After two months of trying to get a DNS added to the domain and almost 3 weeks of waiting for support I tried to move the domain over to GoDaddy tonight.

The domain hasn't been transferred yet, but when I was looking at the WHOIS info it says:
"Status: REGISTRAR_LOCK
Note: To help prevent malicious domain hijacking and domain transfer errors, the registrant for this domain has chosen to prevent its transfer. Any attempted transfers will be denied at the registry. The apparent authority (registrant) for the name must unlock the name at the current registrar in order for a transfer initiation to succeed. "

So apparently it GoDaddy won't be able to transfer the domain because Registerfly has hijacked it!

I swear if Registerfly don't allow GoDaddy to transfer the domain I'm filing a small claims lawsuit next week and they can explain to a judge why they're freaking service is so damn poor!

You'll have to ask Registerfly to remove the lock and then you can transfer the domain.

You will be unable to transfer or change nameservers with the lock on the domain.

It's a security thing - however the Registrar should give you a way to remove it other than to contact their support staff.

-t

A similiar thing happened to me with totalnic.net. I got no notice that my domain was about to expire, and when it did, they re-registered it and are now trying to sell it back to me.

You guys who keep posting about registerfly, while I do think they are doing the wrong thing, I think you should just do what's been suggested here countless times, and that is contact enom directly and they will give you the ability to login at access.enom.com where you can at least configure your domain.. and even if it IS LOCKED you CAN change the DNS settings etc, but you just won't be able to transfer it to another registrar..

..for that you will have to wait on registerfly's response.. or if you are totally desperate contact me [not PM] and I will try to help [for FREE by the way, I'm not touting for business, just hate seeing these posts all the time]

You can chance DNS settings on a locked domain, but you cannot change nameservers.

The Registry lock is there to prevent doman hijacking - and this means transfers and nameserver changes.

Basically, everything that the Registry itself has as data for your domain.

-t

Originally posted by thewitt
You can chance DNS settings on a locked domain, but you cannot change nameservers.

The Registry lock is there to prevent doman hijacking - and this means transfers and nameserver changes.

Basically, everything that the Registry itself has as data for your domain.

-t

No.. Registrar Lock is to prevent the chance of unauthorised 'transfer' between registrars.

You *can* change DNS on a Locked domain and this includes name server delegation which is part of the DNS of course..

It may be that your system does not allow that, but ours certainly does.. and also our customers..

If a losing registrar does not reply within a certain period of time, a transfer will happen anyway in some cases, so the principal idea of registrar lock is to prevent that happening where maybe a glitch in email or a slack employee could accidentally [or deliberately] allow a hijacking to occur..

Also, whether they admit it or not, it's designed to prevent people who don't know better transferring away without battling the system.. this seems to be the registerfly way, which is unfortunate.. it adds to the confusion of the potential customer when they read stories like this and does none of us any good, [eventhough we may sometimes get the sale as an alternative registrar]

All registrars should allow customers to control the Reg Lock themselves if they wish..

Originally posted by felix220
You *can* change DNS on a Locked domain and this includes name server delegation which is part of the DNS of course..

The problem is simply with interpretation of the RFC.

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2832.txt

The concensus agreement on this document is that either a Registry or Registrar lock stops all modifications of the domain at the Registry - and this includes nameserver changes.

These are handled via the MOD command in the RRP, and would return a status code of 551 should you try to modify a nameserver based on a domain that is currently locked.

If some Registrars are not following this standard, that would not surprise me.

-t

It might be just an internal enom version of the lock, but yes, with a locked domain at enom, you can change nameservers, and anything else. The only thing you can't do is transfer it somewhere else.

It would be interesting to compile a list of changes that are allowed and not allowed under the different Lock scenarios.

I wonder how much variation we would actually see...

-t

Can I file with you!


We tried to transfer the domains as well, but there was no luck. Eventually they let 3 of my domains expire, even tho I have charges on my credit card. After 3 weeks at attempts to contact them, 1 of the domains got re-registered...

We are still trying to get it back, it has been 3 months now.

Email: tim.shor@unifiednames.com (elleW posted it on a previous post http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46733 )

So far he has been helpful, he responed to me on the day I emailed him and he emailed me back to let me know what was going on.

Originally posted by thewitt

The problem is simply with interpretation of the RFC.

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2832.txt

The concensus agreement on this document is that either a Registry or Registrar lock stops all modifications of the domain at the Registry - and this includes nameserver changes.

These are handled via the MOD command in the RRP, and would return a status code of 551 should you try to modify a nameserver based on a domain that is currently locked.

If some Registrars are not following this standard, that would not surprise me.

-t

Well interpretations of these memos are not the point really, I was merely saying that your comment about "not being able to change name servers on a locked domain" was NOT an industry standard. It can be done.

Consensus among Registrars?? If you've ever been to an ICANN meeting you will realise that is a rare thing.

The opening comment below is from that document.

