GoDaddy taking over Registerfly.com domains

[Peter]

A Decision Regarding Regfly's domains

A decision has been made by ICANN regarding Registerfly's domains.

Godaddy will be taking over these domains.

The following was sent out from an ICANN announcement a short while ago:-

MARINA DEL REY, Calif.: ICANN has welcomed today's GoDaddy.com® announcement that it will take over the entire portfolio of more than 850,000 generic top-level domain (gTLD) names held by RegisterFly.

"The RegisterFly situation has been extremely difficult -- first and foremost for registrants, as well as for the entire registry and registrar community," said Dr Paul Twomey, ICANN's President and CEO.

ICANN's understanding is that GoDaddy.com and the gTLD registries holding RegisterFly names have worked out the mechanics for restoring, renewing, and redeeming names intending that no names will be inadvertently dropped. According to the terms of the transfer agreement, RegisterFly domain names and the data underlying the available proxy service will also be transferred. People with domain names registered with RegisterFly can contact GoDaddy.com at 480-366-3500 with any questions about the transfer. GoDaddy.com also has a question and answer sheet available at http://www.godaddy.com/welcomeregisterfly

"ICANN had been actively seeking participants to act as a transfer provider to bulk transfer RegisterFly records to another accredited registrar," Dr Twomey said. "We have ended that process because the GoDaddy.com agreement is a better solution for RegisterFly customers since it's a direct and automatic transfer to a competent and experienced customer service oriented organization."

Afilias and VeriSign, the two registries with the most RegisterFly names, have forgone considerable fees for transfers. The gTLD registries GNR, NeuStar and PIR also acted to prevent deletion of names. As well, Tucows took uncompensated effort to provide data and pursue a solution that would protect registrants. In each step of this situation, ICANN and these organizations worked to serve and protect the interests of registrants.

"I want to commend the organizations that have come to the table to ensure people's domain names were protected to the extent possible," Dr Twomey added. "Especially, I also want to thank the registrars that came forward to express an interest in acting as the transfer program ICANN was developing, but which now will not be required. The work contributed by their participation will lead to the creation of a standard process that will better protect registrants."

"After the passionate comments in response to my blog posting about this ordeal, we decided to step up," said Bob Parsons, CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.com. "It's what many RegisterFly customers asked us to do."

SOURCE http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-29may07.htm

 

[BeZazz]

finally..
thanks for the info

 

[conradseeds]

GODADDY.COM REACHES AGREEMENT TO HELP REGISTERFLY CUSTOMERS
850,000+ Web site Names in RegisterFly Portfolio to Be Moved to GoDaddy.com

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (May 29, 2007) – GoDaddy.com®, the world’s leading domain name registrar, has reached an agreement with RegisterFly® and ICANN® to transfer over RegisterFly’s portfolio of Web site names to GoDaddy.com. The move will help resolve problems involving hundreds of thousands of domain names around the world.

RegisterFly customers have been affected by recent problems and the impending loss of RegisterFly’s accreditation as a domain name registrar. GoDaddy.com will notify RegisterFly customers of the switch and automatically move their domains for them. Customers can get support and answers to any questions they have at a dedicated GoDaddy.com hot line and a designated “welcome” Web page. Once the switch is complete, more than 850,000 domain names will have been moved.

“We worked with ICANN to effect a migration of the RegisterFly domains to GoDaddy.com and help those customers left in limbo,” said GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons, widely considered an industry watchdog. “It’s what many RegisterFly customers asked us to do. After they are moved over to GoDaddy.com, all RegisterFly customers will once again be able to manage and renew their domain names with confidence and will also enjoy the world-class support we provide all our customers. We expect the move to be completed over the next week.”

“The RegisterFly situation has been extremely difficult – first and foremost for registrants, as well as for the entire registry and registrar community ,” said Dr. Paul Twomey, president and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the nonprofit company responsible for global coordination of the Internet’s system of unique identifiers like domain names and the addresses used to help computers reach each other over the Internet. “The GoDaddy.com agreement is the best possible solution for RegisterFly customers since it's a direct and automatic transfer to a competent and experienced customer service oriented organization.”

Those who still go to the RegisterFly Web site will be directed to Go Daddy.com for managing and renewing their domain names. However, some RegisterFly customers had chosen to move their domain names to GoDaddy.com even before this deal.

