedback.

Best Regards,

Dynadot Staff