PJ Baldwin
Established Member
- Impact
- 112
I've purchased hundreds of domains through auctions/aftermarket platforms, but I've never seen anything like this before...
Here's a timeline of what happened...
• On August 27, I was the winning bidder of a domain through GoDaddy Auctions (GDA).
• Within 48 hours, the seller (current registrar) updated the registrant to "Afternic on behalf of domain buyer" to signify that it's ready to be transferred by the auctioneer (which is typical for completed domain auctions, per my experience).
• 8 days later, however, I noticed the domain still hadn't been delivered to my GD account (nor had I received any emails or updates from GDA about it).
• So, I checked Whois (again) and noticed the domain had gone into redemption (at the registry-level) 7 days after the auction ended (because the 45-day auto-renew grace period had passed).
• I contacted the seller (current registrar) and confirmed with their support team that this happened because GoDaddy never initiated the transfer, and consequently the domain just sat there and eventually went to redemption.
• I then contacted GoDaddy to let them know that they allowed the domain to go to redemption, and therefore needed to redeem and transfer it to fulfill the transaction/agreement that took place through their auction platform. (Keep in mind, GoDaddy Auctions doesn't have phone support, only email). Two days later, GoDaddy's support team finally replied to my detailed email with a canned response of: "We regret to inform you that we had to cancel the auction transaction, as the partner registrar of this expired domain auction has advised they would not be able to provide the domain. This could be because the previous owner renewed the domain name, or because there's some kind of hold or legal dispute, which makes it impossible to provide the domain to us (even though we do appear as the current registrant). As this is the case, we have proceeded to issue you a refund." ... In other words, "It's the seller's fault, not ours, so we'll just cancel the transaction, 10 days after the fact, and refund your money."
• So, I contacted the current registrar (again) to confirm that they're still willing and able to transfer the domain to GoDaddy/Afternic (the current registrant). Their support team responded with "Yes, this particular domain is ready to be redeemed and transferred by the registrant. There is no hold on this domain, nor is there anything that prevents the registrant, Afternic, from redeeming and then transferring it to GoDaddy."
• Then I contacted GoDaddy Auctions (again) letting them know that they lied (verifiably) about the seller being unable or unwilling to transfer the domain. I explained to them that they are still the current registrant ("Afternic on behalf of domain buyer") and that the current registrar confirmed that they're ready to complete the transaction upon the registrant's (GD/Afternic's) request to redeem and transfer the domain.
• After 72 more hours, GoDaddy eventually responded with another verifiable lie and bogus excuse: "Your concern was discussed and further investigated. We have reviewed with our internal and external partners on the ability to secure the name for you. At this time, we can confirm that the contact information was updated prematurely. I do regret to inform you that we have confirmed that this domain is not currently able to be captured on your behalf and we are unable to provide any more specific information on the underlying reasoning. There are several reasons which can cause a domain to become unavailable; therefore, these types of auction sales cannot be guaranteed." ... In other words, "We looked into it and confirmed that we won't transfer the domain, and we will not explain why."
To summarize in one paragraph...
A buyer and seller reached an agreement through GoDaddy Auctions. The seller then updated the registrant to "Afternic on behalf of domain buyer" and confirmed that it's still waiting to transfer the domain to GoDaddy (per the agreement). GoDaddy, however, when being confronted on their lie that the seller was blocking the transaction, changed their story to "The contact information was updated prematurely, and we have confirmed this domain cannot be captured on your behalf, and we are unable to provide any specific information on the underlying reasoning."
As a domainer, how would you feel if this happened to you with a domain you care about? And if you really wanted the domain (and didn't want to risk trying to catch it on the drop), what recourse would you consider pursuing?... I suppose I could lawyer up, but then there would be legal fees, plus the matter needs to be settled within ~25 days (before the end of the redemption period).
Last but not least, I've learned a valuable lesson from this, which I hope my fellow domainers here on NamePros can benefit from: Never assume or trust that an auctioneer (in particular, GoDaddy) will honor their agreement by transferring a domain that you won at auction. And if they give you an excuse of "the current registrar won't transfer it to us...", call the registrar to confirm whether that's actually the case. It's possible (if not likely) that GoDaddy simply neglected to transfer it in time, then didn't want to pay the redemption fee to fix their own mistake. I buy a lot of domains through auction, so I could have easily overlooked this (and only noticed it after the domain dropped and got picked up by someone else). Because of this, I'm about to review all of my previously won auctions to ensure sure that I actually received all of the domains. Some of them could have been "lost in the shuffle" as I described above, without noticing it (as a higher-volume domainer).
As far as this domain, I'm going to try one last option to get GoDaddy to honor the agreement and do the right thing. If that doesn't work, I'll consider getting my lawyer involved... My other option is to try to pick it up on the drop, but there's no guarantee of that, plus I want to preserve its original registration date.
I know this was a long post, so thanks for reading... and I welcome any feedback and/or suggestions.
(Note to mods: This story should be of general interest to domainers, and offers a valuable lesson that applies to all types of domain acquisition (for higher-volume domainers). It also raises some interesting legal questions about a domain buyer's rights, and broker/auctioneer's obligations, after a sale/agreement as been reached. And to be clear, this is not a review of GDA or Afternic, nor is the underlying legal matter of a buyer/seller's rights and aftermarket/auctioneer's obligations specific to either of those companies. In other words, this topic is suited for general, wide-ranging discussion appropriate for the current forum. Thank you.)