//------------------------
NSI Registry Registrar Protocol (RRP) Version 1.1.0

Status of this Memo

This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
------------------------//


The reasons for using the RRP to block access at the Registry level are obviously multiple and may not only be applied to prevent 'hijacking' [whatever that means totally] but could involve disputes, financial considerations and so on...

Also.. Registry Lock is different from Registrar Lock, and we are talking about the latter here. If the Registry Locks a domain, then even the Registrar can't modify it...


//------------------------
551 Parent domain status does not allow for operation
The status of the parent domain does not allow the requested
operation. This occurs when a registrar tries to modify a server
whose parent domain is flagged as LOCK or HOLD in the registry.

552 Domain status does not allow for operation
The status of the domain does not allow the requested operation. This
occurs when a registrar tries to modify or delete a domain that is
flagged as LOCK or HOLD in the registry.
-----------------//

Reference to 'Modify' in this *May 2000* document, when NSI was Network Solutions is clearly managed in a different way by Registrars now.. very few use the same NetSol email template system and the procedures surrounding it, more to the point.

Also, I interpret this as modifying a 'server' as in the 'host' modification process still in force at Verisign, and not changing the delegated name servers of a 'parent' domain.. eg ns1.domain.com may require modification separately from domain.com, but you can't if domain.com is locked.. this doesn't mean you can't change the actual delegated NS for domain.com.. which could be a different domain/host..

And as below, the RFC, even in its spirit as a discussion/information paper did not seek to suggest that any interpretation or subsequent discussions [if there were any that included all registrars] would include preventing name servers from being modified if a domain was locked by the sponsoring registrar at registry level.

//-----------------------------
6. Domain Status Codes

The status of a domain can be viewed using the RRP STATUS command and
modified using the RRP MOD command. Both the registry and the
sponsoring registrar MAY view and change the status of a domain. The
criteria for status changes are highly dependent on registry and
registrar business models and are thus beyond the scope of this
specification.

The domain's status SHOULD have a direct bearing on whether or not
the domain appears in the appropriate TLD zone file and whether or
not the domain can be modified. A domain can have more than one
assigned status, e.g., REGISTRAR-HOLD and REGISTRAR-LOCK. If a domain
is in ACTIVE status, then the domain name can only be in this status.
When a registrar sets a domain name to REGISTRAR-LOCK, the registry
MUST automatically remove the ACTIVE status. When the registrar
removes the REGISTRAR-LOCK and other domain statuses, the registry
MUST automatically set the domain name status to ACTIVE.
----------------------------------//

Now these issues are probably beyond the average person who just wants to change their name servers and is being frustrated by a registrar who has draconian procedures.. so enough to say that it *can* be done and in my own opinion *should* be allowed because you *should* be able to easily choose where you want your domain hosted, without spending weeks and weeks fighting with your registrar...



PS: I have asked someone from enom to visit this thread [and others similar] in the hope they can comment or maybe even ask registerfly to be more helpful and act in a timely manner..

This nonsense takes confidence levels in the internet lower with each incident.


PPS: I better acknowledge the authors of the quotes from Request for Comments: 2832 used above.. :)

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.

Originally posted by felix220
This nonsense takes confidence levels in the internet lower with each incident.
Amen to that!

-t

Originally posted by thewitt
You'll have to ask Registerfly to remove the lock and then you can transfer the domain.

You will be unable to transfer or change nameservers with the lock on the domain.

It's a security thing - however the Registrar should give you a way to remove it other than to contact their support staff.

-t

Great idea, but it's been two months and they haven't even accepted the DNS, how long is it going to take for them to remove the lock? 6 months? 6 years?

Why should I sit here and keep waiting when I could have them in court in a month? I paid for a service and I'm clearly not receiving what I paid for.

let them explain to their employees why a uniformed police officer is delivering a summons to the CEO of registerfly. Shame I can't plan the delivery to coincide with a stock holders tour ;)

Originally posted by hassi


Great idea, but it's been two months and they haven't even accepted the DNS, how long is it going to take for them to remove the lock? 6 months? 6 years?

Why should I sit here and keep waiting when I could have them in court in a month? I paid for a service and I'm clearly not receiving what I paid for.

let them explain to their employees why a uniformed police officer is delivering a summons to the CEO of registerfly. Shame I can't plan the delivery to coincide with a stock holders tour ;)


It's truly sad that you feel driven to seek satisfaction through the courts, but I can't say I blame you.. if I could not get control of my domains I'd be pretty pissed off too..

I'd ask a lawyer before you trundle off down that path though, or the whole episode might end up costing you more than you expect or want to pay..

I still strongly recommend that you contact enom about this, because I believe you will get it resolved faster and cheaper.

I'm very happy to give it a go for you, as I communicate with enom virtually everyday, and I can pretty much guarantee you an answer within 24 hours. If you want to try that, just email me.

Cheers and good luck whatever you decide..