Got Perma-Banned from GoDaddy Auctions for NO REASON

[Save Breach]

So, I was bidding on a CVCV.com, then the next morning weirdly enough I got logged out from my Investor App (I often prefer using the Investor app rather). Then a message popped up that I needed membership to participate in auctions each time I tried to log in the app.

Afterwards, it appears my auction account got suspended as auctions page kept giving a redirect to the Auctions help page.

Don't know if that's some insider play to boost only a few big investors to win the auctions (although I suspect so). But now I don't believe in the fairness/legitimacy of GD auctions anymore. As the ban made no sense, also I haven't got a proper reply from their auctions support which is all the more disappointing.

I no longer believe in the fairness of GoDaddy auctions. I repeat.

Their support too is ridiculous, after making one pay for the auction membership, you don't offer proper support -- randomly ban without notices. Then @Joe Styler gave a funny response, that ban is irreversible. This just doesn't make sense. I need a resolution.

Next: my plan is to move my future sales/auctions and all domains to Epik, as I have seen they are a lot more better at providing support (was pleased with @Rob Monster 's fast support turnaround). They also have a much better UI than GD.

 

[xynames]

I just noticed this thread for the first time.

My thread here
AVOID GoDaddy hosting company they will shut down all your sites if even one Trademark claim is made
makes clear that I’ve taken issue with GoDoddy but their action was out in the open and clear, however wrong or excessive it might have been. In other words, we knew what the client had done, but we disagreed with the GoDaddy response.

In this case this thread here I find it not credible that the offender has no idea what he did wrong. Indeed it was a waste of time to read the three pages of remonstrations.

 

[Samer]

I just noticed this thread for the first time.

My thread here
AVOID GoDaddy hosting company they will shut down all your sites if even one Trademark claim is made
makes clear that I’ve taken issue with GoDoddy but their action was out in the open and clear, however wrong or excessive it might have been. In other words, we knew what the client had done, but we disagreed with the GoDaddy response.

In this case this thread here I find it not credible that the offender has no idea what he did wrong. Indeed it was a waste of time to read the three pages of remonstrations.

Well... You’ve taught me new word(s)

iPhone lookup; “Remonstration” means;
“Make a forcefully reproachful protest.”

Okay, what “Reproachful” mean? LOL
Using same (keep consistent) “Reproachful”
expressing disapproval or disappointment.

Dam you, @xynames that was jargon.

Glad you found the ending anticlimactic

There. Now we’re even!!

Samer

 

[Save Breach]

as well as continual automated checks

FYI

I know you won't bother but this was about 30 odd requests. That too spaced out in 1-2s and then i I stopped. Wouldn't a normal user fire 30 HTTP requests to your auctions pages in let's say 10 mins just to browse around your auctions site?

We do ban people when their actions impact other members or the integrity of the marketplace to keep it clean for all the users.

.

I don't really believe if you tell me I nuked/hammered the site which I didn't, about 50 requests at max within that half an hour window I wanted to test something.

Navigating around the site with that 90s backend & even dated UI is quite a pain in itself. So if one would wish to automate some things, you would rather force them to buy some exclusive API plan (my assumption).

Seems unfair and still lacking reason to have banned from the whole aftermarket.

In any case, for the non-refunded auction membership fee I will file a legal consumer forum complaint. I won't tolerate some unfair and shady business practices. Let's end it the right way.

Cheers

 

[Steven McEvoy]

They do not script the site.

Not they do script however they use API, which is very similar and the way theyre using it should not be allowed.

 

[Save Breach]

Not they do script however they use API, which is very similar and the way theyre using it should not be allowed.

Unfair practices.

Their business model is unfair and unhealthy for the community, especially new comers and people with small portfolio. It's a monopoly!

 

[Save Breach]

do not script

this phrase doesn't make sense. if they pull the data from somewhere they need some code aka scripts on the backend to fetch it. You are not competent enough to explain things. Maybe @Paul Nicks or, someone with technical competence can help remediate this?

