WARNING! - Enom - Mock Redemption?

[-OutlawBiker-]

Enom, GoDaddy, Netsol cherry picking? :o

I talked to GoDaddy and Enom recently and they use the term "Mock redemption" pretty frequently now with their move toward exclusive drops.

We domainers are familiar with the term "Redemption", but here's a new twist.

At Enom, when some names expire, we expect that they go to the "expired list" where we can select them for renewal. It now appears that some names once expired don't ever make it to that list. Even worse, some of those names when selected to renew are returned with a "This name cannot be renewed" message, and will NOT go to your cart. Worse still, they will pick and choose some names (say that expired 4-3-05) to forward to "mock redemption" leaving names with earlier expiration dates (say 4-1-05) still in the expired list. What a surprise when it's found that the names they chose to move to "mock redemption" are some of the more valuable .coms.

The problem is compounded when they pay the fee to renew and all whois services show the expiration dates as 4-3-06 including the whois link at the bottom of the redemption list page on Enom itself. Enom does NOT send the owner (their customer) an email telling them they have done this.

I'm also wondering how Enom etc. can list those names as in "redemption" when they are really in "mock redemption"? Further, how can several customer support people at Enom state varying expiration grace periods and the powers that be, may decide to end the grace period on certain cherry picked names at their discretion and in difference to the rest of the expired names?

The warnings about the possibility of registrars confusing the order and pushing certain names to redemption instead of other names of the same expiry date to charge the higher redmption fee ($160) or get control of the names (for their move to exclusive drop services) has been warned about before. In the case of Enom, it certainly looks to be happening. Otherwise, how did they decide which names to put through "mock redemption" earlier than the other expired names of the same expiry date?

What angers me is that I have been a huge customer for Enom, and have had to use domain portfolio software from independent providers to manage thousands of names. When Enom does NOT place some names in the expired list for my renewal and instead picks certain names themselves to renew through this "mock redemption" all my services indicate that these names are still under my email address and renewed.

So far all they say is that "yes it doesn't seem right, but that's the policy they have now". Policy? Thank God they haven't gone so far as to set a "policy" that they can just steal the names BEFORE they expire. Maybe that's next.

 

[LeeRyder]

whoa..ok..so in summation.. their "hiding" the real drop/delete/expire dates of potentially valuable domains to either gain more in the renewal fee's or to grab the domains themselves?

 

[MissFlora]

Shrugs, that is no good news as I have quite an amount of domains with Enom too. Shrugs, so these 3 registrars are all acting the same way?

 

[JMJ]

All registrars are hoarding domains. Netsol has been doing it since the beginning. I ran across one yesterday that expired a year ago that has never droped. Several are holding them under what I consider "shell companies" to disguise the fact they are the actual owners. ICANN needs to start earning the .25 a domain and start making some decisions. It must be nice to do nothing other than have conferences around the world only to never accomplish a thing at them.

 

[equity78]

Great POST Outlaw Biker, thank you for the knowledge.

 

[SharonTucci]

Personally, I think it's time for ICANN to start laying out some specific policies with respect to the expiration process..... this and the entire auction of dropped names all comes down to greed. The ethical side of me is appalled at a lot of the stuff that is allowed to go on, but the business side of me is definitely understands it.

Hey, if YOU knew of a legitimate way to make hundreds of extra thousands of dollars a month more, wouldn't you do it if others were doing it? Very few business people would say no on the basis of ethics where if they don't do it, someone else will or others already are.

ICANN, IMHO, needs to do some serious work on creating some better policing rules to devise a more equitable system. To me, this isn't just about the expiration/auction issue but also about people/companies getting accredited who have no apparent intention of offering registrations to the public.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

It was hard enough to understand when there was a consistent policy. Now that ICANN has permitted letting the TOS override standard exipire/delete policies, it's almost impossible to figure out if or when a name will actually expire, delete, or show up on an exclusive auction resell list.

 

[Ron Jackson]

The warnings about the possibility of registrars confusing the order and pushing certain names to redemption instead of other names of the same expiry date to charge the higher redmption fee ($160) or get control of the names (for their move to exclusive drop services) has been warned about before. In the case of Enom, it certainly looks to be happening. Otherwise, how did they decide which names to put through "mock redemption" earlier than the other expired names of the same expiry date?

It absolutely is happening. They took one of my expired domains (that I was planning to renew) out of grace period prematurely (while others were left in grace period for several more weeks) and told me I would have to pay $160 to get it back. That domain expired back in January and they never released it! It is still sitting in my name though I can't get it back without paying the extortion (which I won't do). They are obviously holding it until they start their own auction service (it is a very popular term). So they will cherry pick from your portfolio and there is no uniform policy as to when they will help themselves to your names before RGP.

 

[Mark]

Does this explain why The "Pending Delete" periods are longer in some cases now ?
I've watched several lately that have dropped at Odd Times as well .....

 

[earn100]

ENOM won't release a name even if its "EXPIRE". Infact a enom cs even email me saying "Its up to them, ENOM can do whatever they want from a expire domain. Enom can keep it, sell it on auction or sell it to third party. Once the domain expire ENOM is not obiligated to release to verigsign registry for general public."
So in short registra can take good expires names sell it or develop themselves.
In short nothing is goin to happen because remember ICANN doesn't have any power and doesn't want to do anything may.
Secondly, its our fault also since we never read Terms of Use or often register domain name at cheaper registra like godaddy enom etc who take advantage of dumb/innocent user like me and you.
So no use of crying in the future look for registra taking over your domain others way so they can make money.

 

[JMJ]

Price has nothing to do with it Netsol $35 a year refused to let me have a domain a few years back even though I had faxed them all my docs MANY times. It eventually expired and they sat on it for 9 months until I finally gave in and paid them another $35. Then they wouldn't let me transfer out because they didn't update email after about 100 fax requests. Eventually after spending days , threatening lawsuits etc they let it transfer.

 

[DN Tycoon]

The whole domain name system is and has been out of control....with no enforcement the registars can and will do what they want...just image what goes on behind closed doors....who's got who's hand in who's pockets say that 3 times fast.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

I was against the WLS, but now I think this have evolved into something even worse, since there seems to be no consistent rule on what happens when any more.

Even if they cover dropping via TOS ammendments, domain should still be subject to the fixed grace period before the registrars do what they want, and it should be a FIXED grace period in which they must either drop or auction...no holding patterns.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

<start feigned shock>
You mean there's a reason all of my recently snapped names aren't from big registrars? I don't understand why....
</stop feigned shock>

I wouldn't be overly opposed to keeping registrar's hands out of the expiring domain cooke jar.

-Allan

 

[johnn]

Enom
For expired names. You can go to the transfer as you would normally requested the transfer from another reqgistrar. It wokrs for me.

 

[mole]

Adopt is correct. This is a monster black hole that has been spawned today with greater disruptive power than the WLS could ever have been.

It is great news for domainers, since it creates more guaranteed names that can be caught through any one single dropcatcher. Of course, this comes with a price, ouch. Acquiring good names today can be a very expensive exercise for poor moles like me.

To avoid being sucked into this hole yourself, just do 2 things;
1. Set all your names to autorenew
2. As a backup, renew your names 2 years in advance.