“After I had some issues with my domain names, I decided to transfer over to GoDaddy.com,” said Sean Gallagher, CEO of Web design company ATLWebSite.com and former RegisterFly customer. “The customer service I receive is exceptional. I have a lot of clients relying on me, and because GoDaddy.com is a safe, reliable and friendly registrar, I don’t have any problems.”

GoDaddy.com is the world’s largest domain name registrar with more than 20 million domain names already in its portfolio before this move. More than 4 million customers rely on GoDaddy.com for domain name registration, Web site hosting, SSL certificates ensuring Web site security and related products.

GoDaddy.com is working with the generic top-level domain registries, such as dot com and dot info, now holding RegisterFly names to make sure the transfer goes smoothly. New GoDaddy.com customers with questions can call a 24-hour dedicated hot line at (480) 366-3500. They can also get more information and answers at http://www.godaddy.com/welcomeregisterfly.

About The Go Daddy Group, Inc.
Go Daddy® is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration and Web site hosting services, as well as a broad array of on-demand and other services. The Go Daddy Group, Inc. has more than 20 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers a domain name every 1.3 seconds. GoDaddy.com is the world's No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. GoDaddy.com is also rated the world's largest hostname provider according to Netcraft® Ltd. During 2006, The Go Daddy Group registered approximately one-third of all domain names registered in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info.

 

[dhscott]

No Big Surprise here then!

And now the big drop process begins where all the domains held are now going to drop!

 

[mis_chiff]

You can't see me but I'm jumping up and down! :gl:

Thanks for the news conradseeds, made my morning

 

[BinderGang]

So happy. My domains at Registerfly are going to expire in 2-3 months, so happy it has been resolved before then.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

I hope the guilty in this one didn't make off like bandits...
'nuf said.
-Allan :gl:

 

[kleszcz]

And now the big drop process begins where all the domains held are now going to drop!

The biggest show begins. :hehe:

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Compare that statement to the one sent out by GoDaddy (See thread in main forum... maybe should combine these two to avoid redundancies?) - some identical language, but nice to see the focus is still set to 6 inches up Bob's butt
-Allan :gl:

 

[Spade]

Yah, im not surprised either.

 

[Jeffrey]

HHhmm, another 850,000 possibilities of safe domaining or risky ones?

 

[randomo]

I assume I will be able to renew my domains that expired after RegFly stopped handling renewals ....

 

[ahtum]

oh well i had ~80 doms at regfly guess this is good news for me :p

 

[mis_chiff]

I assume I will be able to renew my domains that expired after RegFly stopped handling renewals ....

I'm hoping the same thing!
Except I had to contact the person that registerfly changed
my whois into. AFTER it expired!!
He agreed to accept the transfer for me when it comes through!
IF it comes through.

 

[The Stealthy One]

Why GoDaddy? Why not eNom? Hmmm.....wonder how much money changed hands for this?

 

[Dave_Z]

HHhmm, another 850,000 possibilities of safe domaining or risky ones?

Only time will tell.

If anyone's up to picking up the pieces, it's Bob.

 

[gramma]

what a nightmare trying to sort it all out though. I still had domains with registerfly's privacy info - that couldn't be changed -
I transferred almost 300 out - but they all were still reflected in my domain list as still being at registerfly.
I HOPE this is easy for all concerned - but seems like there will be some pitfalls and not everyone is going to be happy!

 

[thebutler]

Godaddy thanks

I think the folks at Godaddy deserve some praise for jumping into this mess. Sure they will make some cash on the renewals but they are likely looking at delivering several thousands hours of phone support calls.

I hope things work out for everyone involved (myself included).

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Questions:
1) Is "RegFly" getting paid in any way for this?
2) How much is GoDaddy getting paid by ICANN to take this on?
3) What domains (Exactly) are transferring since GoDaddy doesn't register the same extensions (Only new.net's come to mind - note to self: Thank God I still don't fall for subdomains ), and as of what date.
-Allan :gl:

 

[mis_chiff]

I had submitted a support ticket to Godaddy yesterday
regarding a concern with an expired domain at registerfly
I just got the response - They told me that they have worked something out
with ICANN and I'd have until June 28th to renew it after they
transfer it. They also said I'd be getting my welcome letter soon,
So hopefully it'll all go as planned