GoDaddy suspicious behaviour

[Welkin]

Hi guys,

I suppose this is the right place to post this info. It's about GoDaddy suspicious behaviour.

Here is the story in brief. I wanted to register a domain name at Go Daddy several days ago. I checked it at another registrar before that and I knew (or at least I assumed) it was available. But when I tried to register the name at GoDaddy it was shown as already taken but available for purchase for $500 at their auctions. Since I assumed the domain was not registered (because of my preliminary check) I made several more checks at other registrars and all of them showed that the name is available. And it really was because I registered it later. So be careful with GoDaddy cause they try to easily get our money even with such unfair methods.

And here is the full story: GoDaddy scam attempt

 

[silentg]

GoDaddy didn't scam you. The previous owner forgot to remove the domain listing from from GoDaddy right after the domain expired. There are tons of domains on Sedo and Afternic that are available to register.

 

[Welkin]

GoDaddy didn't scam you. The previous owner forgot to remove the domain listing from from GoDaddy right after the domain expired. There are tons of domains on Sedo and Afternic that are available to register.

Well, it's possible. But Sedo is a different thing...
When I check if a domain is available for registration at GoDaddy, they should check this and return a correct response. Not instead of this to check if the name has not been listed on their auctions. It is not a responsibility of the previous owner of the name to remove it, it's GoDaddy's responsibility to return a correct result to my query. It could be an unintentional bug. But I doubt it cause this is something trivial for implementation. Most probably it is intentionally implemented like this which is if not a direct scam, well, almost there.

 

[silentg]

GoDaddy features all their auctions on the front page so that's why you see it on there. No it's not a scam. It's more like a bug GoDaddy, Sedo, And Afternic needs to fix. They need to run through their list of names and remove the expired / unregistered domains.

Pick a domain from GoDaddy auctoins page and search for it on the front page http://godaddy.com
You'll see it promoted on the front page.

Even if you end up purchasing the domain for the listed price, they'll give you a credit when they learn that the domain isn't registered.

 

[Welkin]

GoDaddy features all their auctions on the front page so that's why you see it on there. No it's not a scam. It's more like a bug GoDaddy, Sedo, And Afternic needs to fix. They need to run through their list of names and remove the expired / unregistered domains.

Pick a domain from GoDaddy auctoins page and search for it on the front page http://godaddy.com
You'll see it promoted on the front page.

Even if you end up purchasing the domain for the listed price, they'll give you a credit when they learn that the domain isn't registered.

Ok, let it be a bug. But is such a bug admissible at the biggest registrar? This is a bug that could be fixed for not more than 5 minutes (or let assume 5 hours with some tests). Do you think they are unaware of this bug if it happens so often as you've said. I doubt it. So why don't they fix it? I don't see any sensible proper explanation.

 

[silentg]

You can contact them and use the domain you tried to register as an example. Put screenshots as well in the e-mail you're sending.

 

[Kate]

Ok, let it be a bug. But is such a bug admissible at the biggest registrar? This is a bug that could be fixed for not more than 5 minutes (or let assume 5 hours with some tests).

Seem like domain availability check is not always realtime at Godaddy, as if they were looking at the zone file instead.
Checking for available domain at Godaddy is just unreliable.

Everybody should know, or needs to know :hi:

They are the biggest registrar, but they are not the most reliable.

 

[Dave_Z]

It is not a responsibility of the previous owner of the name to remove it, it's GoDaddy's responsibility to return a correct result to my query.

http://sedo.com/uk/about-us/policies/rules-for-domain-sellers/?tracked=&partnerid=&language=e

If a domain has been sold, the seller must remove it from the database.

http://www.godaddy.com/legal-agreements.aspx?ci=46445&otab=2

GO DADDY, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES ABOUT (I) THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR CONTENT OF THIS SITE, (II) THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR CONTENT OF ANY SITES LINKED (THROUGH HYPERLINKS, BANNER ADVERTISING OR OTHERWISE) TO THIS SITE, AND/OR (III) THE SERVICES FOUND AT THIS SITE OR ANY SITES LINKED (THROUGH HYPERLINKS, BANNER ADVERTISING OR OTHERWISE) TO THIS SITE, AND GO DADDY ASSUMES NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SAME.

No registrar on Earth can guarantee 100% accurate availability. OTOH, they mostly get it right when it comes to this. (mostly, anyway...)

Personally, I just don't use them when other, arguably better options exist.

 

[Welkin]

Well, the problem obviously is that they do not check if the domain is available for registration at all if it has been listed at their auctions. It's not about policies and it's not about the unreliability of the domain check that pretty much every registrar has.

It should be implemented intentionally this way. And obviously it will show all domain names that have not been removed from their auctions as already registered. You cannot blame the previous owner for GoDaddy's implementation. And what's the reason behind this implementation we could only guess cause the benefits from it for everybody (including GoDaddy) are questionable.

 

[Dave_Z]

Heh, it can get confusing replying here, there and everywhere you posted this same query. So, I'll just post here.

Bottom line is if you really want to claim that Go Daddy's some kind of scam in some way, then you have to "prove" that with little to no room for doubt. It so happens that what you wrote about can be explained, justified, etc., and attributed as not necessarily having a full understanding.

Of course, no one's born knowing these things. But I don't know if anyone wants to be accused of "scamming" if their actions especially show otherwise.

As to why Go Daddy hasn't seemingly fixed those problems, that's really up to them. If they're indeed running a scam or similar, I doubt they'd last this long since they started over 10 years ago.

OTOH, stranger things have happened...

 

[Welkin]

Ok, let's not call it scam but it is definitely not proper. I added some clarifications on the page under my article too so I hope it should be clear now. But the fact remains that they have not implemented the domain look up as it should be implemented and it's hard to implement it this way unintentionally.

You can contact them and use the domain you tried to register as an example. Put screenshots as well in the e-mail you're sending.

I doubt that GoDaddy guys are unaware of this but I can still contact them although I don't think they will change this implementation just because of me.

 

[Robin]

Ohh it looks like new Money making tactic from Godaddy. Well there are few more small registrars who do the same thing.
Thanks for the info. It is always a good practice to check 2-3 registrars.