[RESOLVED] - GoDaddy Stolen Live Domain From Account

[tbelfort]

I've been with GoDaddy for years and never had any issues up until now, but on the 11th of April I received an email saying "a domain you have cancelled has been removed from your account"

I have a receipt for a 1 year renewal on the domain from July 2024, so it wasn't due to expire.

Every time I contact support I get a different story.

One support guy even told me I need to buy it again at auction.

Another told me to email auctions.

Another told me that I transferred it to another account, but they can't tell me who it's been transferred to. This is impossible because my account is 2FA secured, plus, I haven't had a need to login to my account as everything is on autorenewal. I sent them a screenshot of my last logins, which showed the last login to the account was February 1st 2025 until I logged in on the 11th of April after getting the email.

I've spent about 50 euros in support calls at this stage and made 10+ support requests on the web. I can't get anywhere.

This is an active live domain in my business, and I have over 120 other domains on this account with them. How can they just steal a domain from my account and ignore me?

Does anyone know anyone I can contact to get help, because the standard numbers are of no use. They just tell me they can't help and give me someone to email, and so far everyone I've emailed has ignored me.

One person even told me my domain is currently listed for sale on the auctions.

This is pretty disgusting. I don't see how it's possible at this stage to run a business on any domains on godaddy if they can just take them without your permission and with no recourse.

And this isn't even just a throwaway domain. It's an auction domain I paid a lot of money for. I have $100's of thousands worth of auction domains with godaddy in fact, so I am potentially at risk of them just taking any domain they please at any time. I have owned this domain since 2023 and have an active business on it.

 

[HostGeeks.com]

Why are you hiding it ?

 

[bmugford]

what name was it?post it here, if its junk just let it go and dont use godaddy again

I don't think having the domain name really matters. It could be a million dollar domain or piece of junk.

The issue is if the domain was wrongfully removed from their account.

The OP's receipts seem to show that the expired domain response by @GoDaddy could not possibly be true.

Some stock answer by @GoDaddy, that doesn't match the receipts, is not going to be acceptable.

GoDaddy needs to clarify what happened in this case.

Brad

 

[HostGeeks.com]

I don't think having the domain name really matters. It could be a million dollar domain or piece of junk.

The issue is if the domain was wrongfully removed from their account.

The OP's receipts seem to show that the expired domain response by @GoDaddy could not possibly be true.

Just some stock answer, that doesn't match the receipts, is not going to be acceptable.

Brad

I understand that sticking to principles matters, but sometimes in life, you have to move on and not waste your time especially on a domain that isn't worth anything. It's better to focus on bigger and better things.

Unless, of course, the domain is actually worth something.

I know it's easy to say, "I'll fight for every penny because it's mine, earned by my own hands," but in the end, that's your choice to waste time.

 

[Jannes]

what name was it?post it here, if its junk just let it go and dont use godaddy again

He doesn’t need our opinion on what is a junk name. The domain was valuable to him businesswise.

 

[Jenksy]

up

 

[tbelfort]

I turned on two factor ID at godaddy after seeing this that way no one else can see my account even with pass. If domains disappear, I will know if it's a GoDaddy glitch and I will keep mine all locked.

I've had 2FA on my account for years now. Only my iphone and ipad have the codes. Both are protected by codes/facial recognition and only my wife and myself have access.

what name was it?post it here, if its junk just let it go and dont use godaddy again

It's not a junk domain. It's part of a 7 figure SEO business.

This particular domain contributes $3.5k per year. It's not a huge amount, but it's not insignificant and I'm not going to just stand by and have a domain stolen from my account. It could easily be one of my $40k/year domains that I paid $20k-$25k at auction for. The principle is important here, and if it can happen to this domain on my account, it can happen to any domain on anyone's account.

The point is your domains are not safe at GoDaddy anymore, and they're making this clear anything on your account is up for grabs.

Why are you hiding it ?

I'm not "hiding it". I provided sufficient evidence showing that this really is a domain that was nowhere near the expiry date(3 months away).

I do not want to expose the domain to the world where anyone can search my name and find a domain in my SEO network. Including competitors.

But in general, any domain that is an active business is not likely something most people want tied to their name.

Many of us like privacy. I have many businesses, and only 1 of them has my name tied to it because it's a client-facing business. I don't want every tom dick and harry knowing my net worth, businesses and personal life for safety and privacy reasons.

