Major Change is Coming to Public Whois Information at GoDaddy

[EJS]

GoDaddy will no longer show Whois information beginning in June. I published an article about the change with a statement from Paul Bindel, VP of Operations at GoDaddy Registrar:

https://domaininvesting.com/godaddy-to-remove-public-whois-information/

 

[TERADOMAIN]

Thanks for sharing.

That will create big drop in direct inquiry. Landing page will be more important than ever with listing on various marketplaces for incoming inquiries.

Thanks

 

[alcy]

in all honestly, in 5 years of domaining...
i probably received 5 inquiries from whois.
even when email was still always showing back in the day

this should be basically inconsequential.

 

[EJS]

in all honestly, in 5 years of domaining...
i probably received 5 inquiries from whois.
even when email was still always showing back in the day

this should be basically inconsequential.

Totally agree on the sale side, plus I think you will be able to opt out. Most domain investors make it pretty easy for buyers to find them - from landing pages to platform listings...etc.

I believe this will be more problematic for people (and domain investors) who want to buy domain names that aren't owned by other investors and aren't listed for sale.

Hypothetical example - you want to start a company called Alcy Solutions and want AlcySolutions.com. You see the domain name is registered at GoDaddy to someone who is not using it. Maybe they have a default GoDaddy landing page or maybe the website doesn't resolve. If you can't find out who owns it and the owner doesn't have the name listed for sale, it is much harder to try and buy the domain name if there is no WHOIS. Even with Whois privacy, you could send an email to the domainsbyproxy email and it will get to the owner. I suppose you could pay for the Domain Buy Service at GoDaddy but that is less than optimal.

 

[Keith]

For domains registered at Godaddy, Whois isn’t necessary. They give you an option to contact the domain owner via a short form.

 

[Wesley S]

is godaddy even in arizona anymore? I get a forwarded domain to pakistan when i go to there site?

 

[Grilled]

is godaddy even in arizona anymore?

Do you suspect they might have moved to Mars?

I get a forwarded domain to pakistan when i go to there site?

Check your country/region (bottom of GoDaddy homepage)

 

[platey]

I never get enquiries on my domain names and gdpr made whos private but i buy not to sell and no longer advertise my domain names apart from the occasional socialmedia post and occsssionally i post some newly acquired domains in reg of the day on here etc

 

[Samer]

GD privacy cost more than rest .com renewal

I think they did it out of embarrassment, $9.99?

Samer

 

[Peak.Domains]

Just when I think GoDaddy is making a move that could be friendly to smaller domain investors by removing their massive privacy tax, I visit their homepage and see "$2.99 .com's for the first year........... but you have to buy two years, and the second year is $25."

Why do we put up with this lol

 

[BlackCatsAreNice]

The only ones who are sad by this new development is the "savvy" domain investors who from past experience gotten GREAT deals by emailing the "unsavvy" domain owners and buying directly on the CHEAP.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Just when I think GoDaddy is making a move that could be friendly to smaller domain investors by removing their massive privacy tax, I visit their homepage and see "$2.99 .com's for the first year........... but you have to buy two years, and the second year is $25."

Why do we put up with this lol

It still amazes me that the 'king' of domain registrars gets away with some stuff. I use daddy for the auctions only and transfer out ASAP. At one time I had thousands of names there...now it is less than 25.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I agree with @EJS that the biggest impact will be those who seek to acquire names privately and use WhoIs as the way to make contact. While there are other ways to reach out, it will no be quite as easy. But I am not surprised that GoDaddy are making this change, and I don't think it is out of step with most of the domain world. Thanks for the well written article alerting us of this.
Bob

 

[SpareDomains]

in all honestly, in 5 years of domaining...
i probably received 5 inquiries from whois.
even when email was still always showing back in the day

this should be basically inconsequential.

I haven't received much more than that in 17 years. I've always favored sales pages over pay per click though so makes sense I don't get a lot of whois inquiries.

 

[Samer]

@EJS my favorite post in your comments;

“look on the light side guys.At least we wont be swamped whois spammers anymore. Buyers will also be forced to do direct type-ins search and see if domain is for sale; then they contact the sellers though sites like dan or afternic.”

Let’s keep the positivity!

Samer

 

[Donmarick]

@Samer That is big plague at now so yeah it's for + for me too.

 

[cooljub]

I suppose you could pay for the Domain Buy Service at GoDaddy

I'm wondering if this might be the objective here?

 

[EJS]

Here's what I think we lose without public Whois records: https://domaininvesting.com/what-we-lose-without-whois-records/

 

[BlackCatsAreNice]

Domain investors have long known that direct communication with domain owners is one of the BEST ways to obtain valuable domains on the CHEAP. Many domain owners are not savvy about domains and will sell for way below the market value or what could be fetched in a competitive bidding scenario.

So domain pros. Investors. Learn this TRICK that others have used. Communicate DIRECTLY via whois and get the domain names you want for pennies on the dollah!!!

Make a list of ALL the LLL.com's, LLLL.com's, all the dictionary words, etc. Hire someone to compile the list if you aren't capable.

Then just start emailing and wheeling and dealing.

You will be SURPRISED at what you could get for CHEAP.

Alot of domain owners registered their domains long ago but have no interest in developing them and many will be happy to find a buyer to take said domain off their hands.

This is one of the "HIDDEN" secrets of domaining.

Good luck!

 

[wallet2it]

Thanks for sharing.

That will create big drop in direct inquiry. Landing page will be more important than ever with listing on various marketplaces for incoming inquiries.

Thanks

Here's what I think we lose without public Whois records: https://domaininvesting.com/what-we-lose-without-whois-records/

I have different opinions....I am always against Godaddy sharing public whois.....personal privacy is more important than selling domains