GoDaddy Auctions is Garbage!

[ivey]

Godaddy is the only registrar I use, so this is not a rant or any hate against them just disappointed.

Godaddy auctions has a HOLE in it that needs to be plugged up!

Recently, I won an auction(offer/counter offer). I made payment. Godaddy told me they would take care of the rest(domain was registered elsewhere.

Unfortunately,I received this email:

Dear....

It has come to our attention that the seller of mydomain.com does not own the domain and will not be able to complete the transaction as agreed. At this time we have taken action against the seller and have issued a refund for the purchase of this domain. Please let us know if you have any questions and we apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards,
Elizabeth
Aftermarket Support


Now, the average person will be frustrated at the seller and atleast be content they got a refund.

But I'm not average... I see a problem.... Now this was my conversation with a Godaddy Rep, thatexplained my thoughts on this:

Me: I just had a refund for an auction I won for myDomain.com. The problem was the seller did not own the domain name though they even counter offer as if they did. My frustration is this: why does Godaddy allow sellers to post a domain without making sure the seller is the administrative contact? will something be done?
I will be contacting Icann about this..Godaddy shouldn't allow this nor partner with market places that allow this. Because you can confirm the ownership after the sale but not before?

Godaddy: I am very sorry for the frustration, Rory! When a seller lists a domain on our auctions site, they are agreeing to our terms that they will release the domain to the buyer if purchased, so if the seller does not actually have control of the domain, they are violating our agreement and out auctions team will discuss that with the seller.

ME: If the seller cannot confirm that they are the administrative contact then the domain should not see the light of day on your auctions platform. Your agreement only makes sense if you have confirmed that the seller is the owner. Thus saying the seller agrees to transfer the domain if it's sold. But that step was never taken to confirm they are the owner. Meaning you could have thousands of names that are not owned by sellers?

I see the problem and if Godaddy don't then Icann maybe needs to take a look.

Godaddy: We do not require sellers to verify domain names when we list them, as they are agreeing that they do have control of the domain and are able to transfer it to a seller, I apologize that the seller violated the agreement by listed that domain you won. I am sorry for this situation.

ME: Yes, but you are risking the integrity of Godaddy on one phony seller... It's not complicated to send an email to administrative contact before making a listing live.

Thanks for explanation anyway, Good Day.




I think Godaddy is responsible for what they allow on their platform, especially when it takes a simple email to fix it. Why confirm the seller after you pay for the name but not before? That risk their own integrity and customer loyalty. I have made successful purchases before on their platform like many of you have, but that does not justify this careless lazy nonsense on their part. Fuk the agreement, If you are not the administrative contact on the domain, then you should be allowed to post that domain. The only issue they should have is a rightful owner having a change of heart and refusing to post a domain.

And third party websites like DomainNameSales.com need to stop allowing people to post domains without a simple email verification!!!

 

[comati]

but i get this type of e-mails from them when i list names:

Domain auction authorization required
You are the registrant on record for the following domains listed for sale at GoDaddy Auctions:
xxx
In order to authorize the auction for these domains, please click the following link (or paste it into your browser):

 

[ivey]

but i get this type of e-mails from them when i list names:

Domain auction authorization required
You are the registrant on record for the following domains listed for sale at GoDaddy Auctions:
xxx
In order to authorize the auction for these domains, please click the following link (or paste it into your browser):

Exactly, so how could the seller authorize the auction if they weren't the owner of the name? They wouldn't have access to the administrative email on the domain.

 

[alcy]

case example:

I regged dropped domain blabla.com today

went to list on gd auction, but got eror saying "already listed"

went to search it on gd auctions, got an auction for it which I never made, from prevous owner, with bin=$200

then MrX goes to buy this domain at bin $200 tomorrow, and previous owner gets the sold message. but.. he's no longer the owner of domain. I am. therefore he cannot sell it to you and sale fails.

so.. this means godaddy should do like sedo and make weekly or so maintenance checks.. or daily.. and remove domains which are no longer owned by people. I only notice this done from sedo. and I think it's great.

can it be done @Joe Styler

 

[wormfood]

Exactly, so how could the seller authorize the auction if they weren't the owner of the name? They wouldn't have access to the administrative email on the domain.

