GoDaddy Domain Registration FAIL?!

[Theo Goodman]

"
Dear -----------,

The following domain name registration has failed:

--------------.NET

Error: -------------.NET: cannot register - already registered

We will evaluate the error and retry the registration if appropriate. If we are unable to successfully register the domain name, your account will be credited accordingly (allow one business day for the refund to be processed).

Sincerely,
GoDaddy.com


!:td: ? Did they make a mistake or just take my name?! Someone else had the same idea when I was in checkout? This has never happened before to me anyone else?

 

[xman]

It happened to me twice from one of reputable registrar. Mine were actually went to my account. Then, when I checked it was gone from my account. These happened in two different occasions. I even called my registrar and spoke with a rep. and he told me the domain should be mine. He said he will look into it but never got a respond back. When I checked the whois later on. It was registered by someone else at the same day but the time stamp was some what different. I registered earlier than the one from the new owner. It was registered few minutes later than mine.

 

[freedom30]

...this happens so often on such a regular basis that one gets suspicious.

It occurred to me several times thru the years. I just take it for granted now that if the name is too damn good they see to it that one of their preferred customers get it and the hell with you...

 

[Name Trader]

Did you check the whois at the Registry to see the exact date and time the domain was registered? If you use the whois at a Registrar which isn't live, like Godaddy, these things can happen.

 

[xman]

I checked mine at my registry and the new registrant have a later time than when I registered it. The rep. I spoke with even said that when he looked at the record the domain should be in my account and didn't know what happen.

 

[Kate]

Godaddy does not always perform availability check in real time.
Probably the domain was no longer available when you added to your cart.

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

If the domain appears on "available" lists, it might garner more attention than usual, and may be registered around the same time.

And there can be only one winner.



*

 

[RazorNF]

One time, I actually had the opposite happen. GoDaddy reported a domain as already taken when I tried to register it, despite it showing as available when I did a whois scan.

Immediately went to another registrar and was able to register it.

 

[Kate]

One time, I actually had the opposite happen. GoDaddy reported a domain as already taken when I tried to register it, despite it showing as available when I did a whois scan.

It could have been a very recent drop. I am under the impression that sometimes Godaddy does lookups against a copy of the zone file, rather than checking with the registry live.

 

[opalxx]

...this happens so often on such a regular basis that one gets suspicious.

It occurred to me several times thru the years. I just take it for granted now that if the name is too damn good they see to it that one of their preferred customers get it and the hell with you...

Funny, read this thread today and have just had it happen to me. Same message as Sam got. Checking whois through domaintools the name is shown as still available for registration.

 

[Ms Domainer]

Funny, read this thread today and have just had it happen to me. Same message as Sam got. Checking whois through domaintools the name is shown as still available for registration.

*

Were you then able to register it elsewhere?

DomainTools is not real-time.

If you're not sure, for dotcoms and dotnets, check directly to Verisign Whois.

http://www.verisigninc.com/en_US/products-and-services/domain-name-services/whois/index.xhtml​

Versign won't offer detailed info about the registrant, but it's pretty reliable (although, at drop time, sometimes the domain goes into a strange not registered/not available status, and the name points to their nameservers).

For other TLDs go to their own registry Whois.

*

 

[NameGroove]

It could have been a very recent drop. I am under the impression that sometimes Godaddy does lookups against a copy of the zone file, rather than checking with the registry live.

I believe it is something to do with drops. I have this happen to me all the time. I have even registered the same name over and over and it keeps failing. That's because its taken. But in a few days it will drop. Their system has a bug and will show some names as avail if they are soon to be dropped. However you won't get them - it will just fail.

I've spoken to my VIP contact at GD and he said: "GoDaddy checks to see if a name is available or not from the registry. When someone wants to buy a domain and does a search for it on our site we query the registry and if the name looks available we sell the name if it is already registered then our system tries to sell a transfer or backorder."

I said "Looks available"? Either it is - or isn't. He does not expand his answer - just keep repeating the same unintelligible thing.

 

[RazorNF]

Yes, got the same similar mumbo jumbo from customer service when I let them know what happened. Told them I had to use another registrar to get the name.

They apologized for the problem, yadda yadda, and offered me coupon code for my next domain. It was something silly like 10% or 15% off, lol.

 

[opalxx]

*

Were you then able to register it elsewhere?

DomainTools is not real-time.

If you're not sure, for dotcoms and dotnets, check directly to Verisign Whois.

http://www.verisigninc.com/en_US/products-and-services/domain-name-services/whois/index.xhtml​

Versign won't offer detailed info about the registrant, but it's pretty reliable (although, at drop time, sometimes the domain goes into a strange not registered/not available status, and the name points to their nameservers).

For other TLDs go to their own registry Whois.

*

Thanks for the info. Appreciated. I just looked now and went through the GDaddy rego process again and got it into my cart so it is still available. This is 24 hours after the first try. Must be a hiccup in their reg process.