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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    India
    Posts
    123

    Godaddy scam, trying to push backorder(confirmed i got the same domain at namecheap)

    I have been trying to get an expired domain from the last 4 months. The domain had gone into the redemption period,
    A list of anomalies:-
    It was in redemption period for more than 90 days(including grace period). ( I had calculated the redemption period according to the godaddy.com TOS and from the ICANN website and the redemption period can be only for 72 days maximum from the day the domain expires, this includes the grace period.)

    Then after that I kept on getting it booked from godaddy.com I never ever bothered to check it elsewhere. When i checked the whois from godaddy.com it showed me some company which was a domain kiting company.
    I kept checking it and I found that every 5 days another company kept picking up that domain.

    Then after all the posts regarding godaddy.com whois being leaked and domain being "snatched before they could be registered. I started using namecheap.com to do my domain searches. Today when i did my domain search i found it available. I was surprised
    I immediately when to godaddy.com to register it. Guess what I found that the domain was unavailable and godaddy.com was prompting me to backorder it.
    I just immediately rushed back to namecheap and booked the domain. (this is my first domain with namecheap). I wanted to wait for a little more time before moving my accounts out of godaddy.com and was not too sure about namecheap i was more likely to shift them to enom.com.

    I totally forgot to check the whois that godaddy was providing. That could have been solid proof of the scam godaddy.com is doing. But i thought that my first priority would be to register the domain so i did not bother and jumped to namecheap and registered it.

    This is against any of the rules and godaddy.com is definately invovled. Now i am starting to wonder if the domain was really booked at all. I never opened the domain in the browser as it is the best thing to do when you domain has been "kitted" or "tasted" is not to visit it.(or else they might think it is traffic and hold it at a ransom). So that is why i never visited it. I just did a godaddy.com search and i would check the whois and then wait for a another 5 days. The whois kept changing every 5 days though.
    The last time i check the domain was registered on 14th of dec and today is the 19th . It is exactly 5 days. This is when they have to give the domain back. I caught the domain without a back order. If i had trusted godaddy.com domain search then it would have shown me unavailable and i would have assumed that this domain was again taken by some other domain "tasting" company.
    But thank god I looked up the availibily on namecheap and I registered the domain.


    I think godaddy is having a devious alliance with these domain "stealing" firms. The fact that godaddy's domain search shows these domains are unavailable proves the fact.
    moreover godaddy might be doing this to get backorder sales. I am sure that if i had back ordered the domain i would got it. In fact i was going to backorder it if i had missed a another 2 or 3 times.

    About the domain
    The domain was registered a year back. It recieves low traffic but decent enough. The domains expired as my client forgot about it. He had relocated to another city and did not give me his new contact. Then he himself tried to register the domain but it had gone into redemption period. Godaddy.com asked him 80$ to get it back or told him to wait.
    Then he contacted me. I waited for the redemption period. Since he was my client i gave a free .info name for the time being. After the redemption period this domain was continously being "kitted" or "tasted" for 1 month.

    I am sure godaddy must have "noted" this domain. That is why they always showed it unavailable. As i had mentioned earlier they kept this domain in redemption period for a longer time than the default(more than 90 days). I am sure they did this as my client had contacted them and godaddy.com thought this might force them to pay up 80$ for recovery during redemtpion period.
    Then as you see from above godaddy.com is trying to get the clients to backorder these expired domains names.

    Stay away from godaddy.com and check you domains on namecheap.
    I just wanted to know if namecheap is a good company so that i can shift all my domains to namecheap(the name sounds kinda cheap :-P).
    I think everyone should know about this illegal fraudulent practice of godaddy.com.
    Everyone with expired domains on godaddy.com dont even go back use namecheap to check availability and then register it there only.
    This is unbelievable but true. I dont know how can these companies get away with tricks like this. I am not from america so I cannot even sue godaddy.com.
    But i will see that this news is spread everywhere on the net so that no one else is "blackmailed" for their domain.

    I urge you to re-edit this and spread it any way you like. If you want any more clarifications please feel free to ask.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    5,929
    I had a problem understanding what you were trying to tell us. But if i understand you correctly, you seem paranoid. tasting is now a fact of domain life we have to deal with. We can either a) backorder the domain at pool/snapnames/godaddy or b) wait for all the tasters to drop the domain. If it's a domain you want, Godaddy are quite good at picking up domains which have dropped and are being tasted. It does cost you $18.95 upfront though.
    Signature Under Construction.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    India
    Posts
    123
    Ok If Stu2 doesnt understand then i have really messed up the post.
    here i got again to sum it up.

    Yes it is domain tasting but I am not paranoid about that fact.
    The main issue here is.
    I searched for the particular domain name in namecheap.com and found it available.
    Then i got to godaddy.com to book it(as I "was" a loyal godaddy customer). But in godaddy.com it tell me that the domain is already booked.
    So i just rush back to the namecheap and book the domain which was still available there.

    What I am trying to warn everybody is that even though the domain was available godaddy.com was showing it as not available.