I had this happen to me a while ago. I listed most of my domains on godaddy auctions with a $20 min offer. Then a while later, I took them all off again.
I had them all forwarded to their auctions listings. A couple days after I removed the listings.. for some reason, I forget.. I decided to type in a couple of the domains. They both forwarded to new listings.. one had a min offer of $50 and the other was a BIN for $5100 or something. I went into my account and my "selling list" was empty.
GoDaddy sends an email for authorization if your domain is at another registrar, but these two were at GoDaddy. I think they would have been able to tell that that person didn't own the domains if they added them through GoDaddy auctions.
So I thought.. maybe these were added through afternic and it's actually afternic's fault? I checked and they were both on afternic.. (and afternic domains show up in godaddy auctions automatically, I think) Afternic is owned by GoDaddy now, right?
But maybe it was afternic's fault in this case too.. I've only listed at afternic once, and I don't think there was any verification by email.
edit: oh, just saw this new thread
https://www.namepros.com/threads/today-i-purchased-movie-com-and-penny-com-on-afternic.967020/
HA

I also agree with alcy. GoDaddy / Afternic should keep the database updated..
There were some people in the chat here saying that they just let their domains stay listed at afternic or wherever even after they sell them elsewhere (namepros, for example) "because they are lazy" This is annoying when I don't want my stuff listed there and have to contact support every time.
I think they might have even said afternic told them this would be fine to do because when the next seller tries to list, it will update but until then, someone could click "buy" and then have to be told the owner is not actually selling the domain! There should be some penalty for not keeping your selling list accurate.

 

[ivey]

case example:

I regged dropped domain blabla.com today

went to list on gd auction, but got eror saying "already listed"

went to search it on gd auctions, got an auction for it which I never made, from prevous owner, with bin=$200

then MrX goes to buy this domain at bin $200 tomorrow, and previous owner gets the sold message. but.. he's no longer the owner of domain. I am. therefore he cannot sell it to you and sale fails.

so.. this means godaddy should do like sedo and make weekly or so maintenance checks.. or daily.. and remove domains which are no longer owned by people. I only notice this done from sedo. and I think it's great.

can it be done @Joe Styler

Yeah that's another example, but mine it was a top domain, with no ownership changes and the seller countered my offer. This person should not be able to list a name they didn't own. They intentionally attempted to cause trouble.
I think third party places like DNS allow you to list names to without verification too.. And then some if there's platforms work together for wider exposure.
And in your example, even the but now price is still there Godaddy would not let you purchase it. It only looks that way. The moment you click to purchase it you'll get a error message on the next page or when you try to close at checkout.

 

[alcy]

Yeah that's another example, but mine it was a top domain, with no ownership changes and the seller countered my offer. This person should not be able to list a name they didn't own. They intentionally attempted to cause trouble.
I think third party places like DNS allow you to list names to without verification too.. And then some if there's platforms work together for wider exposure.
And in your example, even the but now price is still there Godaddy would not let you purchase it. It only looks that way. The moment you click to purchase it you'll get a error message on the next page or when you try to close at checkout.

actually when I prensented my case to a rep on phone, he said the puchase would go through.
and why wouldn't it, it's not like gd checks whois before you click buy button.. or shortly after.

it could check it (maybe) if that domain were to be a godaddy registrar domain.. but we all know not all gd auctions domain are gd registered.

 

[ivey]

actually when I prensented my case to a rep on phone, he said the puchase would go through.
and why wouldn't it, it's not like gd checks whois before you click buy button.. or shortly after.

it could check it (maybe) if that domain were to be a godaddy registrar domain.. but we all know not all gd auctions domain are gd registered.

Yeah right...some auctions are from other market places. All in all they are things that can be done. In my case though it seems like someone blatantly acted in deception. It was one of those names that were too good to be true. But I guess I like to hope for the best.

 

[alcy]

Yeah right...some auctions are from other market places. All in all they are things that can be done. In my case though it seems like someone blatantly acted in deception. It was one of those names that were too good to be true. But I guess I like to hope for the best.

yah true
not auctions from other marketplaces I meant thogh
I was plain talking about tons of gd auctions being simply domains that are not regged on godaddy

maybe just maybe rthey can check if domain is still in owner account if regged at gd after you clcik buy.. but if its not regged on gd, then I am quite sure the case I described would go through.

either way.. I hope they do some maintenance checks like sedo.

that'd be great for all

cheers