registrars GoDaddy Domain Name Expiry Changes

[lennco]

I just received this email,


Good morning,

We are making a change to our domain name expiry process and wanted to give you enough notice to make decisions on your portfolio. GoDaddy is changing the domain renewal timeline from 42 to 30 days for most domains. Based on our research, less than 1% of our customers renew after 30 days.

Starting Dec 4, the following changes will happen to expired domain names:
* After Day 5 of expiration, DNS, email, hosting, redirecting and any other DNS-dependent services will be interrupted and stop working.
* After Day 30 of expiration, domain names are no longer able to be renewed or transferred away.

We wanted to give a heads -up so you have enough notice to make decisions on your portfolio. As always please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Thanks,

 

[Paul Nicks]

It seems like it should be able to happen instantaneously under the new system.

This is true

 

[Doughmange]

Most people had no clue this was going on, but now that's its dead the cat can come leaping out of the bag.

Here's what was going on.

You let your domain expire, and it would go to auction. The auction would run it's course and if the domain sold for an amount that you cared about then you could just transfer it out to a cheaper registrar for regfee. GoDaddy would charge you a $70 fee to keep the domain with them, but why keep it with them when you can transfer out for less than $9 USD to other registrars that had free privacy.

The process was simple: (btw these were the exact instructions obtained by a spammer thanks pal)
RECOVER EXPIRED DOMAIN AFTER AUCTION:
1. Log into your GoDaddy account.
2. Next to Domains click Manage.
3. From the Domains menu, select Expired Domains. You should see these names listed here.
4. Unlock the domain (hover your cursor over the green check marks and click to edit/change to unlock).
5. Select the domain you want to transfer out and then click Email Authorization.
6. you will receive transfer code in the email use that code to transfer to ***********!
7. Process complete.

The hilarious part of this process was that GoDaddy would never just send you the transfer code unless you did step #5 twice. If you did it twice then you could get the transfer code within a few seconds.

You could do this within 5 days of the auction ending, 6 days if you really wanted to push it. (I've seen people say 4, this was not true).

Why would anyone do this at all? Here is why.

So when a GD domain goes to auction the parade of spammers that starts eMailing people about 'domain availability' kicks in. Imagine having 5 or 10 spammers spamming the zone file letting people know that your domain was becoming available.

They did this to get a piece of the pie, if the eMail recipient clicked on their link and used them as a broker then the spammer/broker could charge them a fee and then go to auction and make a profit. Most people would just visit the domain and would see the auction available through GD, and they would place a bid. So to let you domain go to auction was smart. It cost you nothing and you got free promotion from spammers.

Another angle.

The problem was that GoDaddy was allowing domain owners to bid on their own auctions to get it started. The shill bidding did not happen all of the time, but it happened. Let's say that the auction had a few bids early. Now the expired domains vultures can clearly see that there is an auction with a few bids, so it gets their attention. Now the domain has a few bids on it and it starts the become visible of the GD platform in the listings. In the end you have an auction for a name that has now been seen by end users, investors, and casual GD browsers.

Flippa does .035% of that kind of marketing and charges $250 for a premium listing. All because you just let the domain name expire and had ZERO risk involved because you can renew it on the last day after the auction.

GD is going to see a big exodus away from their service with investors.

There is now no reason to stay with a service that charges you $150 (DDC) to have access to reduced $9 pricing, when other registrars offer reduced pricing for free. There is now no reason to stay with a service where privacy is being charged, when other registrars are INCLUDING privacy. There is now no reason to stay with a service who has hosting that is complete crap.

This is going to hurt GD more that help, because this was just about the only thing keeping many portfolio holders with the service. This 30 day move will save the corp from the shill scandal that would have imploded stock prices at some point.

It's a good move overall for auction participants, but it's going to diminish the quality of domains available through expired auctions.

 

[bmugford]

Some thoughts on this -

1.) The change certainly doesn't seem all that beneficial to registrants in my view. While it might be rare domains are redeemed after day 30, it does happen and sometimes for very valid reasons like illness.

2.) This is a massive change to registrant's rights to only give (3) weeks notice, especially if it has was being worked on for a year as Paul said above.

