GoDaddy Auctions / NameFind.com Scam

[GoWebnames.com]

A small story of the GoDaddy/NameFind malpractices that scammed me out of a Closeout domain I won.

I bought a $5 Closeout domain (3DPrintFarm.com) at GoDaddy on Dec/17, it showed the status of domain in my account as "Expired Domain Ready on Dec/20/2016". The domain previously belonged to a LEO DEARDEN, just as he owned the NET/ORG versions as well. On Dec/22, I still didn't have the domain, so I checked the WHOIS which showed the domain transferred to NameFind.com (the domain agency of GoDaddy) at FastHost. It's obvious that NameFind just misappropriated a domain they liked, AFTER it was sold to me. I wrote to their support seeking explanation as to how a domain I won and paid for could end up with their domaining agency NameFind. They put in a standard reply "the domain is not with us blah blah and under the auctions conditions ....." but when I checked the domain WHOIS again, the WHOIS details were switched back to that LEO DEARDEN.

Now, today I get a Christmas mail from Santa Claus (the Godaddy system) that 3DPrintFarm.com has been deleted from my account. So, I have 3 questions for all to reflect on:

1) How the domain WHOIS showed the details of NameFind when it was won and paid for by me?
2) Why they changed back the WHOIS details to that of LEO DEARDEN when I protested?
3) Why does the Godaddy mail now says that it was deleted from my account?

@Joe Styler , what do you have to say?

Maybe my understanding is not much but, as far as I can guess, it's a case of an attempted misappropriation of an already won domain by NameFind.com (a GoDaddy agency). Has something of this sort happened with you as well?

 

[Joe Styler]

I am back "on the clock" I was away on vacation. I have been in the industry long enough to know that some shady things have happened at domain companies in the past and that many people look for that to happen again so some people will not be convinced no matter what I say here, but eventually the truth will out as they say so now or later you will see what I have to say is true.

We do not take domains customers won and keep them for ourselves to sell - period end of story. I have stated this on several of these threads already.

Domains registered at Godaddy when they expire move to the winner of the auction on the 43rd day after they expire. If someone renews or transfers them away before day 43 then the auction is refunded. If it is not then the domain moves to the winner's account.

Here is the process for domains not at GoDaddy, meaning domains that have expired at another company. The timeframe on the day they move varies based on the registrar they expired at. When the domain name is won on our auction the registrar changes it to "Namefind" information to get it ready to move to a holding account with the losing company and then from there it is transferred to an account at GoDaddy and then moved to the winner's GoDaddy account. If the name is changed to "Namefind" on the whois it doesn't mean that we ever had control of it, just like I can go in my account and change the Whois to Mickey Mouse, it doesn't mean he has access to the domain.

If we have control of the domain in the holding account at the company it expired at we move it to GoDaddy and then to you. If we don't we cannot. I know we always do our best to get the domains for our customers, in fact in another thread where we had a domain name in Namefind's info on the Whois we investigated and found out there was a technical error where another registrar cancelled domains by mistake. So they put a name in Namefind's info on the Whois and then mistakenly canceled the domain sending into redemption where the name could not transfer any longer because of various automated processes that are set up to move domains. After investigating it we were able to redeem the domain by paying the redemption. Because it had been sent to redemption in our name on the whois, we were able to take ownership after paying the redemption. The redemption by the way was more than the domain name sold for so it cost us more to fulfill the domain name then we made on the auction but we still did it because it is the right thing to do for the customer. I bring this up only to say two things.

1. If you see something that does not look right please bring it up to support to investigate. We will look into it. You can copy me on the emails to support - auctions@ godaddy .com my email is jstyler @GoDaddy
2. We do not keep names we think we can sell for more money that customers win, in fact I have only seen us do the opposite in practice, pay more money than we have made to get the domain for the auction winner.

