Warning - Don't try to reg dropped names on scumbag GoDaddy

[qubez]

(Thought I'd start this thread here instead, since the "expired domain" subforum looks dead. admin can delete /threads/warning-dont-try-to-reg-dropped-names-on-scumbag-godaddy.831192/)

Here's the story of why you still do not want to type any domain name you actually want into GoDaddy.

I had my eye on a two-word short .com that was in the droplist for today. I was running command-line whois to watch it and other domains drop, including LLLL.com domains.

After pounding 'search domain' over and over in GoDaddy, I finally get a "this domain is available" when it drops. Add to cart. However, instead of the domain being added for reg fee, what is added is "backorder service" for the domain for like $22. Screw that, I remove it from the cart, and search again. Now it is "not available" again. Search again. Now it is "this premium domain is available" for $500, taking me to the GoDaddy auction site with a $500 buy-it-now. SCUMBAGS.

I was sure they were frontrunning the domain, saw that it was a two-word and had snatched it from me and regged it. A person could easily have paid them $500 right then. However I went to two other registrars, and they also showed it as available for reg. Back to GoDaddy, and you can't get past a $500 premium domain "register now". Close to half an hour later, I was able to get the domain added to my cart for reg fee ($1.17). They didn't have the domain, they were just trying to squeeze more money from a normal reg. SCUMBAGS.

Did the same thing for a four-letter when it dropped, same thing, backorder service in the cart instead of the domain. Note, the backorder was not an option before the domain dropped, it just said "domain not available" when it was still pendingDelete. I'm sure if I chose the fake backorder service, I would have paid $22 just for GoDaddy to reg the domain themselves and send it to auction. By the time I went to another registrar, the name had been jumped, with new whois.

So now who do I complain to to get GoDaddy's certification with ICANN pulled? Anybody else had the exact thing happen?

 

[newdandy]

yes, i had one time about 2 month ago. i reg it with another registrar.

 

[AEProgram]

I bet there is a decent explanation as to why this happened. I doubt gd is trying to con you out of 500 bucks.

 

[TravisS]

Honestly, this is the risk you run when your trying to catch a deleted domain, especially if your trying to add a coupon code on top of it lol. I've run into similar issues to this, and others in the past. And while I couldn't explain the "tech" behind it, I will say that they're are A LOT of bugs you'll run into when using gd. Weird it took ~30 mins to get it added to your cart. Usually if that's the case, you'll be receiving a godaddy "refund email...the domain was not available for purchase". It's happened to me quite a few times and it's annoying.

 

[xpimp]

I had past experiences just like you qubez for many, many times in a row, long time gone from those scumbags from godaddy. I still don t understand why people still use them, sincerely don't, transferred everything to namesilo - nice prices and free privacy for life

 

[The New Guy]

I still don t understand why people still use them, sincerely don't

They have coupons.

It's all that matters for many people.

 

[xpimp]

They have coupons.

It's all that matters for many people.

and how much you pay after relentlessly searching after them? and if you add also privacy, then how much also?

on namesilo with max 10 bucks you have privacy+renewal, can godaddy beat that with their coupons? i guess not from last time when i checked, actually with godaddy coupons and also if you have privacy, you will probably reach the standard price from namesilo )

 

[Name Trader]

You complain to ICANN if you want GoDaddy's certification with ICANN pulled. Good luck with that one.

You do know that GoDaddy's whois is not in real-time? It's the worst place to do a whois lookup (and catch) a dropping domain.

It appears you only were using GoDaddy because of the coupon price. If you paid proper regfee at another registrar with live whois, you would probably have had much more success.

 

[xpimp]

personally i was tired by their upsell and changing the price of domains after noticing that i was searching that domain from a couple of times and one of the worst user interface that i ever experienced on a registrar

sincerely and without offending absolutely anyone, any real domainer that respects himself, doesn t use godaddy, period.

only beginners use it thinking that they get some kind of big reduction with those coupons but if you also add privacy, the price will not be low anymore.

also many people have lost their domain names because of them, someone had daddy.co and godaddy took their domain without even contacting them, the domain just dissappeard from their account and after he contacted them, they said that it was infringing their trademark(say whaaat??? daddy is a generic name, you cannot trademark that!)

so really, for those who are still with godaddy, watch out, you may find in one day that your good domains will disappear just because godaddy thinks that..

i'm using them only to pull domains from auctions and then gtfo with them asap to other registrar

 

[Jordan Jones]

About two months ago after spending months (6-8) doing research on FinTech and different technologies and finally pulling the trigger to buy batch names from them I ran into something fishy as well. The best (10-20 common FinTech 2 word phrases) of the 100-200 names I was buying kept showing up taken after finding them on other register's sites (Showed available on 3-4 other sites) as available. I eventually found them on the auction, but decided not to buy. When I checked back weeks later the date of ownership was the same as the day I put the batch search querry in. So yes, they are doing this in multiple ways and there are several articles out there, one from the Washington Post or maybe the WSJ with similar findings, all the way back to like 2010 or 2011 I believe. It was a female author. They are basically using a live decision quant to register names that someone probably eye checks or has auto algo trading on. I had thought I escaped the manipulation of Wall Street, only to walk right back into another form of it. Front Running in the stock market is illegal and should be here too.

