Namecheap cancelled .ai auction after I won. A few seconds later they're selling it for $28k

[markcharles]

I won an auction of an expiring .ai domain on Namecheap Auctions. Afterwards they sent me an email "Domain Auction Cancelled". I reached out to support and they're saying "the domain couldn’t be delivered due to an unexpected issue on our partner’s side". I check domain availability in their search a few moments later and it's suddenly selling for $28k (it was not available to register before).

I read a statement by their CEO that they are now officially running .ai expired domain auctions.

So are these not official auctions and after the auction ends they just try to dropcatch the domain like everybody else can for free? Or what is going on here? I was convinced I'm bidding in an official auction and the domain will be secured once I win.

 

[katerleonid]

Most of the time, domains, even expired or pending delete ones, still appear on Sedo or other aftermarket platforms with high price tags.

That doesn’t mean Namecheap is selling them for big money now; it just means those listings weren’t removed after the domains expired or dropped.

What’s the domain name?

 

[AEProgram]

maybe the owner renewed? I don't bit on .ai but with .com sometimes the owner renews last minute.

 

[markcharles]

quizzing.ai

It wasn't listed before, it got registered after the auction ended and got listed on afternic.

 

[Brandmore]

If this was a expired auction the domain owner can often still get the domain back after paying a (higher) renewal fee. This means that you have 'bought' the domain, but only if the last domain owner does not renew the domain within the next days.

 

[AEProgram]

quizzing.ai

It wasn't listed before, it got registered after the auction ended and got listed on afternic.
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looks like this registrar caught it? its listed there https://aski.ng/

 

[Yanosh]

Probably the previous owner renewed it
From his website https://aski.ng/ i can recall many .ai domains that were on namecheap expired auctions ( foresta.ai curae.ai etc..)

 

[enterscope]

I've had this happen to me in the past with a .CO domain. I was the only bidder, and right after the auction I got an email saying it was cancelled then it was listed for sale for $200.

There was something definitely fishy about the whole process.

 

[Leo2k]

If the pev owner had renewed, shouldnt the creation date be 2023 or older instead of 2025?

 

[katerleonid]

If the domain had been renewed, it wouldn’t show 2025 there. It seems it was dropped and re-registered today.

 

[fka1080405]

Namecheap won the right to handle expired domain auctions for .ai on behalf of the registry. Once an .ai domain expires, Namecheap are informed by the registry and the domain goes into Namecheap's auction inventory. At the end of the auction, Namecheap pays the registry for the domain and then it is registered on behalf of the auction winner. If nobody bids on the domain, it is dropped, and that's when drop catchers can try and get the domain.

ccTLDs (like .ai) aren't subject to any oversight from ICANN, they can do as they please. You have to expect some weirdness when dealing with them. The typical way to lose a domain after winning an auction is the original registrant redeeming the domain, this happens with all TLDs, including .com, because auctions are ran while the domain is expiring.

Theoretically there could be a bug in Namecheap's integration with the registry, and there could be a period of time where the domain is available to register while Namecheap's system is processing the registration on behalf of the auction winner. Namecheap and the registry lose out financially when this happens, so they have no incentive to allow it, if it is happening, it's a bug.

Most likely: the original registrant paid the redemption fee and got the domain back. The .ai registry, unlike most registries, deletes and creates a domain when it is won at auction, and I guess they probably do that too when a domain is rescued out of redemption by the original registrant.

In this case, from archive.org, we can see that in September aski.ng owned the quizzing.ai domain, so this is almost certainly a case of the registrant renewing the domain after the auction finished, and the registry records it as newly created because... the registry is quirky.

 

[Yanosh]

If the pev owner had renewed, shouldnt the creation date be 2023 or older instead of 2025?

Nope

With .ai domains in pending delete status the creation date is resetted as if created in that moment.
I guess it’s the same when the owner pays the redemption fee for a pending delete domain.

 

[markcharles]

Thank you @shr.ink , good find. The mystery seems to be solved.

 

[katerleonid]

Interesting case, they registered it as new, even though the previous owner had renewed it.

 

[Abowt]

Some owners renew last minute with extra charges. It shows partner domains in Namecheap actions. Registrars charge extra redemption fee to renew redemption period, pending delete domains.