As I started with, truth will out in the end and it makes absolutely no sense for us to see a name that sold on the auction that we think we could sell for $50 or $100 or even $1000 more and keep it for ourselves thinking no one would ever catch on and jeopardize the whole Aftermarket we have built by removing trust in the auction process. That would cost us much more than we could ever gain by "stealing" domains. Not to mention we are audited by third parties as part of being a public company etc etc. Sorry for the long response but this has popped up too many times on namepros so I thought a detailed response would be better than piecemeal ones on various threads for the foreseeable future. We do not take domains customers win on the auction for ourselves.

 

[wwwweb]

Since the domain went into redemption godaddy can't give it to you, it was let to expire before it could be reclaimed. It is not at godaddy their hands are tied.

Happend to me also, and others something they need to work out.

Enjoy your holiday no conspiracy theory here, Joe Styler is an employee it is a holiday he won't respond for many days as he is probably not on the clock.

Move onto the next one, there is no recourse here.

 

[wwwweb]

The interesting part here is the involvement of NameFind.com
I had like to understand how do they come into the picture?

On mine namefind was the technical contact, I think that it just something that is standard with the technical aspects of their partner program.

You can still dropcatch it. Their TOS cover it, so there is notning that can be done.

A few have been down this road, I know it's frustrating. It's just a growing pain for them.

 

[Fuadiansyah]

So, Leo decided to renew his expiring domain. And maybe Leo has association with NameFind.com?
For clear clarification, I think you could also contact/email Leo himself...

 

[cdboard]

welcome back. did you surf namepros while on vacation?

 

[Keith]

Namefind is at it again. This time they simply just took a domain straight away. It was registered by an individual at a registrar other than Godaddy. The status was client hold and registry status "deleted".

Hempsearch.com @Joe Styler

Extremely shady!!!

 

[GoWebnames.com]

The interesting part here is the involvement of NameFind.com
I had like to understand how do they come into the picture?

 

[cdboard]

I had this happen, and the registrar remained as godaddy.

I asked what happened, and support pointed out that it was with a godaddy *reseller* now.

the former owner had transferred it to a godaddy reseller after expiration.


sounds like a similar thing happened to your domain.

 

[wwwweb]

I had this happen, and the registrar remained as godaddy.

I asked what happened, and support pointed out that it was with a godaddy *reseller* now.

the former owner had transferred it to a godaddy reseller after expiration.


sounds like a similar thing happened to your domain.

That means the owner renewed it

 

[yikun]

I'm not sure if this is new or just happened to one of my won domains as well.

I purchased a domain from godaddy closeout with a BIN price(this means no one bid during the expiring domain auction).

The domain shows under the WON tab with "Expired domain ready on: 2016/12/29"

Today I checked the whois of that domain and the registrant changed from original owner to

Registrant Name: Domain Administrator
Registrant Organization: NameFind LLC

I think what happened is that Godaddy is not happy with the closeout price that I paid for and decided to keep the domain themselves.

The situation is similar to this thread

godaddy-namefind-bad-faith-took-domain-away.988392/

The OP of that thread seems to be able to get the domain back with help of some godaddy rep.

I understand that we agreed to whatever BS term in the TOS that they put up.

What I didn't know is that Godaddy is doing this practice(keep the domain themselves rather than give it to the user who won and paid the expired/closeout auction).

 

[Joe Styler]

Namefind is at it again. This time they simply just took a domain straight away. It was registered by an individual at a registrar other than Godaddy. The status was client hold and registry status "deleted".

Hempsearch.com @Joe Styler

Extremely shady!!!

Have you tried contacting the support team about this? The auction only ended two days ago. It takes longer than that to move to the winner. It moves to Namefind first as it hits a holding account with us in order to facilitate the move to the buyer. I spelled the process out in depth previously on this post.

 

[Joe Styler]

We do not have different auction rules we auction expiring domains from both Godaddy and other registrars. The original owners can renew the domains up to a certain point. That point in the lifecycle may be different based on where the domain name expires but the auction winner will be awarded the domain in the same manner/timeframe no matter where the domain originally expired. Providing there are no techinical issues, which are very rare

 

[Keith]

Have you tried contacting the support team about this? The auction only ended two days ago. It takes longer than that to move to the winner. It moves to Namefind first as it hits a holding account with us in order to facilitate the move to the buyer. I spelled the process out in depth previously on this post.