 

[Name Trader]

someone had daddy.co and godaddy took their domain without even contacting them, the domain just dissappeard from their account and after he contacted them, they said that it was infringing their trademark(say whaaat??? daddy is a generic name, you cannot trademark that!)

That would have been me. It was in my account and they just went into my account and took it away from me. No explanation, nothing, until I inquired what had happened to my domain. I no longer use GoDaddy as my registrar

 

[xpimp]

That would have been me. It was in my account and they just went into my account and took it away from me. No explanation, nothing, until I inquired what had happened to my domain. I no longer use GoDaddy as my registrar

thx for pointing out, i didn t remember who said it but now i know, anyway i retained very well what you have written and you really had a wonderful domain, that domain could got $xx.xxx offers and now guess what, i checked it, it is on sale at domainnamesales, what a big heist they did it to you, cannot even imagine

even if not from us, i think i would still go after them and harass them for life, pls submit your horror story to antigodaddy(dot)com ( i have no affiliation on that but anyone who reads it, will leave godaddy in the next second)

 

[gilescoley]

You do know that GoDaddy's whois is not in real-time? It's the worst place to do a whois lookup (and catch) a dropping domain.

This happens all the time...you are wasting your time trying to complain about, learn a lesson and move on

 

[Jordan Jones]

Yeah, I realized this. I'm not a professional so when this happened I was like damn, the hot chic in the commercials is a scoundrel.

 

[qubez]

I just tried again to see if I was able to get another fake "backorder" in my GoDaddy cart for some screenshots. Nothing too interesting dropping today with as strong of words, so I tried LLLL.com, and was able to catch a few and add to cart normally today without the BS. They were backordered elsewhere, so even in 5 seconds from going available to checkout they were gone.

BTW hotnova.com if you were curious. I was looking for a generic two word for a media site. I ran out of imagination and patience with everything like "startree.com" "snapblue.com" etc being regged and parked by someone looking for a buck.

 

[qubez]

You do know that GoDaddy's whois is not in real-time? It's the worst place to do a whois lookup (and catch) a dropping domain.

I'm just using Linux command line whois to see when the name has been taken by someone else. It is too slow to time when the domains actually drop. You do NOT want to type a domain name you want into web whois services, especially GoDaddy; this is well-known advice.

Just to add to the first post, I have a Godaddy auction account. The domain (which wasn't expiring from GoDaddy and which GoDaddy had not registered until I finalized my real checkout) was not only giving me the premium price when I put it in the domain search. In addition, this took me to a GoDaddy auction listing for the domain and an ending date about 30 days out, and a place your minimum bid. The ruse goes so far as making a fake auction listing. Who knows if they would have registered the domain and then auctioned it themselves if I bid. Buying the backorder service would have probably dumped my domain into the auction system too.

I could infer from the experience that they run new domain registrations through their automated appraiser, and if it comes back with a high value, they try some tricks to get more than registration fee out of the user. Anybody have some appraisal credits there, that they could give the automated value on my domain to see why this got the flag?

 

[cdboard]

G could have known the (old) advertised price for the domain from other auction sites. also, it may have previously been listed on G auctions even though it was registered elsewhere.

 

[AEProgram]

G could have known the (old) advertised price for the domain from other auction sites. also, it may have previously been listed on G auctions even though it was registered elsewhere.

good observation and I think thats what happened, someone else reged it, once they detected its registered they picked up the listing that someone had on there that never deleted

the paranoia some have here is frightening

 

[forge]

That would have been me. It was in my account and they just went into my account and took it away from me. No explanation, nothing, until I inquired what had happened to my domain. I no longer use GoDaddy as my registrar

Did you pursue this further? Where's your original post on this?

 

[Domainerr]

That would have been me. It was in my account and they just went into my account and took it away from me. No explanation, nothing, until I inquired what had happened to my domain. I no longer use GoDaddy as my registrar

Unethical !. ...Daddy.co is now owned by Innovation HQ INC and they are buying Domain names that do not Infringe on anyone's Trademark..