GoDaddy Auctions -- Discussion, Acquisitions, and Sales

[Ms Domainer]

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I searched the forum and could not find a thread dedicated solely to Godaddy auctions, which seem to be heating up lately.

I envision this thread as a place for discussion regarding YOUR sales and acquisitions, and general discussion about the auction venue itself, and, perhaps, some domain oddities that are popping up on the auction site, for example, high-priced domains that should be regfee.



One caveat, though: for your own good, PLEASE do not reveal your auction win (or anyone else's, for that matter) until the domain has landed in your account because the original owner still has the option to renew it, and I know how vexing that can be. In other words, don't count your chickens until they're hatched.

On the other hand, if you're having second thoughts about your auction win, by all means tell us all about it.

I suppose that if an auction win is high profile, it's already out there, but, still...

Anyway, I'll start with three comments:

1. I won my first (and maybe last) intentional typo, and it's getting clicks (no $ so far, though): Forwx.com. I could not find a live TM on this term, but one never knows. I have mixed feelings about this one.

2. I accidentally clicked on a BIN that I didn't want (I wanted the one above it), but I decided to honor the bid anyway. Grrr..., so be careful before hitting the submit button. It's not in my account yet, so I can't really reveal it right now.

3. Currently, there's a weird .co domain at over $9,000, with three bidders duking it out. Again, I don't want to reveal what it is, but if you go to the most active auctions, it's number 1 (as of this posting).​

Mods, I hope this thread is okay.



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[Blitz]

The whois is updated on my end.

They owned most of the top tier domains in the auction - Wrestling, Toy, Mattress, Bedding, etc.

Brad

Ok...just used another whois and they all went to the same person.

 

[domainacrobat]

Yeah, I am sure GD is not too upset about only getting $80/each in redemption fees.

Brad

---------- Post added at 01:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:26 PM ----------



There are two easy solutions -

1.) Do what a registrar like Dynadot does.
When a domain expires the whois publicly shows -

Administrative Contact Name: Pending Renewal or Deletion
Administrative Contact Address1: PO Box 701
Administrative Contact City: San Mateo
Administrative Contact State/Province: CA
Administrative Contact Postal Code: 94401
Administrative Contact Country: United States
Administrative Contact Country Code: US
Administrative Contact Phone Number: +1.6502620100
Administrative Contact Email: [email protected]


2.) Start the auction 7 days later. That way when the auction ends you receive the domain.

Brad

I am no .US expert.... But in my opinion the only real deal there was Wrestling.US

Worth every bit of your high bid.

I would be upset, its almost as if they reached into your pocket and plucked out $$$$-$$$$$ in potential earnings.


I literally just paid for CoffeeBeans.Us - It appears that no one cares about my name except for me!

I am applying to become coffee /taster/smeller!

Recently someone suggested it because I have a seriously exceptional sense of smell! Certain smells make the capilaries in my nose explode because they are so sensitive!

I'm using the domain as my website

Unless someone wants to buy it from me for an exorbitant amount

 

[m-i-k-e]

There are two easy solutions -

1.) Do what a registrar like Dynadot does.
When a domain expires the whois publicly shows -


2.) Start the auction 7 days later. That way when the auction ends you receive the domain.

Dynadot isn't a perfect system either. A huge percentage of names I win there get renewed. I agree that removing whois info will take away the opportunity for most people to contact the owner's directly, but, Dynadot allows owners to renew at standard renewal fee. Many will renew with a single bid. After the name is renewed, bidders can then contact the owner directly and negotiate a private sale.

I think the ideal situation would be to mask whois info like Dynadot does, and not start the auctions until 7 days later. The auction would have to have a system similar to NameJet where domains are backordered before the auction starts otherwise godaddy would lose money on renewals paid to the registry on names that don't sell.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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In another Namepros thread, member cdboard has revealed that Godaddy has clawed back an auction domain after it had landed in his account and the whois had shown his contact info.

See

http://www.namepros.com/753370-heres-a-new-one-for-me-2.html#post4323496​

Has this happened to anyone else?

If so, please tell us!

The only way we can keep these registrars honest is to drag their their dirty business out into the open.

