GODADDY WARNING: Lying and stealing expired domains

[DanSanchez]

Godaddy has gone downhill faster than most registrars in recent history, their methods for domain retention and profit are no longer based on the value they can add to a customer, but in simple deception.

Instead of providing authorization codes for expired domains (1-30 days post expiration.) They actively block the authorization codes from ever reaching the registered contact email. In my naive attempts at manually requesting 40 authorization codes, I spent most of the morning going to each domain and requesting one at a time. Nothing ever arrived, it was frustrating, but I discovered their methods of domain retention involve blocking authorization codes by default.

Meaning, any domain that goes into expiration is "no longer eligible for transfer." This is something I clarified with support staff, clearly they are trained to tell this to customers in order to avoid transfer losses. Even though it is completely against their written policy on expired domains. (Source)

After over an hour and a half with support staff, the authorization codes started rolling in. How did I get them to do it? I found a domain's authorization code that was already in REDEMPTION, post 30 days expiration, and transferred it away by unlocking it inside the "expired domains" menu, under "Domains." I had let this domain expire on purpose, it wasn't great so I didn't want to renew it. But I had to prove to them that I knew they were lying in order to block transfers out.

Here are some of the conflicting details I received...

Tldr: #boycottgodaddy.

I'll be happy to help anyone with domains stuck at Godady, I have successfully initiated transfers on all domains.

 

[Joe Styler]

Godaddy has gone downhill faster than most registrars in recent history, their methods for domain retention and profit are no longer based on the value they can add to a customer, but in simple deception.

Instead of providing authorization codes for expired domains (1-30 days post expiration.) They actively block the authorization codes from ever reaching the registered contact email. In my naive attempts at manually requesting 40 authorization codes, I spent most of the morning going to each domain and requesting one at a time. Nothing ever arrived, it was frustrating, but I discovered their methods of domain retention involve blocking authorization codes by default.

Here are some of the conflicting details I received...



Tldr: #boycottgodaddy.

I'll be happy to help anyone with domains stuck at Godady, I have successfully initiated transfers on all domains.

Hi Dan. I am sorry to hear about this experience. It is not our policy to block anyone from transferring domains out after they expire. You have up to 30 days to do so. This article states how to do it after expiration. Basically if you request the auth code it will return it to a transferrable state after it expired. You do not have to renew the domain. The support agent was flat out wrong. I will follow up on that with their boss.

https://www.godaddy.com/help/transferring-expired-domain-names-5019?

 

[mr-x]

Hi Dan. I am sorry to hear about this experience. It is not our policy to block anyone from transferring domains out after they expire. You have up to 30 days to do so. This article states how to do it after expiration. Basically if you request the auth code it will return it to a transferrable state after it expired. You do not have to renew the domain. The support agent was flat out wrong. I will follow up on that with their boss.

https://www.godaddy.com/help/transferring-expired-domain-names-5019?

Thank-you Joe. You're a great representative for GoDaddy.

 

[Joe Styler]

Like wwwweb said, a lady actually passed away and godaddy auctioned off all her domains after 30 days of expiration instead of sending them to redemption period. Her son tried to recover them and he was unable to recover most of them resulting in over $100k worth of wholesale inventory loss to her son. Their policies are criminal, no doubt.

That is not exactly the whole truth. We did not know she had passed away. When we found out we stopped the auctions that were still live and renewed some of the expired domains in order to give the family time to deal with it.
I also personally reached out to the family to try and help several times without response.
We did not make a big deal about this publicly but we not only stopped some of the auctions we were still able to, we also gave the lion's share of the profit we made to a charity the person who lost the domains had an interest in and we made the donation in her name. Again this was after trying unsuccessfully to contact the family. I also tried to contact the son who posted in the thread via namepros unsuccessfully.
I have seen and been a part of many free renewals for customers of valuable domains when we know they have passed away, are in the hospital etc and cannot otherwise normally manage their domains. We routinely help people with free time on products when there is a disaster such as the hurricanes last year. We just do not make a big deal about it publicly. We do not do it for PR we do it because it is the right thing to do.
Again I apologize for your experience with chat. That information is completely wrong and you are able to transfer out after expiration as you discovered on your own.

