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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Ms Domainer]

Are you saying that those registrars refused to allow transfer out?
The relevant rules are here - they are set by ICANN
https://archive.icann.org/en/transfers/policy-12jul04.htm
Section 3 of that doc gives nine reasons registrars can refuse a transfer and says:

ICANN is toothless and does not enforce its own rules.

In 2014, I tried to renew e-fat.com from Register.com -- it was like 5 days over expiration -- but it was already out of my account. Register.com had transferred the domain to its shell company New Ventures Services and was offering to sell it back to me for $125. On principle, I passed.

There was no possibility for transferring the name out.

Anyway, my story is here:

http://www.scamful.com/2014/07/warning-if-you-own-domain-names-avoid.html​

They kept upping the price until just before they gave up and dropped the name, it was up to $1077.

The name dropped and I eventually hand regged it. It's not a great name, but, by God, it was mine.

 

[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.

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[jamesau]

@Ms Domainer I certainly agree the outcome can be frustrating, but it could be argued that the more ethical outcome is if the domain owner receives a fair payment for their investment, rather than the auction houses scoring big bucks for something that has never been theirs to sell. Not saying that circumventing the system is the right solution, but the system is definitely a major part of the problem.

 

[ben pedri]

It is possible ,but the reason he would was just to see what someone would pay for it ,at godaddy after 25 days the expired domain first comes open for bidding ,no matter how high the domain trades up to the old owner can recover his domain for up to 42 days after expiration. If he does not the winner of the domain in godaddy aftermarkets will get the domain. Sometimes an old owner will participate in an auction and pay up to $80 ,if he decided to go over 80 ,it would just be out of curiosity to see how much competitors would pay. No matter how high the auction would go even if it was a million dollars the old owner can just go to godaddy and pay 80 bucks plus whatever the renewal price is,to get the domain back in their account and have control of it today. So people think that godaddy bids on domains for there own agenda ,but this is very false Because the aftermarket will bring up valuable domains close to their full value and godaddy gets to keep every drop of this income.

 

[thekiller]

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

 

[cdboard]

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

 

[Ms Domainer]

It is irritating when one wins an auction and then the owner renews or transfers out to sell to someone else.

A BIG pox to those who circumvent the auction process, effectively stealing from others, which is why I gave so many dislikes on this thread.

You are ethically-challenged ..., well, I won't finish my thought.



I just wish Go Daddy would stop allowing transfers out for expired domains and actually start the auction process later.

Go Daddy is an enabler for the ethically-challenged.

 

[Ms Domainer]

Quite surprised to know about this. Can the owner still renew the domain?

Yep.

When you win an auction, Go Daddy holds the domain for 4-8 days, for a total of 46 days after expiration.

During that 46-day window, the registrant can renew at regular renewal fees (1-12 days after expiration), pay a penalty of $80.00 (13-46 days), or transfer to another registrar (1-46 days).

When you win a domain, be sure to keep a record of when you won the domain and the day it is expected to migrate into your account.

I have had two instances of when someone transferred out a domain, and I had to remind Go Daddy to give me my refund -- it's like they didn't even know the domain had been transferred out. In one case, the domain still shows in my "won" column, and it was transferred out two weeks ago.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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?

 

[Keith]

I guess I wasn't clear, or I am not understanding.

You had a GD account and it got banned due to some alleged auction issue. Did it just get banned from auctions, or was the entire account banned?

Just auctions.

 

[cdboard]

Most people don't pay $80, you can get the auth code and transfer out.

I was confused "once" when this happened, but the registrar did not change. it remained with G. it turns out that it was transferred to a G reseller, so that is why the registrar did not change.

 

[DanSanchez]

Godaddy has been recently blocking whois records on expired domains, they in fact change the record to their own email so nobody has a chance to contact the previous owner. Had some instances where a transfer request was completely denied by non-submission.

Meaning they declined to show the whois email at all to the requesting registrar. Sure it's a loss when the owner renews, but Godaddy technically has no rights to selling a domain they don't own.

Think of Godaddy as a tax-lien sale, you might just get a house by paying the past due renewal or you recover your original investment. Which is extremely rare in the domain industry.

 

[ben pedri]

godaddy allows 43 days for old owners to get back there dmains after that it goes into public general redemption, I dont remember what I was doing once ,something clued me in on one of my domains on the 39th day that someone backordered it. So I took a shot and it paid off. I ended up selling it for $400 minus 88 fee and renewal. Also THIS S FACT ,godaddy follows its members ip address via cookies and does not let the customers see the same thing that the outside puplic see,they want your domain to expire. If you ever notice that as godaddy names are expiring they are now private,that because they dont want anyone contacting the owners and buying from them directly. Godaddy is out to screw you ,I saw godaddy customers bid up a great domain to 2500 ,No one would know who this guy was not even me ,but in the archives from 1999 I noticed something,and I knew this guy. anyway after he got his domain back someone bought it for $4000. That would have been godaddys,I have other info that would really hurt them that I really cant reveal at this time ,but seek and you will find them yourself

 

[isUp]

godaddy allows 43 days for old owners to get back there dmains after that it goes into public general redemption, I dont remember what I was doing once ,something clued me in on one of my domains on the 39th day that someone backordered it. So I took a shot and it paid off. I ended up selling it for $400 minus 88 fee and renewal. Also THIS S FACT ,godaddy follows its members ip address via cookies and does not let the customers see the same thing that the outside puplic see,they want your domain to expire. If you ever notice that as godaddy names are expiring they are now private,that because they dont want anyone contacting the owners and buying from them directly. Godaddy is out to screw you ,I saw godaddy customers bid up a great domain to 2500 ,No one would know who this guy was not even me ,but in the archives from 1999 I noticed something,and I knew this guy. anyway after he got his domain back someone bought it for $4000. That would have been godaddys,I have other info that would really hurt them that I really cant reveal at this time ,but seek and you will find them yourself

After I read some new that Godaddy themselves bought lots of domains from someone and then resell them right away, I could understand what you just claimed now.