So the "auction" ended last Sunday according to you. The domain in question should be in the new owners possession now but it's not. It's showing namefind info still!

If it updates to privacy or remains with namefind that's a giant red flag at this point.

 

[Keith]

So the "auction" ended last Sunday according to you. The domain in question should be in the new owners possession now but it's not. It's showing namefind info still!

If it updates to privacy or remains with namefind that's a giant red flag at this point.

And would you believe...it's under privacy protect now. Imagine that!

 

[Keith]

Please tell me the update on this domain. @Keith @Joe Styler

Thanks.

Apparently it was auctioned by godaddy but the domain was expired under a different registrar. Because it was at a different registrar there is a different process at the end of the auction. In this case, the domain is immediately renewed at the end of the auction and held by namefind for several days. It then moves to the winning bidder.

Here's where this process loses me - why does it ever go to namefind? If it's immediately renewed, why wouldn't the domain go directly to the winning bidder? Normally the domains stay expired after auctions because the current owner can recover until the 42nd day. But if it's renewed immediately after auction then namefind shouldn't need to hold it for 5-7 days imo.

 

[Keith]

I won an expired domain on GD. It is also located at another registrar.

I too, am concerned that the registrant info switched over to NameFind.

However your post and Joe's earlier lengthy post suggests that this is normal and the domain will be switched over to me in a few days. Is that right?

Yes, it sounds like it will move to you after the holding period.

 

[domeen]

I won an expired domain on GD. It is also located at another registrar.

I too, am concerned that the registrant info switched over to NameFind.

However your post and Joe's earlier lengthy post suggests that this is normal and the domain will be switched over to me in a few days. Is that right?

Looks like they use namefind whois for transferig between regiatars

 

[Joe Styler]

Thank you both.

I suggested to Paul Nicks it might be an idea to instead change to GoDaddy Redemption Services instead of using of the NameFind account. It may prevent future confusion with others.

Just an idea.

It is something I have already brought up to our team as it is causing some confusion for people which we don't want. There is a project in place to change this so it will be less confusing if people look on the whois during the time the domain is changing accounts to the auction winner.

 

[Keith]

VirtualRealityXXX.com: Another name at GD Expired auctions that I was watching and that was supposed to move to Closeouts on Jan 4 but when I checked on Jan 2, it was removed from auctions and its there in GoDaddy's NameFind account now:

https://in.auctions.godaddy.com/trpItemListing.aspx?domain=virtualrealityxxx.com

Amazing that 1 day after your post the Whois updates to dropcatch. This is similar to a domain that was repossessed by GoDaddy. It was in repossessed status for months but guess what...2 days after I inquired with my godaddy rep, it magically updated to good standing.

 

[Keith]

Even though I am sure your payment is fine we still check it. Part of our process is ensuring that the seller gets their money so when we say it is good from that point on it is and we eat the loss if it's not so we check all the payments carefully.
If the seller has the name registered at GoDaddy that doesn't mean they listed it for sale with us. Suppose say they listed it with Afternic which then feeds the listings to GoDaddy they may not have an account with GoDaddy set up to be paid, so they are going to be paid via Afternic. Afternic has to get the ok that the money we collected is good and then get the name pushed to their holding account and then send it to you to accept. As I said it probably won't take that long but they like to quote the longest just in case everything takes a longer time, the payment requires extra inspection, the seller doesn't move the name right away to our holding account etc.
We have some plans to further streamline the process coming this year which will speed things up and make them easier but in the meantime this is a normal timeframe that they would quote anyone.

I believe the listing was also active at afternic. The seller has a godaddy account because it's registered there, that's why the process should be almost instantaneous. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[GoWebnames.com]

On mine namefind was the technical contact, I think that it just something that is standard with the technical aspects of their partner program.

You can still dropcatch it. Their TOS cover it, so there is notning that can be done.