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[bmugford]

Dynadot isn't a perfect system either. A huge percentage of names I win there get renewed. I agree that removing whois info will take away the opportunity for most people to contact the owner's directly, but, Dynadot allows owners to renew at standard renewal fee. Many will renew with a single bid. After the name is renewed, bidders can then contact the owner directly and negotiate a private sale.

I was just talking specifically about the whois.

I am not a huge fan of Dynadot's auction venue. Dynadot allows the original registrant 3+ days to registrar at normal rates. It leads to ridiculous renewal rates on quality names.

However, even at GoDaddy you can transfer the domain to another registrar for standard fee up to 42 days past expiration. People do that frequently.

Brad

 

[DU]

Some names appear to be for sale on Sedo for lower than the GoDaddy auction price... See Advise.us

Listed at $495 (make offer) Sold for $1200+ I think at GD.

Just food for thought.

 

[bmugford]

I am no .US expert.... But in my opinion the only real deal there was Wrestling.US

Worth every bit of your high bid.

I would be upset, its almost as if they reached into your pocket and plucked out $$$$-$$$$$ in potential earnings.

It is frustrating, but what can you do.
GoDaddy allows it to happen and I can't blame people for taking advantage of it.

Is it any worse than registrars selling domains and keeping the profits?

I literally just paid for CoffeeBeans.Us - It appears that no one cares about my name except for me!

I am applying to become coffee /taster/smeller!

Recently someone suggested it because I have a seriously exceptional sense of smell! Certain smells make the capilaries in my nose explode because they are so sensitive!

I'm using the domain as my website

"Coffee Beans" is a good term.

It is a very popular product to look for online as there are many unique choices not available locally and it is something that is easy to ship.

Brad

 

[m-i-k-e]

However, even at GoDaddy you can transfer the domain to another registrar for standard fee up to 42 days past expiration. People do that frequently.

Yup, 401Kplan and 401kplans (.us) are now registered at Fabulous.

 

[Ms Domainer]

I am no .US expert.... But in my opinion the only real deal there was Wrestling.US

Worth every bit of your high bid.

I would be upset, its almost as if they reached into your pocket and plucked out $$$$-$$$$$ in potential earnings.

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Well, turnabout is fair play, considering what Brad did to someone else with Cloud.us.

Karma has a way of biting one in the butt.



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[bmugford]

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Well, turnabout is fair play, considering what Brad did to someone else with Cloud.us.

Karma has a way of biting one in the butt.

I basically knew the Cloud.us owner was going to renew the name also.

The auction itself was pretty much irrelevant.

In general though I don't have a huge problem with contacting the owner.

Technically until day 43 after expiration the original registrant still owns and has the right to renew the domain.

If GoDaddy wanted to address the issue they could.

Brad

 

[Ms Domainer]

.

Technically until day 43 after expiration the original registrant still owns and has the right to renew the domain.

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You show me where ICANN specifically states this in ICANN's registrant rights, and I'll believe this.

I'll even give you the link to ICANN's "Registrant Rights and Responsibilities Under the 2009 Registrar Accreditation Agreement":

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...n-icann-registrar-accreditation-policies.html​

and a link to the "Registrar Accreditation Agreement":

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/ra-agreement-21may09-en.htm​

IMO, Goddady has a glitch in its transfer lock system and doesn't want to admit it, so it hides behind some bogus ICANN rule.

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[JB Lions]

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You show me where ICANN specifically states this in ICANN's registrant rights, and I'll believe this.

I'll even give you the link to ICANN's "Registrant Rights and Responsibilities Under the 2009 Registrar Accreditation Agreement":

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...n-icann-registrar-accreditation-policies.html​

and a link to the "Registrar Accreditation Agreement":

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/ra-agreement-21may09-en.htm​

IMO, Goddady has a glitch in its transfer lock system and doesn't want to admit it, so it hides behind some bogus ICANN rule.

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Probably reading it wrong, just woke up but are you talking about:

"There is a 45-day auto-renew grace period following the expiration of a domain name registration. You have the opportunity to renew it during this period. If you do not renew it, the domain name will begin the deletion process and then become available for re-registration."

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/faqs

 

[bmugford]

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You show me where ICANN specifically states this in ICANN's registrant rights, and I'll believe this.

