Transferring Expired Domains from GoDaddy

[Name Trader]

I just had a very interesting conversation (well to me) with my Account Manager at GoDaddy. He told me there is no impediment to transfer domains out of GoDaddy for up to 30 days after expiry. Yes. You heard that right. You can transfer domains away from GoDaddy up to 30 days after expiry. Although he recommended you did the transfer whilst the domain was still in your account (18 days after expiry). This was news to me. I always thought you couldn't transfer an expired domain at GoDaddy. This would be cheaper than paying their redemption fee

 

[Name Trader]

Well the exact time is 44 days after expiry, you can still transfer a domain to another registrar.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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I tested this on an expired .us domain that seemed "iffy," but when I rechecked the stats, I realized that it was worth keeping.

I did this before it went to auction. I just don't like jerking other people around (auction bidders).

You know, bad karma.

Still in progress.

I suspect that this practice will be curtailed soon enough and limited to a small window, say 30 days, perhaps by ICANN itself--and that will be a good thing.

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[Name Trader]

This is not some kind of loophole. This is allowed by both GoDaddy and ICANN. It's ICANN allowing the Registrars to Auction Registrants expired domains off in the first place which is the problem here. That is what causes these anomalies in the system. If the Registrars weren't auctioning Registrant's expired domains off, this wouldn't be any kind of problem. It would be expected.

IIRC, this 45 day limit used to be the norm for most Registrars (at least for renewals, then ICANN insisted that expiry wasn't an impediment to transfer away). It was shortened by the Registrars, just because they wanted to start auctioning off expired domains. All GoDaddy is doing is restoring the rights of the Registrant to renew/transfer their domains up to that 45 day window. They should be congratulated for that. Of course this means any Auction winner will be disadvantaged. That's the problem with GoDaddy auctioning off Registrant's expired domains before the Registrants have given up their rights to their domains (on day 45 after expiry). No auction, no problem.

 

[Dave_Z]

IIRC, this 45 day limit used to be the norm for most Registrars (at least for renewals, then ICANN insisted that expiry wasn't an impediment to transfer away). It was shortened by the Registrars, just because they wanted to start auctioning off expired domains.

Actually, the 45-day thing has always been there. ICANN just allows each registrar to decide for themselves up to how many "grace period" days they give their own customers, or even none at all.

 

[Name Trader]

AFAIK, it's only Godaddy which allows Registrants to renew/transfer their domains right up to that 45 day cut-off date, when the domain is released back to the Registry or given to the auction winner (prior to the domain being released back to the Registry). They should be applauded for giving Registrants their full rights. Not denigrated for doing so.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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Two ways of looking at this:

Maybe the 45-day grace period should be a right (I think 30 days is enough, but that's open to debate), but starting auctions at day 25 is unfair to potential bidders, especially those who win auctions and lose because someone else has asserted a right, and, most likely, gamed the system for a real-time appraisal.

I think this should be stopped dead in its tracks by requiring a later start of auctions.

This is a problem that could be solved if Go Daddy really wanted to--a compromise that could give the original registrant their 45 days and still stop the auction-as-appraisal nonsense.

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[Name Trader]

especially those who win auctions and lose because someone else has asserted a right, and, most likely, gamed the system for a real-time appraisal.

I have transferred domains out at the last minute on several occasions, and never once have I gamed the system. Usually it's been because I've re-evaluated the domain or haven't had the funds to renew before expiry. I have never once looked at whether they sold or didn't sell on the auction. That's irrelevant to my decision to transfer.

I'm sure there are others like me. I'm sure there are others that check whether the domains sold or not. But it's not the Registrant's fault this problem exists. It's the fact that GoDaddy are auctioning off domains which still belong the the original Registrant until the 44th day. They might be using that public information for their benefit, but I don't think any of these Registrants are gaming the system, as you say. It's entirely GoDaddy's fault, it's an allowed and legitimate practice. Tough on the Auction winners for sure. But then they should be bidding knowing that this could happen, otherwise they are misinformed.

 

[DN_Hunter]

Speaking of transferring out an expired domain name -- has GoDaddy changed the "Approval" process?

I used to be able to go to my "TRANSFERS" section, and manually approve the transfer so that the domain would go to the new registrar within minutes.

I did a transfer over the weekend, and all the steps have been completed up until the part where I can manually approve it in the GoDaddy Transfer section. The domain does not show up for transfer.