3.) This change will obviously stop the free appraisal game where an owner will let the domain expire then transfer it out after it ends. It will also stop after the auction bidder circumvention.

4.) If the auction schedule is not being changed, it means it will still go to auction on day 26. That gives the registrant 4-5 days after it goes to auction where they can still renew it.

5.) For a multi-billion dollar company with massive resources, I am not sure why GoDaddy can't figure out the timing when it comes to auctions. Other venues like NameJet that deal in expired domains when the auction starts it can no longer be redeemed. If the redemption period is 30 days, why not start the auction after that period?

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Those of you who posted above in favor of or that believe in getting free appraisals by not renewing should look in the mirror. Ask yourself if it is fair to offer something for sale, (based on rules) then refuse to sell it? It simply isn’t ethical at all. Renew the name or lose it. Don’t over extend your speculation with more names that you can handle.

Well, if you want to talk what is fair and ethical, is it fair and ethical that someone created a domain 15-20 years ago to let it expire for whatever reason (including death), and a registrar gets to keep 100% of any expired sale?

The domain is supposed to expire, delete, then come available. That is the process ICANN designed. These registrars have just interjected themselves in the process as middlemen when it comes to auctioning expired domains. In my view it is far more "ethical" if the registrars gave the owner a fair % of the sale.

Taking back something that is for sale at auction, doesn’t happen in the real auction world. Period. Sorry.

Title (your ownership) is lost once something is on the auction block. It’s an ancient system that works.

Yeah, and the new system timetable will not change that. Registrants have lost 12+ days to renew a domain, yet the auction will still start on day 26. That means they still have 4-5 days after the auction starts to renew the domain.

Brad

 

[pokainc]

@Paul Nicks
And for God's sake, I hope in your new release people who bid on your domain and you accept their bid, there are mechanisms in place that guarantees the seller is paid. Perhaps by freezing a portion of the offer on their credit card. Time and time again, so called buyers are not paying! The only recourse is "we'll freeze their account"... big wow..

Also, this 5 day rule thing that everything stops working.. I had a domain with another registrar and even at the 25th day (wasn't 100% sure if I wanted to renew or not), everything was still forwarding and as a result I got a very decent sale. Guess what that means... more investing......You're just hurting domainers and consequently yourselves with these policies.... going backwards..

 

[offthehandle]

It's something we've considered but have no current plans to change

Thanks for answering. I am wondering though, with all that has gone on recently with the discovery of shill bidders in July of this year on the other platform (as I am sure you might have read all the threads)- it seems like being the largest company you could take the opportunity to be taking the leadership role- giving a permanent handle to a trackable paid customer name, with a prefunded account. If not now, then sometime in the near future. I understand some of the biggest customers, don't want to be tracked and they probably account for the most gross revenue. Perfectly understandable. But I would think it would be less overhead for Godaddy (No employee intervention) since the system is somewhat self policing when all bidders know what's going on and bidders ID's.

In live auctions, people actually know who they are bidding against. Even if they have a proxy on a cell phone.

Right now, I don't understand who I am bidding against a real person or "team of persons" or if it's an API or outside sniping software, etc. Some level of Transparency would help, not just bidder 1, bidder 2 and 3 on each auction.

I simply stopped bidding a few months ago after feeling that something was going on. I'd like to return and with new non-clawback change I will check it out. Thank you.

 

[Name Trader]

GoDaddy proudly boasted that they were fulfilling ICANN's requirements by allowing you to renew/transfer up to 42 of the 45 days supposed to be allowed under ICANN. So they've now changed this to 30 days, the same as many other companies. F*** the actual owners rights to their domains. It was the problems they were having with their auctions which caused this change. It was predictable. Because GoDaddy don't care about your owners rights to your domains. They never have. And don't let them tell you otherwise.

 

[wwwweb]

Transparency will come when those bidder ids are revealed, and we see the light.

There is no reason to hide them, other than we might discover how many bots might be bidding?

There is something that is not being told, and it is worrisome, what would be the reason to keep bidder ids hidden, they can even be a given serial number, not an identifier name if they fear something greater, I don't know.

The shorter expiration window favors the house for profits, but full bidder disclosure may tip the scale to bidders, as their are many here who can sniff out patterns which are not random by design.

