advice Owner renews domain immediately after expired GoDaddy auction ends, why would this happen?

[Matt Holden]

Can anybody shed some light as to why a domain owner would let a domain expire down to auction and then once it was won immediately renew it and then put it back onto DNS?

This just happened to me, with a domain won on GoDaddy expiring auction, the domain was resolving to a "GoDaddy soon to expire" holding page.

Within an hour of winning, the transaction was cancelled and the site is now resolving to an aftermarket sales page.

Have I missed something? surely they had to pay an $80 fine to renew it, so why wait till it was sold at auction.

Any help appreciated.

 

[Nerevar]

Maybe when a domain is sold, GD sends to the previous owner something like "this is the final warning, you are losing your domain unless you renew immidiately".

 

[Nick]

They were probably watching it to see what the market value of it is. If It's worth enough, they'd likely renew it and try to sell it themselves.

 

[Matt Holden]

Thanks Nick, is this common practice? seems an extreme way to get a market valuation, letting it almost expire and then paying the $80 renewal.

 

[Nick]

Thanks Nick, is this common practice? seems an extreme way to get a market valuation, letting it almost expire and then paying the $80 renewal.

There are a few people I know of in particular that make a habit of it. It's happened to me, too. To each their own.

 

[jamesau]

Quite common to let half-decent domains expire to test the market. Expiry auctions tend to give the fairest assessment of market value so the only way to get this figure is by letting the domain expire.

For some strange reason domainers don't like buying from domainers so listed auctions often do not reveal the current market price.

It's obviously an expensive hobby but if you're domain is worth $XXX at expiry then the outlook is pretty promising and $80 is a reasonable price for the market data. You wouldn't be doing it with all your domains though.

 

[Mahogany]

This happened to me last year with a LLL info. I was livid and swore to my GD rep something was fishy. But they assured me only the original owner could have renewed it.

 

[Skyvisum]

Happened to me.I won a name and even paid $xxx and got a mail i won and then later I got my refund back.I dont understand why Godaddy will keep allowing names to go on auction and then inform owner.Why not send a warning alert like weeks before and then when name expires its expired and due to negligence on owner.If you value a name so much as an asset,just renew with 10 yrs renewal.

 

[jamesau]

There is also another scenario which is often overlooked. If the owner of the domain has no interest in renewing and is not aware of the auctions system, it's possible for a losing bidder to contact them directly to make an offer.

For example if the auction ends at $200, then a losing bidder could contact the owner direct via WHOIS history and offer them $150 - $80 for the redemption and $70 for their trouble. To the owner who had no intention of renewing, that is an enticing offer.

I've secured domains this way before so I'm sure others have too.

 

[Matt Holden]

Didn't think of this, but will look to get in touch with the owner direct and see if I can close a deal on the same terms.

Just extremely frustrating after going through and winning the auction process, GoDaddy allow the domain to still be renewed. Surely it should be final chance to renew then an auction, just a waste of time all round otherwise.

 

[cocaseco]

Well I don't know what happened in your case, but I can enlighten you on one scenario that allows that, same as @JRayers says above.

When I am bidding on a GD auction and its a name I really want, I sometimes have to drop out if it gets too expensive. when that happens, the first thing I do is find the owner. I email him with an offer of a couple hundred bucks, plus the $80 fee to reclaim the domain. Typically the owner doesn't realize that it can be recovered so late in the game. Of course when he does so, the auction winner is out of luck and doesn't get the domain. But often I can pick up a good name at far less than the auction would have cost me.

 

[techname]

Well I don't know what happened in your case, but I can enlighten you on one scenario that allows that, same as @JRayers says above.

When I am bidding on a GD auction and its a name I really want, I sometimes have to drop out if it gets too expensive. when that happens, the first thing I do is find the owner. I email him with an offer of a couple hundred bucks, plus the $80 fee to reclaim the domain. Typically the owner doesn't realize that it can be recovered so late in the game. Of course when he does so, the auction winner is out of luck and doesn't get the domain. But often I can pick up a good name at far less than the auction would have cost me.