I didn't hammer any of your API endpoints or, web pages. Hence, no disruption caused to any user

I apologised. Even though it wasn't that big a problem.

This poster was shill bidding

Earlier I didn't notice this while going through the thread, but now I did. This is a fake allegation.

I DIDN'T SHILL BID. THIS IS A FAKE ALLEGATION.

Now we are off to the consumer court @Joe Styler because I owe an explanation to why my funds were blocked and my services interrupted on grounds of a fake allegation. You are accusing me of something I never did and also blocking my auction membership fee which I paid just a few days before the account ban.

Cheers

 

[Save Breach]

I find it not credible

Please don't. You don't have to, I don't care if you don't find my claims credible. I will keep fighting for my consumer rights and the fake allegations leveled against me.

Cheers

 

[NickB]

Please don't. You don't have to, I don't care if you don't find my claims credible. I will keep fighting for my consumer rights and the fake allegations leveled against me.

Cheers

Probably best not to air your grievances on a public forum then.......

 

[Save Breach]

Just to clarify I had only 1 GoDaddy auctions account and only 1 domain Haired.org ever put into GD auction in my lifetime. @Joe Styler how can I shill bid with one GD auctions account?

Now, coming to the allegation @Joe Styler, I am taking to the consumer court regarding this incident, and will file a defamation suit against you as well as GoDaddy, once I get redressal on consumer forum law suit.

With this I have lost my faith in the domaining community, indeed Registrars can do whatever they want, promote scammers and front running non-existent companies like Namaxis and ban legit people, people won't say a word. Anyways.

Stay tuned as I will update the case details on this thread!

Cheers

TLDR. lost my faith in GoDaddy Aftermarket after they made this fake accusation. I only had one GoDaddy Auctions account in my lifetime and if needed, if a mod wants to remediate i can prove so. Still no actual reason. Just fake allegations without any ground.

 

[capybara]

I didn't hammer any of your API endpoints or, web pages. Hence, no disruption caused to any user

Were you trying to interact with anything programmatically or not?

 

[Samer]

Were you trying to interact with anything programmatically or not?

i think whatever honest mistake by a kid.

Why does it feel like; judge, jury, execution?

We’ll see how it unfolds.

Samer

 

[Save Breach]

Were you trying to interact with anything programmatically or not?

I was trying to indeed trying to setup my automation as I poll multiple web APIs and check websites to check certain things periodically (not hammering them but more like a normal user would browse pages, not aggressively) and send me a push notification through my extension and IFTTT, when something changes/for any updates.

Have apologised for this multiple times. This maybe the only mistake but nothing else I know of. Also I barely sent some 30 requests over a time span of 5-10 mins IIRC.

Does this deserve an aftermarket ban or, a warning as I stopped anyways after I got rate limited?

I'm shocked to hear Joe's take on this, @Joe Styler's shill bid allegation is totally false, bogus and baseless. I can only pay for GoDaddy auction accounts through my Paypal as I don't have any card that supports international payments @MA000 can confirm this as I had to take help of another domainer to pay him sometime back when I had a Paypal issue.

To prove this, if a moderator wants to verify this statement, they can check my Paypal account to confirm if I paid for additional GoDaddy auctions account which isn't the case anyways.

Cheers

 

[capybara]

This maybe the only mistake but nothing else I know of. Also I barely sent some 30 requests over a time span of 5-10 mins IIRC.

It looks like you underestimate the seriousness of that mistake. Pretty much every security-conscious online service would try to instablock users who do anything on their own even if it is just a single request, typically automated IP ban. And when a user account is connected, it usually goes the way "...suspicious activity detected...we blocked your profile for security reasons...please provide extra ID...". There is no direct accusation this way but the user has to get the message, it either they were hacked by a third party so they need to reconsider their access/passwords/etc. or they were indeed doing things and they need to stop, because with the extra ID obtained by the platform its so much easier to report cybercrime if the user ever tries anything again.