 

[DaveX]

I must say GD has gotten terrible when it comes to their renewal/redemption policy. They are snatching anything they can sell. They are charging crazy redemption fees also.

I have already begun the process of moving my domains from GD because of their cut throat renewal/redemption policy.

Certainly, domains should be renewed on time, but GD has implemented a policy which will surely lead to the loss of many domain name customers.

They used to be so good. Now just horrible. The website is mediocre considering they are a supposed leader. The customer service is less and less knowledgeable, and this expired domain policy is horrible.

 

[Daniel Owens]

Namesilo does the same thing, when I go to the field where it says request code there is no link to click to get auth. code and it says, "
The only domain function for expired domains is to renew.
"
If, you contact them (as you did GD) and are able to bypass this policy props to you it's really up to the register if they want to manually give you codes for expired domains.
So, there are plenty of registers not allowing transfer-out of expired domain. Last, register that allowed me to transfer-out after expiration actually about 2 weeks after was dotster, I moved out because of a NC promo at the time.

 

[alcy]

Namesilo does the same thing, when I go to the field where it says request code there is no link to click to get auth. code and it says, "
The only domain function for expired domains is to renew.
"
If, you contact them (as you did GD) and are able to bypass this policy props to you it's really up to the register if they want to manually give you codes for expired domains.
So, there are plenty of registers not allowing transfer-out of expired domain. Last, register that allowed me to transfer-out after expiration actually about 2 weeks after was dotster, I moved out because of a NC promo at the time.

ns allows it....u just get download excel lists etc...info;

See here for info on EPP code for expired domains:
https://www.namesilo.com/Support/Retrieve-Authorization-(EPP)-Code

You can unlock domains from here:
https://www.namesilo.com/account_domains.php

Check the box next to the domain and then click Unlock Domains.


as for dotster... allows full 40 days..i even did -43...unless your name sells on gd auctions... which usually beginning -26th day

personally i never saw better for expired managing ease than dotster/netfirm

 

[kemjika11]

Don't let your domains expire. Problem solved.

thats a faulty argument. Godaddy should always do the right thing at the right time(as much as possible at least).

 

[Daniel Owens]

It, should be noted that sometimes people need a couple weeks to be able to pay to renew a domain so they let it expire then plan to renew or transfer-out due to low funds. It, is of course best to just renew but sometimes circumstance may delay such as if you are a teacher or other profession and get paid monthly and need rest for real-life bills (rather than domains).

Don't let your domains expire. Problem solved.

 

[DaveX]

GoDaddy, of course, offers to sell you protection against GoDaddy taking your expired domains.

 

[kam]

Don't let your domains expire. Problem solved.

How about providing a protection plan for $20 per year and let their customers have an option to opted out their domains from expired auction. So, they can entitled to full redemption period.

 

[anantj]

I'm in the process of transferring all domains now, boycotting Godaddy. Still having issues with receiving some of the non-expired domain auth codes.

Did you try the export option as I suggested earlier?

 

[anantj]

Namesilo does the same thing, when I go to the field where it says request code there is no link to click to get auth. code and it says, "
The only domain function for expired domains is to renew.
"
If, you contact them (as you did GD) and are able to bypass this policy props to you it's really up to the register if they want to manually give you codes for expired domains.
So, there are plenty of registers not allowing transfer-out of expired domain. Last, register that allowed me to transfer-out after expiration actually about 2 weeks after was dotster, I moved out because of a NC promo at the time.

At Namesilo, you can get auth code yourself by exporting the csv file and include the auth code in the export

 

[Kate]

Icann policy is quite clear: registrars may deny not a transfer out of an expired domain, as long as it is in grace period and not in redemption
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/name-holder-faqs-2017-10-10-en
Registrars are trying to get away with it as much as they can.

 

[MarkedMarket]

It's what I call the 'Lance Armstrong method': you try it on, you try to get away with it, you threaten/sue everyone who doesn't agree with you (even though you know you are wrong) and only when you are found out by hard evidence, you come up with all kinds of excuses to show how good you actually are.

99% of all people with a domain name are end-users, and they often don't have any knowledge about ICANN policies, so they gladly pay the redemption fee in order to keep their website. Easy money.

It's nothing new and all corporate companies do it in some way or another, whether they are accountancy firms or domain registrars.