I wouldn't recommend this, as it will get you banned if GD or any of the other auction sites find out.

 

[thekiller]

Never happened with me, auction winning should be the end of story.

 

[cocaseco]

I wouldn't recommend this, as it will get you banned if GD or any of the other auction sites find out.

I have never seen anything that supports this statement. Do you have a source, or is this more of an opinion? Happens everyday, whether you recommend it or not.

 

[canswift]

Winning the auction is not the end of the story… There is always an approx 5 day delay in the domain being moved into your GD account. The original owner can still renew (with a redemption fee) anytime during that 5 day period. This has happened to me several times. Once for a name I was having buyer's remorse over, so was quite happy to get the refund. The other which was an amazing name I actually got as a close-out, I'm still p.o'd the original owner reclaimed the day before I was due to get it.

 

[techname]

I have never seen anything that supports this statement. Do you have a source, or is this more of an opinion? Happens everyday, whether you recommend it or not.

Auctions Membership Agreement
5. provisions specific to purchasing/bidding on domain names
You agree not to purchase any domain name found through the Services without using the Services to complete the transaction. Should GoDaddy determine (which determination shall be made by GoDaddy in its sole and absolute discretion) that you are circumventing the Services, GoDaddy reserves the right to terminate your account and cancel all of your listings.
https://www.godaddy.com/agreements/ShowDoc.aspx?pageid=dna_member

 

[techname]

I have never seen anything that supports this statement. Do you have a source, or is this more of an opinion? Happens everyday, whether you recommend it or not.

For an interesting discussion on this see:
http://www.domaininvesting.com/is-t...th-contacting-owners-of-expired-domain-names/

 

[cocaseco]

Interesting, thanks. Still, I don't see it as much of a risk. accounts are easy to replace. They would still have to deal with the domains registered at GD, so it wouldn't be very simple to actually implement. I'd guess its more of a wish than an enforceable policy, probably added at the suggestion of an attorney. Of course you don't even need an account to find domains and contact the owner, so its a rather silly policy.

 

[cocaseco]

For an interesting discussion on this see:
http://www.domaininvesting.com/is-t...th-contacting-owners-of-expired-domain-names/

The best quote in that article "... it annoys the auction houses, registrars, ..." considering how most of them cheat the system for their own gain, having the opportunity to annoy them seems extremely fair.

 

[Nile Patel]

I have lost couple good 4l.com after winning the auction , now i understood why the owners has renewed it ,there is for sure no one is testing market but for sure many reaching back to owner and offering him some money, at the end owner is not losing anything and willing to accept the offer and renew it.
What i wonder is why the owner trust any such kind of offer which come at last minute and gamble and pay $80 to renew it , don't he feel this offer coming from registrar as spam to collect the extra renewal cost.

What is the best option in this kind of trick to convince the owner of that expired name , do you guys deposit fund in advance before he renew it or how you guys make him confident you going to pay such a big amount for his name?

 

[cdboard]

note that it is not always a renewal with redemption fee. the domain can be transferred to another registrar.

 

[Nile Patel]

note that it is not always a renewal with redemption fee. the domain can be transferred to another registrar.

That is nice catch , yes we allow to transfer even it is expired name can any one tell me what is the last date anyone can allow to transfer an expired name?

 

[equity78]

I have never seen anything that supports this statement. Do you have a source, or is this more of an opinion? Happens everyday, whether you recommend it or not.

Happened to members here, I know @Keith posted about his account being closed.

 

[equity78]

Most people don't pay $80, you can get the auth code and transfer out. You see closing price, get auth code and transfer to a place like Name.com for $8.25.

 

[Keith]

Happened to members here, I know @Keith posted about his account being closed.

Yes this is correct. In my case however, they accused me of circumventing an auction that I never entered. Their lack of detailed explanation was highly disturbing.

No biggie since my wife has an account but dirty business practice on their part for sure.