I'll even give you the link to ICANN's "Registrant Rights and Responsibilities Under the 2009 Registrar Accreditation Agreement":

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...n-icann-registrar-accreditation-policies.html​

and a link to the "Registrar Accreditation Agreement":

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/ra-agreement-21may09-en.htm​

IMO, Goddady has a glitch in its transfer lock system and doesn't want to admit it, so it hides behind some bogus ICANN rule.

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I am not sure where I said it was ICANN policy.

Domains registered at GoDaddy are also subject to GoDaddy TOS.

Brad

 

[Ms Domainer]

Probably reading it wrong, just woke up but are you talking about:

"There is a 45-day auto-renew grace period following the expiration of a domain name registration. You have the opportunity to renew it during this period. If you do not renew it, the domain name will begin the deletion process and then become available for re-registration."

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/faqs

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I see that this appears in FAQ, but it does NOT appear in the official agreement.

I would assume that the Official Agreement would trump any FAQ.

ICANN is a mess; one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing.

Thoughts?

ADDED: I just want to add that I am NOT opposed to a grace period, whether it's 30 or 45 days. In fact it makes good business sense and protects owners from extenuating circumstances. In fact, I wish ICANN would include this option in its actual Accreditation Agreement, not just some FAQ some ICANN official wrote up without referring to the actual agreement.

BUT, I AM opposed to Godaddy (and other auction platforms) starting auctions before the the grace period is over. If the 45-day rule is some vague ICANN rule, then Godaddy and others are selling property that doesn't belong to them. I don't think a registrar can have it both ways:

"I don't own it, but I can sell it and pocket the money myself."​

Seriously?

For me, this is the crux of the matter.

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[JB Lions]

You guys are confusing me. Isn't it 75 days.

45-day auto-renew grace period then 30 days more during the Redemption Grace Period.

My domain expires today, I still have 75 days to renew, cost more during the Redemtion Period.

"If the 45-day rule is some vague ICANN rule"

I didn't think it was vague, thought it was pretty well known -

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/gtld-lifecycle

As far as GoDaddy:
"Expiring auctions, listed for sale on Go Daddy Auctions®, are expiring domains that are registered with us. You can view and bid on expiring domain name auctions. However, the current registrant can renew the domain within the redemption grace period."

Yeah, I can understand your point, they have auctions for names that can still be renewed by the original owner. I personally like these because you get a good shot at some decent names. I go in knowing that I can win the auction but the domains can still be renewed.

 

[Ms Domainer]

For your entertainment pleasure, from the ICANN Archives

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Since this is related to the current conversation, I thought you might be charmed by Rob Hall's highly entertaining remarks regarding the domain expiration period (2007 ICANN meeting in Lisbon, Portugal) (Thanks to member defaultuser for finding this).

I realize that these remarks are five years old, but they reveal some inherent weaknesses in the current ICANN agreement.

"Toothless," as sdsinc has said.

http://archive.icann.org/en/meetings/lisbon/transcript-tutorial-expiring-25mar07.htm​

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[equity78]

You make good points Ms.Domainer but I don't think they could wait til there were no renewal rights to the former registrant, because then they would be paying renewals on the thousands of domains nobody bids for at auction.

 

[Ms Domainer]

You guys are confusing me. Isn't it 75 days.

45-day auto-renew grace period then 30 days more during the Redemption Grace Period.

My domain expires today, I still have 75 days to renew, cost more during the Redemtion Period.

"If the 45-day rule is some vague ICANN rule"

I didn't think it was vague, thought it was pretty well known -

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/gtld-lifecycle

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Seems to be well-known only in our imaginations and ICANN's FAQ page, which really doesn't mean anything.

Basically, a registrar can do whatever it wants regarding expiring domains.

It would be interesting what John Berryhill would say about this.



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[m-i-k-e]

You make good points Ms.Domainer but I don't think they could wait til there were no renewal rights to the former registrant, because then they would be paying renewals on the thousands of domains nobody bids for at auction.

That's where the namejet style of backordering domains before a private auction starts would come into play.

 

[DU]

You make good points Ms.Domainer but I don't think they could wait til there were no renewal rights to the former registrant, because then they would be paying renewals on the thousands of domains nobody bids for at auction.

Thats what 30 days of ppc and traffic monitoring is for