Opinions

GoDaddy domain auctions: The problems never end

So GoDaddy supposedly fixed the problem where domains would get renewed or transferred out after a GoDaddy auction had ended and paid for.

But today I was going through my bank statement from March and I noticed a refund from GoDaddy.

I checked my account and found that a domain I had won in an auction on March 25 had been refunded on March 26.

The first question is why? The domain was and still is registered at Tucows that uses GoDaddy to auction their expired domains. The domain was renewed at Tucows after I paid for the expired auction. Doesn’t GoDaddy have the same rules for their expired auction registrar partners?

And the second question is why I didn’t even receive an email about the refund? I got no invoice with the refund and not even a notification that I wasn’t getting the domain.

Finally I am not even 100% sure that GoDaddy has fixed the problem for ALL the domains registered with their registrar because I have seen domains that are pending transfer to different registrar while on auction at Godaddy. I have stayed away from these so not 100% sure about the timing of auctions.

But I think you can still start a transfer out until day 5 of the expired auction if you are the owner of the expired domain so there still a small possibility that a domain can be transferred out after someone has won the auction and paid for the domain. So if someone renews until day of the auction then the auction is cancelled BUT if they just start the transfer out on day 6 the auction remains active. And transfer last about 5+ days so if the auction could end while a transfer out is still pending.

Maybe someone from GoDaddy can shed some light into all these problems.

All this comes just days after GoDaddy was forced to reveal a massive scandal with an employee bidding on domain auctions at GoDaddy and was discovered by a domain name investor. This is a matter I don’t consider closed.

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

9 comments

  1. Each registrar has its own expiry rules. We have many partners. Expiry auctions from non GoDaddy registrars are not guaranteed after day 30, however most domain names that are won in the expiring auctions do complete without issue.

    • Konstantinos Zournas

      Sorry Joe but we are not detectives to go around searching what each registrar does. If you want them as partners you need to require to have the same rules or just drop them.

      “Most” is just not good enough. Most godaddy customers don’t get screwed on a regular basis. Some are.

      Also why didn’t I get an email about this? Is it too much to ask or very difficult to implement by your tech people? Maybe in 4-5 years they will have it fixed.

      • Anytime a refund is performed an automatic email is generated with the product and the refund amount and the payment method used. I do not think there is even a way to disable that on the refunds. If you follow up with your account representative they should be able to track the email and see what happened, if something broke, or give you the time stamp and subject of the email to help track it down.

      • Konstantinos Zournas

        So it seems that no one is getting this automatic email. Maybe GoDaddy should do something about it?

  2. The same thing has happened to me also many times. They dont send a refund email or explanation of why they didnt send you the name. Also, lately, they dont even send you an email when names are received to your GD account. I had names in there for a while that i didnt realize were sent to me and sitting in my account. GD really needs to take some of the millions of dollars they make in the expiry auctions and totally revamp everything.

  3. No, GoDaddy doesn’t have same rules for their expired auction registrar partners and the domain owner can still renew it.

    I agree of not receiving any email about refund. I too wasn’t aware until I checked my account.

  4. Agreed refund emails do not always go out, it’s a common glitch, needs to be looked it, sounds like typical support answer, no it’s you, not us lol, but it’s not, it’s you

    • I didn’t say it is not us. It may be broke, the only way to really troubleshoot it is to get some examples we can track down which is why I suggested contacting your rep and giving them the info so they can see if something broke or if the email was sent and then help troubleshoot it either way.

      • Konstantinos Zournas

        Yeah ok. But if everything is broke maybe you can do something and not always expect the customers to find the problems.

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