On the receiving registrar's side (Dynadot), everything looks ok and just waiting for the transfer to take place.

Has anyone done a transfer of an EXPIRED domain from GoDaddy to another Registrar in the last few days??? (NOTE: the expired domain is only about 17 days into expiration).

 

[Jasonn]

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Two ways of looking at this:

Maybe the 45-day grace period should be a right (I think 30 days is enough, but that's open to debate), but starting auctions at day 25 is unfair to potential bidders, especially those who win auctions and lose because someone else has asserted a right, and, most likely, gamed the system for a real-time appraisal.

I think this should be stopped dead in its tracks by requiring a later start of auctions.

This is a problem that could be solved if Go Daddy really wanted to--a compromise that could give the original registrant their 45 days and still stop the auction-as-appraisal nonsense.

*

technically godaddy (or any registrar) shouldn't be auctioning off expired domains at all. we should be lucky that they are allowed to do this.

bigrock.com also allows domains to be transferred out up to 45 days after expiry.

 

[FreeDomainReseller]

I called to Godaddy for the same issue She informed me that its possible to transfer the expire domain name within 18 days without redemption fee and after that you need to pay $80 as redemption charges.

But am afraid ! I initiated the transfer request on 20th of November and my domain was expired on 8th of November there is only 72hr remaining and redemption fee will expire

 

[ecuadorbusiness]

As I read all of you guys I just think why would i wait a valuable domain of mine to expire? We are domainers or at least we call us like that so I think we are always looking for the status of our domains at least once a month (I check my accounts at least once a week just as a custom of mine to check anything new that could be of my interest). I do not think this would be necessary to do for us, as I have read you have tested this novelty with worthless domains, ok I could do it with worthless domains also, why not? sounds great to save some days of renewal fees. But I do not see any of you testing your most valuable domain on this novelty. Are you going to gamble with your top domain the most valuable you have? I do not see you doing that however if you think you are willing to, that is ok, I am not stepping on this Russian roulette.

---------- Post added at 01:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:46 PM ----------

P.D: I think the information is ok and valuable in case of an unwilling renewal forgeting.

 

[momentum]

Can't seem to transfer a Godaddy expired domain name to Namecheap. Their system stops the process because the domain is already expired.

Which incoming registrar does this work with?

 

[alien51]

Because of this new ICANN Email Verification hassle, one of my domains EXPIRED lately while in the process of transferring out of Godaddy to another registrar.

I paid for a transfer of my domain out of Godaddy just 1 day before expiry. And the unthinkable happened. Godaddy blocked the domain transfer because they said i did not verify my registrant email address. As a result, the domain expired.

But Godaddy Tech Support told me not to worry. I had 18 days to fix the email address verification and can still transfer out even if the domain is 18 days expired.

As I read all of you guys I just think why would i wait a valuable domain of mine to expire? We are domainers or at least we call us like that so I think we are always looking for the status of our domains at least once a month (I check my accounts at least once a week just as a custom of mine to check anything new that could be of my interest). I do not think this would be necessary to do for us

I agree with you.

In my case, the reason why ended up transferring out at the last minute is because i maxed out my credit card. lol

I had to wait for my replenishment cash payment to my Mastercard for me to pay for the transfer. And too bad my credit limit only cleared up so close to the domain expiry date.

 

[GoKaizen]

Thanks for posting this Stub!

 

[agentscarn]

Just stumbled on this thread. Very useful info. Thanks Stub.

 

[GoKaizen]

Name.com encourages this practice.

http://www.name.com/blog/general/2013/06/domains-for-dummies-can-i-transfer-an-expired-domain-name/
http://www.name.com/blog/general/do...er-an-expired-domain-from-godaddy-com-part-2/

NameCheap has a support page with info.

https://www.namecheap.com/support/k...can-i-transfer-an-expired-domain-from-godaddy

 

[GoKaizen]

GD changes contact details after expiration now. Have people tried transferring out?

GD support page states

If your domain name has expired, you can still transfer it to another registrar during the renewal grace period.

If your expired domain has Private Registration enabled, you will not be able to transfer it. Privacy cannot be removed from an expired domain.

 

[alcy]

didn't transfer expired from gd since new rules.. but last I checked before that.. it was good to transfer out at no extra fee til day 39 or 40..

anything past no good domain disappears from expired dn section anyway after day 40.

maybe this changed since dec1