If anyone can think of why bidder ids cannot be integrated, I would love to hear it, maybe I am missing something, and just need to be educated on why not, which is great, and I would totally accept it...

 

[Arca]

So domain owners can no longer renew domains after an auction has completed?

Good news for GD auctions buyers. But terrible news for Jason Newby.

 

[offthehandle]

Those of you who posted above in favor of or that believe in getting free appraisals by not renewing should look in the mirror. Ask yourself if it is fair to offer something for sale, (based on rules) then refuse to sell it? It simply isn’t ethical at all. Renew the name or lose it. Don’t over extend your speculation with more names that you can handle.

Money problems are never income problems, they are SPENDING problems.

Taking back something that is for sale at auction, doesn’t happen in the real auction world. Period. Sorry.

English non reserve auction live auctions operate correctly, unlike some digital fake auctions.

Title (your ownership) is lost once something is on the auction block. It’s an ancient system that works.

The digital online system when people game and corrupt the system with multiple id’s, shill bidding, non transparency, collusion, partnering to reduce competition, group bidding, chandeliering ( rare), fake proxy bidders, pass names among themselves to inflate perceived value, API collusion, etc. its all wrong. Those who advocate such behavior are corrupt.

Digital online faceless, nameless “auctions” without “auction licensing or auctioneers” with Terms that even state they are not governed by traditional terms are exploited from all fronts. The entire system needs to be cleaned up.

 

[Paul Nicks]

@Paul Nicks

Hi @ValleyRock and @canswift

We completed the release of these changes on 12/5, late in the afternoon. Any domain bid on after that point will be subject to the new expiry lifecycle.

One thing that we were not able to release is the immediate movement of a domain into your account after purchase. We had an issue with that part and need to fix before trying to roll it again. So, if you bid on a name after 12/5 then that name will no longer be able to be renewed by the original registrant, but it still has to wait until day 42 to wind up in your account. I apologize for the wait, but we are currently working on getting the instant delivery up and running.

 

[Name Trader]

I think these actions by GoDaddy clearly show how important their auctions are to their revenue and profits.

 

[campout]

Hope they shorten the time between winning an auction and the domain actually hitting your account.

It seems like it should be able to happen instantaneously under the new system.

 

[NameSellingcom]

It's something we've considered but have no current plans to change

I think GoDaddy auctions should reconsider having bidder id's and so do a lot of other domainers that buy and sell domains on your platform.

Mark Thorpe

 

[NameSellingcom]

@Paul Nicks
And for God's sake, I hope in your new release people who bid on your domain and you accept their bid, they are mechanisms in place that guarantees the seller is paid. Perhaps by freezing a portion of the offer on their credit card. Time and time again, so called buyers are not paying! The only recourse is "we'll freeze their account"... big wow..

Also, this 5 day rule thing that everything stops working.. I had a domain with another registrar and even at the 25th day (wasn't 100% sure if I wanted to renew or not), everything was still forwarding and as a result I got a very decent sale. Guess what that means... more investing......You're just hurting domainers with these policies.... going backwards..

I also had some buyers not pay for some of my sold domains on GoDaddy auctions.
Very frustrating!

Mark Thorpe

@Paul Nicks
And for God's sake, I hope in your new release people who bid on your domain and you accept their bid, they are mechanisms in place that guarantees the seller is paid. Perhaps by freezing a portion of the offer on their credit card. Time and time again, so called buyers are not paying! The only recourse is "we'll freeze their account"... big wow..

Also, this 5 day rule thing that everything stops working.. I had a domain with another registrar and even at the 25th day (wasn't 100% sure if I wanted to renew or not), everything was still forwarding and as a result I got a very decent sale. Guess what that means... more investing......You're just hurting domainers and consequently yourselves with these policies.... going backwards..

 

[TERADOMAIN]

Just happened with me again. Godaddy must take some clear steps towards their expired auction. They kept lots of loop holes. They allow outside Godaddy expired names to be auctioned on Godaddy. I recently won 1 very good name and today it is in my Didn't won section. Why not godaddy do some agreement with partner registrar to enforce that if name goes to godaddy auction means it is guaranteed to go into owner's account if auction closes with the winner. If Godaddy want to continue with this type of practices then they should start auction after 45 days of expiration so buyer will participate with more confidence. Looks like Godaddy don't even care about buyer. Why do they even care if buyer goes through the situation over and over. Ultimately they make money end of the day and we as buyer wasted our time behind unacceptable policy.