From the outside all these corporate firms look very impressive, sophisticated and morally superior, but once you look inside you see an army of very mediocre, low-paid penpushers that are the complete opposite of what the company actually wants to reflect.

 

[kam]

Icann policy is quite clear: registrars may deny not a transfer out of an expired domain, as long as it is in grace period and not in redemption
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/name-holder-faqs-2017-10-10-en
Registrars are trying to get away with it as much as they can.

That's true.
If they followed the policy, every domain owners will entitled to full grace period after their domains expired.

But many registrars nowadays ignore that icann policy and set out their own grace period.
They transferred their existing customer expired domains to the expired domain auction winner on day40, it's 5 days before the full Grace Period. They just simple disallowed their existing customers to submit renewal request and transfer out request on Day40.

I had lost some domains at Dynadot just because they don't let me renewal or transfer out the domains on Day 41. I had opened a ticket on DAY41 and contacted their CEO as well but they just told me the domains was already assigned into new buyer account and they had nothing to do with it.

More info
********************
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/expired-2013-05-03-en

Once your domain has expired, it will be in Auto-Renew Grace Period (for 0-45 days), followed by a 30-day Redemption Grace Period.
********************

 

[golan]

Every thread like this, and there are plenty of them, popping up again and again, brings up the same thoughts in my mind: that GD is a bunch of incompetent robbers, and only one person there Joe Styler is a really great person and a great guy, such a joy to have him here on board, he's always very helpful and extremely courteous and really helps people in the best possible style and solves all the problems between users and incompetent robbers from all other GD departments... Then i always think, how unfair this should be to Joe, how it should be difficult and unpleasant to represent all those incompetent robbers, and why can't he find some much better place to work. To represent decent guys with fare business model.

 

[DN_Hunter]

That is not exactly the whole truth. We did not know she had passed away. When we found out we stopped the auctions that were still live and renewed some of the expired domains in order to give the family time to deal with it.
I also personally reached out to the family to try and help several times without response.
We did not make a big deal about this publicly but we not only stopped some of the auctions we were still able to, we also gave the lion's share of the profit we made to a charity the person who lost the domains had an interest in and we made the donation in her name. Again this was after trying unsuccessfully to contact the family. I also tried to contact the son who posted in the thread via namepros unsuccessfully.
I have seen and been a part of many free renewals for customers of valuable domains when we know they have passed away, are in the hospital etc and cannot otherwise normally manage their domains. We routinely help people with free time on products when there is a disaster such as the hurricanes last year. We just do not make a big deal about it publicly. We do not do it for PR we do it because it is the right thing to do.
Again I apologize for your experience with chat. That information is completely wrong and you are able to transfer out after expiration as you discovered on your own.

GD is where I keep about 75% of my domain names, and so far my experience has been overall positive. To have @Joe Styler here to help answer/clarify certain situations is extremely helpful, and I would like to say thank you to Joe for being here.

The main reason for my post in this thread is to highlight what GD did regarding the Blockchain incident. I think nobody sees how GD actually went above and beyond to do the right thing. Kudos to GD for doing that!

Back on topic - I generally renew all my names before expiration. But on occasion I do have to transfer out a name after expiration date. I've never had any issues doing the Transfer Out (of names that were only a week or so after expiration).

Regards,
DN

 

[mpls]

I'll never use godaddy anymore.
Prices are crazy.
When I've seen $ 60 / year (each) to renew my .co domains I ran away.
Thanks for sharing your (sad) story.

 

[frank-germany]

Don't let your domains expire. Problem solved.

the problem will NOT be solved that way

as the problem is:
registars not following ICAN rules

same does @namesilo by the way

 

[canvasboutique]

With all registrars, and domain renewals...it's always worth shopping around and risky if left to the last minute having let your domain name expire. So take responsibility for those expired domain names and stop blaming others.

If any of us think our domain names hold value or operational, slap at least one year on it. Very valuable? I try not to let mine fall under 3-5 years until next renewal and ensure that immediate family have access to my accounts if I snuff it. :D

I host at GoDaddy and have a handful of domain name registrations there (when they're being competitive on price). Whilst I've had the odd technical hiccup over the years...I trust them MORE than any other registrar.