Is it legal for a registry to keep the Top expired domains without auctioning them, or buying those domains while in auction

[srsa]

Hi all!

can anyone please clarify if it is legal for any registry like godaddy or namecheap or any other xyz registry to keep the expired customer domains , or participate in auction to win those domains to keep with them
Thanks !

 

[SixFigures.ltd]

I don't know about expired domains in particular but I do remember how I've checked few times domain name at GoDaddy, and somehow from regular it became 'premium' one, it was made-up 8L word, once that happened, I'm avoiding GoDaddy like a plague, so I wouldn't be surprised about their sneaky practices.

 

[branding]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_warehousing

 

[Surya Giri Kurniawan]

It is not illegal to do this practice. There are some concerns about registrars practice :

- holding the good expired domains without auctioning to public
- monitor domain names checked in Appraisal, and register them before the one appraised do
- monitor available domain names those are checked the availability by users, and register them if they are good, before the users do it.

But those practices are not illegal, and may happen in many registrars