@Joe Styler can you please elaborate on this whenever you get time and chance?? When Godaddy will stop this kind of practices?? I know you will say that you do not control partner registrar policy but as Godaddy decision maker why not list name once it passed stage where owner can't renew. Still do not understand why this kind of policy in place. You can start on 24th day if name are part of Godaddy and 38th day if name from partnering registrar.

We as buyer wants honest and transparent expired auction where there is guarantee of name being transfer once buyer win in auction. Dropcatch and Namejet expired names gets into our account guaranteed. @Joe Styler sir do you have any proper response in that regard??

Thanks

 

[offthehandle]

1% are those gaming the system. So those marginally funded portfolio holders will be moved? Potentially this excellent news for cleaning up the clawbacks and those who are playing games. Responsible people renew on time.

Perhaps expired auctions will actually be real absolute auctions.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/another-bidding-on-your-own-names.1050978/#post-6445234

 

[offthehandle]

This is true

Thanks for commenting. How about opening up bidders ID's for transparency? Is that a change for the future?

 

[wwwweb]

This is true

Paul, it took one outburst from Rick Schwartz, what about the hundreds of us little people who have brought this up for years? Do we not have a voice?

 

[Paul Nicks]

Paul, it took one outburst from Rick Schwartz, what about the hundreds of us little people who have brought this up for years? Do we not have a voice?

The timing of this is coincidental. We have been carefully planning this for over a year, and this is not actually driven by the Aftermarket

 

[DnFolk]

not getting chance to gauge value of domain in an auction and less days to renew and transfer, overall not a great decision for average domainers or domain owners.

 

[pokainc]

@wwwweb
If a certain bidder ID wins, then someone can verify where the won name is later forwarding, or what whois is showing. If it happens that it's a successful investor, or known domainer, then their cover is blown.

By having that info, then you can potentially make a list of which ID belongs to which person, and when you see that ID in the bidding wars, you know they are onto something, or a hidden gem that you have missed and start bidding on a domain that perhaps you wouldn't have gone into otherwise. Or others bidding that person up on puporse if they don't like him.

That being said perhaps an official neutral 3rd party verification body can be an option. Like major lottery verifiations.

 

[wwwweb]

He is bidding aggressively on domains in re-seller venue auctions seemingly every day, so I don't think he's currently affected by any prior bad dealings with AD. Besides with a portfolio of that size it would be relatively easy to bounce back from it.

He caused a lot of godaddy refunds for sure:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/jason-newby-godaddy-who-is-he.850299/

 

[offthehandle]

someone created a domain 15-20 years ago to let it expire for whatever reason (including death), and a registrar gets to keep 100% of any expired sale?

The domain is supposed to expire, delete, then come available. That is the process ICANN designed. These registrars have just interjected themselves in the process as middlemen when it comes to auctioning expired domains. In my view it is far more "ethical" if the registrars gave the owner a fair % of the sale.

Well, to your first point that's a fringe benefit I guess of the registry business and lack of doing any estate planning by the registrant, not having heirs. I am sure that is a very small percentage of expired names. It should be allowed to expire and delete, then drop catching services compete.

To the second point, 100% agreed. Expired, Dropped and caught in the free market. That was my original thing I posted, there are several threads not sure which one, perhaps what I stated was unclear. At Pending delete, it should be up for sale- not before that. There are 5 days to auction, buy and sell. Done. Right? Why isn't it handled that way? I am not sure why the registrars/registries should have any extended or special rights on expired names- they all should simply drop and then be caught by the drop catch system.

Yeah, and the new system timetable will not change that. Registrants have lost 12+ days to renew a domain, yet the auction will still start on day 26. That means they still have 4-5 days after the auction starts to renew the domain.

What? So the the names are not free and clear at auction start? So how is the problem being fixed? It's a fake auction for 4-5 days if what you are saying is new system. My brain hurts. lol.