A few have been down this road, I know it's frustrating. It's just a growing pain for them.

Well, I am not wishing for something to be done. Just telling a tale...
But NameFind.com was the contact on all 3 ( Reg/Admin/Tech) for this one.

 

[Fuadiansyah]

I'm not sure if this is new or just happened to one of my won domains as well.

I purchased a domain from godaddy closeout with a BIN price(this means no one bid during the expiring domain auction).

The domain shows under the WON tab with "Expired domain ready on: 2016/12/29"

Today I checked the whois of that domain and the registrant changed from original owner to

Registrant Name: Domain Administrator
Registrant Organization: NameFind LLC

I think what happened is that Godaddy is not happy with the closeout price that I paid for and decided to keep the domain themselves.

The situation is similar to this thread

godaddy-namefind-bad-faith-took-domain-away.988392/

The OP of that thread seems to be able to get the domain back with help of some godaddy rep.

I understand that we agreed to whatever BS term in the TOS that they put up.

What I didn't know is that Godaddy is doing this practice(keep the domain themselves rather than give it to the user who won and paid the expired/closeout auction).

In case of expiring domain, it really depends on the previous owner whether renewed the domain or not..
After winning expired auction or closeout, GoDaddy gave 1 or 2 weeks until the winner can actually acquire the desired domain. This also give time for the previous owner to renew or not.
So it's likely the owner use his right to renew his name, and he has more priority than the auction winner.
Nothing wrong here I think, it's just the downside of buying from expired auction.
If in a few days, the registrant name changed to previous owner name, that's the case...
You should claim your refund...

 

[GoWebnames.com]

I'm not sure if this is new or just happened to one of my won domains as well.

I purchased a domain from godaddy closeout with a BIN price(this means no one bid during the expiring domain auction).

The domain shows under the WON tab with "Expired domain ready on: 2016/12/29"

Today I checked the whois of that domain and the registrant changed from original owner to

Registrant Name: Domain Administrator
Registrant Organization: NameFind LLC

I think what happened is that Godaddy is not happy with the closeout price that I paid for and decided to keep the domain themselves.

The situation is similar to this thread

godaddy-namefind-bad-faith-took-domain-away.988392/

The OP of that thread seems to be able to get the domain back with help of some godaddy rep.

I understand that we agreed to whatever BS term in the TOS that they put up.

What I didn't know is that Godaddy is doing this practice(keep the domain themselves rather than give it to the user who won and paid the expired/closeout
auction).

Exactly the same thing. Perhaps NameFind.com found the domain attractive enough and marked the domain for themselves. That's why you didn't receive it.

In case of expiring domain, it really depends on the previous owner whether renewed the domain or not..
After winning expired auction or closeout, GoDaddy gave 1 or 2 weeks until the winner can actually acquire the desired domain. This also give time for the previous owner to renew or not.
So it's likely the owner use his right to renew his name, and he has more priority than the auction winner.
Nothing wrong here I think, it's just the downside of buying from expired auction.
If in a few days, the registrant name changed to previous owner name, that's the case...
You should claim your refund...

You are mistaken, it is not the case of owner renewing the domain. The domain owner can not renew the domain after the date indicated by the "Expired Domain ready on ...." status. If the won domain status says ready by "2016/12/20", it can not be renewed by owner after that and can not be taken out of your account.

 

[yikun]

In case of expiring domain, it really depends on the previous owner whether renewed the domain or not..
After winning expired auction or closeout, GoDaddy gave 1 or 2 weeks until the winner can actually acquire the desired domain. This also give time for the previous owner to renew or not.
So it's likely the owner use his right to renew his name, and he has more priority than the auction winner.
Nothing wrong here I think, it's just the downside of buying from expired auction.
If in a few days, the registrant name changed to previous owner name, that's the case...
You should claim your refund...

I had a domain that I bought as closeout and the owner transferred out from godaddy. I think if the original owner renew or transfer out the whois should remain the original owner's info. The fact that the whois owner changed to namefind.com made me to think it's godaddy that wants to keep the domain themselves.