This is even more important in SEO. Unless your site is a DR 85 authority, it is vulnerable to attack. Let's say I ran a simple mid level ecom store. Why would I want people knowing that? Anyone that has a beef with me could google my name, and attack my site in any number of ways.

It's just not smart to disclose your businesses.

This isn't a hobby domain or one I'm going to sell, so I really am not comfortable disclosing it publicly.

 

[Bearded Goat]

I understand that sticking to principles matters, but sometimes in life, you have to move on and not waste your time especially on a domain that isn't worth anything. It's better to focus on bigger and better things.

Unless, of course, the domain is actually worth something.

I know it's easy to say, "I'll fight for every penny because it's mine, earned by my own hands," but in the end, that's your choice to waste time.

He said he has a business on this domain. Godaddy cannot be allowed to just take a domain out of someone's account and they should get over it.

 

[bmugford]

I understand that sticking to principles matters, but sometimes in life, you have to move on and not waste your time especially on a domain that isn't worth anything. It's better to focus on bigger and better things.

Unless, of course, the domain is actually worth something.

I know it's easy to say, "I'll fight for every penny because it's mine, earned by my own hands," but in the end, that's your choice to waste time.

It doesn't really matter though.

What happened needs to be explained. Regardless of the domain value, if this can happen in one case it can happen in another.

So, that is why it is so important that @GoDaddy addresses it.

If there is not a satisfactory explanation, someone with thousands of domains might start having second thoughts about GoDaddy when it comes to security.

Brad

 

[forge]

Unless, of course, the domain is actually worth something.

Hasn't the OP presented his justification above? Of course the domain has value, to him.

 

[tbelfort]

I understand that sticking to principles matters, but sometimes in life, you have to move on and not waste your time especially on a domain that isn't worth anything. It's better to focus on bigger and better things.

Unless, of course, the domain is actually worth something.

I know it's easy to say, "I'll fight for every penny because it's mine, earned by my own hands," but in the end, that's your choice to waste time.

This is true, but the problem is even if it was a complete junk domain, of which I do have a couple on this account, if THEY could be stolen, then that means any of my valuable domains could also be stolen.

It has to be addressed.

It's like someone broke into my vault and took a worthless piece of paper and left the gold.

Would you ignore that?

 

[HostGeeks.com]

I'm partially taking a mick to be honest

I understand your situation no doubt

Best regards on your situation

 

[bmugford]

This is true, but the problem is even if it was a complete junk domain, of which I do have a couple on this account, if THEY could be stolen, then that means any of my valuable domains could also be stolen.

It has to be addressed.

It's like someone broke into my vault and took a worthless piece of paper and left the gold.

Would you ignore that?

Yeah, the entire issue is how the domain mysteriously disappeared from your account.

Only @GoDaddy can answer that. Their "expired" response seems like a poor first attempt, judging by the receipts provided.

Brad

 

[silentg]

Posted a tweet on X tagging Paul and Joe, lets see if they'll find a solution to this. They have helped other domain owners recover domains.

 

[bmugford]

Posted a tweet on X tagging Paul and Joe, lets see if they'll find a solution to this. They have helped other domain owners recover domains.

This is the type of issue where there is probably a 0% chance of being resolved via standard support.

Something like this would need to be escalated.

That is something standard support should really do by default, in these type of situations, instead of providing answers that don't make sense.

Brad

 

[DNabc]

OP, you should transfer out all your domains but don't let this go.
These companies often only care when you do something more than words.
Even if they return the domain, what about your time and grief?

 

[Future Sensors]

Posted a tweet on X tagging Paul and Joe, lets see if they'll find a solution to this. They have helped other domain owners recover domains.

Appreciated. It's a melancholy inevitability that affairs invariably unfold in this unchanging manner.

 

[Jannes]

@bhartzer

 

[Future Sensors]

@Rob Monster

 

[forge]

 

[tbelfort]

OP, you should transfer out all your domains but don't let this go.
These companies often only care when you do something more than words.
Even if they return the domain, what about your time and grief?

Yep I'm going to do that. I'm looking at either porkbun or cloudflare as an alternative to godaddy.

I already have a lot of domains with namesilo, some with namecheap, and then a few with some other smaller registrars, so I mainly need a replacement for godaddy. I don't want to load all my domains into 1 registrar.