I am pretty sure an online auction platform is much more serious about that than an average online service or ecommerce site. It may seem that they are overreacting but from the platform point of view its easier to block such user (unless proven to be high-value customer) than to dedicate any more of their staff precious time to the issue. I am not trying to judge you as it seems to me you indeed made a mistake but it must have been a grave one.

Hopefully at least this thread prevents someone else from repeating the same mistake. Just because something seems available does not mean you can interact with it on your own. Like in real life, because a door is open somewhere, does not mean you can go inside; and you don't touch the cash register in a shop even though you could reach it easily with your hand, only the authorised staff is supposed to.

 

[Save Breach]

In previous cases, where I spent $100 in an year for a service, the company simply reset the IP ban and as a developer myself I would warn my client and give them a chance, because this is not as serious an issue in my opinion. The API offered by companies often lack the desired functionality, a way to get around it is to scrape it directly with relaxed requests. But for that I would never accuse a customer of something he never did, I wouldn't stoop down to claim he was shill bidding on the basis of my automated system warning. I can assure you they didn't manually assess my situation at best.

It looks like you underestimate the seriousness of that mistake. Pretty much every security-conscious online service would try to instablock users who do anything on their own even if it is just a single request, typically automated IP ban. And when a user account is connected, it usually goes the way "...suspicious activity detected...we blocked your profile for security reasons...please provide extra ID...". There is no direct accusation this way but the user has to get the message, it either they were hacked by a third party so they need to reconsider their access/passwords/etc. or they were indeed doing things and they need to stop, because with the extra ID obtained by the platform its so much easier to report cybercrime if the user ever tries anything again.

Their attitude is totally unexpected. They have included a "shill bid" allegation which has no ground. Definitely I am no longer interested in doing any business with them in future and would ask people to stay away but I still don't agree with their evaluation of the gravity of the situation.

They have not manually accessed my case, just based on automated checks they came to the serious conclusion or, just framing some wrong accusations to save their time.

I am pretty sure an online auction platform is much more serious about that than average online service or ecommerce site. It may seem that they are overreacting but from the platform point of view its easier to block such user (unless proven to be high-value customer) that to dedicate any more of their staff precious time to the issue. I am not trying to judge you as it seems to me you indeed made a mistake but it must have been a grave one.

If I was a responsible company I would dedicate the same amount of time, effort, and priority to a client as I would to any average customer and not just a high value client. The treatment meted out to me is beyond pathetic, aggressive, disappointing, its offending to me as a customer to have used their services only to be humiliated and defamed instead of coming to a resolution.

Never do any business with GoDaddy aftermarket if you have read through my ordeal. I don't consider this as a valid reason for a ban and will take it to the consumer court for the service interruption and unlawfully holding my membership fees without offering me the service.

This is a serious matter being repeatedly ignored and being given the wrong reasons by GoDaddy shills.

Just because something seems available does not mean you can interact with it on your own. Like in real life, because a door is open somewhere, does not mean you can go inside; and you don't touch the cash register in a shop even though you could reach it easily with your hand, only the authorised staff is supposed to.

Honestly I was just testing something. Had no intentions of hammering their website, again. And have apologised for that. What would you expect a warning? because this was the first time I did that and this was TOTALLY unexpected.

Had I been performing some Denial attacks, they could have taken this step but in this case, it was just a a handful of requests to test an idea I had... then this happened...

Cheers

 

[Lord Antares]

Now, coming to the allegation @Joe Styler, I am taking to the consumer court regarding this incident, and will file a defamation suit against you as well as GoDaddy, once I get redressal on consumer forum law suit.

You do understand that godaddy can ban you at their own discretion, right? They're not legally required to do business with you. Now I understand why Joe said that legal wants them to stay shut.

 

[Save Breach]

You do understand that godaddy can ban you at their own discretion, right?

Not when they have charged a Membership Fees from me, they are legally bound to offer service then.

Cheers