Here's a timeline of what happened...
• On August 27, I was the winning bidder of a domain through GoDaddy Auctions (GDA).
• Within 48 hours, the seller (current registrar) updated the registrant to "Afternic on behalf of domain buyer" to signify that it's ready to be transferred by the auctioneer (which is typical for completed domain auctions, per my experience).
• 8 days later, however, I noticed the domain still hadn't been delivered to my GD account (nor had I received any emails or updates from GDA about it).
• So, I checked Whois (again) and noticed the domain had gone into redemption (at the registry-level) 7 days after the auction ended (because the 45-day auto-renew grace period had passed).
• I contacted the seller (current registrar) and confirmed with their support team that this happened because GoDaddy never initiated the transfer, and consequently the domain just sat there and eventually went to redemption.
• I then contacted GoDaddy to let them know that they allowed the domain to go to redemption, and therefore needed to redeem and transfer it to fulfill the transaction/agreement that took place through their auction platform. (Keep in mind, GoDaddy Auctions doesn't have phone support, only email). Two days later, GoDaddy's support team finally replied to my detailed email with a canned response of: "We regret to inform you that we had to cancel the auction transaction, as the partner registrar of this expired domain auction has advised they would not be able to provide the domain. This could be because the previous owner renewed the domain name, or because there's some kind of hold or legal dispute, which makes it impossible to provide the domain to us (even though we do appear as the current registrant). As this is the case, we have proceeded to issue you a refund." ... In other words, "It's the seller's fault, not ours, so we'll just cancel the transaction, 10 days after the fact, and refund your money."
• So, I contacted the current registrar (again) to confirm that they're still willing and able to transfer the domain to GoDaddy/Afternic (the current registrant). Their support team responded with "Yes, this particular domain is ready to be redeemed and transferred by the registrant. There is no hold on this domain, nor is there anything that prevents the registrant, Afternic, from redeeming and then transferring it to GoDaddy."
• Then I contacted GoDaddy Auctions (again) letting them know that they lied (verifiably) about the seller being unable or unwilling to transfer the domain. I explained to them that they are still the current registrant ("Afternic on behalf of domain buyer") and that the current registrar confirmed that they're ready to complete the transaction upon the registrant's (GD/Afternic's) request to redeem and transfer the domain.
• After 72 more hours, GoDaddy eventually responded with another verifiable lie and bogus excuse: "Your concern was discussed and further investigated. We have reviewed with our internal and external partners on the ability to secure the name for you. At this time, we can confirm that the contact information was updated prematurely. I do regret to inform you that we have confirmed that this domain is not currently able to be captured on your behalf and we are unable to provide any more specific information on the underlying reasoning. There are several reasons which can cause a domain to become unavailable; therefore, these types of auction sales cannot be guaranteed." ... In other words, "We looked into it and confirmed that we won't transfer the domain, and we will not explain why."
To summarize in one paragraph...
A buyer and seller reached an agreement through GoDaddy Auctions. The seller then updated the registrant to "Afternic on behalf of domain buyer" and confirmed that it's still waiting to transfer the domain to GoDaddy (per the agreement). GoDaddy, however, when being confronted on their lie that the seller was blocking the transaction, changed their story to "The contact information was updated prematurely, and we have confirmed this domain cannot be captured on your behalf, and we are unable to provide any specific information on the underlying reasoning."
As a domainer, how would you feel if this happened to you with a domain you care about? And if you really wanted the domain (and didn't want to risk trying to catch it on the drop), what recourse would you consider pursuing?... I suppose I could lawyer up, but then there would be legal fees, plus the matter needs to be settled within ~25 days (before the end of the redemption period).
Last but not least, I've learned a valuable lesson from this, which I hope my fellow domainers here on NamePros can benefit from: Never assume or trust that an auctioneer (in particular, GoDaddy) will honor their agreement by transferring a domain that you won at auction. And if they give you an excuse of "the current registrar won't transfer it to us...", call the registrar to confirm whether that's actually the case. It's possible (if not likely) that GoDaddy simply neglected to transfer it in time, then didn't want to pay the redemption fee to fix their own mistake. I buy a lot of domains through auction, so I could have easily overlooked this (and only noticed it after the domain dropped and got picked up by someone else). Because of this, I'm about to review all of my previously won auctions to ensure sure that I actually received all of the domains. Some of them could have been "lost in the shuffle" as I described above, without noticing it (as a higher-volume domainer).
As far as this domain, I'm going to try one last option to get GoDaddy to honor the agreement and do the right thing. If that doesn't work, I'll consider getting my lawyer involved... My other option is to try to pick it up on the drop, but there's no guarantee of that, plus I want to preserve its original registration date.
I know this was a long post, so thanks for reading... and I welcome any feedback and/or suggestions.
(Note to mods: This story should be of general interest to domainers, and offers a valuable lesson that applies to all types of domain acquisition (for higher-volume domainers). It also raises some interesting legal questions about a domain buyer's rights, and broker/auctioneer's obligations, after a sale/agreement as been reached. And to be clear, this is not a review of GDA or Afternic, nor is the underlying legal matter of a buyer/seller's rights and aftermarket/auctioneer's obligations specific to either of those companies. In other words, this topic is suited for general, wide-ranging discussion appropriate for the current forum. Thank you.)
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