    The domain was available today as it was 5 days since the domain had been last registered. So in the time it could be given back and again "tasted" i managed to get my domain back.
    What I am trying to warn everybody is that if you the domain was previously registered/expired on godaddy.com then godaddy.com themselves are making the domain unavailable to you.
    I think it is illegal to show a domain that is available as booked.
    Once you domain has expired godaddy.com does the following.
    They keep it always unavailable
    Then as soon as you come back to see if it is available. They book(actally book it from ICAAN) it of in a few minutes. Before that it is not booked from ICAAN the domain will be available from any other registrar. (That is how i booked my domain from namecheap.)
    I hope now you get an idea what is going on here.
    I think they all the domain tasting companies are hand in glove with godaddy.com. My earlier thread about how godaddy whois is getting leaked(as admitted by them) is just a facade. Godaddy.com is infact invovled in domain "tasting".
    Maybe They are doing it to sell backorders.

  4. #4
    Go Daddy has consistently stated they don't sell their queries to anyone. But that
    still won't stop others from "peeking" through their WHOIS servers without their
    say-so.

    In fact, they want something done about it:

    http://www.icann.org/meetings/saopau...et-06dec06.htm

    AT THIS POINT, I'D LIKE TO, YOU KNOW -- HAVING MADE A CLARIFICATION ABOUT DOMAIN TASTING VERSUS DOMAIN KITING, I'D LIKE TO PASS THE MICROPHONE TO MR. TIM RUIZ.

    AND IT IS YOURS NOW, TIM.

    THANK YOU.

    >>TIM RUIZ: THANK YOU, JOTHAN.

    FIRST, YOU KNOW, MY REMARKS AND THE PROBLEM THAT WE HAVE WITH THIS ACTIVITY, I'M MAKING NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN TASTING AND KITING.

    SO WHEN I SAY "TASTING," IT INCLUDES EITHER ACTIVITY.

    SO JUST KIND OF MAKE THAT CLEAR AT THE OUTSET.

    ALSO, WE DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH DOMAIN MONETIZATION.

    SOME ARE CONFUSED THAT OUR CONCERN OVER DOMAIN MONETIZATION.

    WE DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT AT ALL.

    IN FACT, GO DADDY IN A SMALLER WAY DOES PROFIT FROM DOMAIN MONETIZATION OURSELVES.

    WE DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE REGISTRIES OR ANYONE ELSE MAKING A PROFIT FROM DOMAIN MONETIZATION.

    SO THAT'S NOT THE ISSUE.

    BUT WE DO BELIEVE THAT USING THE ADD-GRACE PERIOD FOR TASTING AS A MEANS OF GETTING TO MONETIZATION IS A PROBLEM AND THAT THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED TO GET THERE WITHOUT CAUSING SOME OF THE PROBLEMS THAT WE'RE SEEING TODAY.

    WHAT WE'RE SEEING IS, IT'S CREATING CUSTOMER CONFUSION, IT THREATENS CUSTOMERS' CONFIDENCE IN WHAT WE DO AS AN INDUSTRY, AND FOR US, IT'S CAUSING INCREASED SUPPORT COSTS.

    COMPLAINTS THAT WE GET BASED ON THIS ACTIVITY TAKE US SIGNIFICANTLY MORE TIME AND RESOURCES TO RESOLVE.

    FOR EXAMPLE, A TYPICAL COMPLAINT WILL BE BASED ON A USER COMING IN, CHECKING A FEW DOMAIN NAMES' AVAILABILITY, THEN THEY'LL GO BACK, SPEND SOME TIME REVIEWING THE RESULTS, MAYBE FOR THEIR OWN USE OR FOR THEIR BOSS OR A CLIENT, THEY'LL COME BACK A FEW HOURS LATER, MAYBE A DAY LATER, AND TRY TO REGISTER THE NAMES, AND THE NAMES ARE GONE.

    AND THEY'LL FIND THAT THEY'RE REGISTERED WITH, ULTIMATELY, ONE OF THE REGISTRARS WHO ARE INVOLVED IN THE TASTING ACTIVITY FOR TASTING PURPOSES.

    SO WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME TRYING TO CALM THEIR FEARS THAT SOMEHOW GO DADDY IS SPYING ON WHAT THEY'RE DOING AND USING THE INFORMATION THAT THEY ARE GIVING US TO SOMEHOW PARTNER WITH SOMEONE ELSE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM BY REGISTERING THEIR DOMAIN NAMES AND SOMEHOW MAKING A PROFIT.

    SO ONCE WE'VE TRIED TO EXPLAIN THAT, WHICH IT NEVER GOES WELL, IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN, BECAUSE IT'S SOMEWHAT COMPLICATED, THEN WE SPEND PERHAPS THE NEXT THREE OR FOUR DAYS MONITORING THOSE NAMES SO THAT WHEN WE SEE THEY DROP, IF THEY DO DROP, THEN WE CAN REGISTER THEM FOR THE CUSTOMER AND MAKE OUR CUSTOMER HAPPY, BECAUSE THAT'S ULTIMATELY WHAT OUR GOAL IS, IS TO PLEASE THE CUSTOMER.

    A YEAR AGO, WE RECEIVED ABOUT A HANDFUL OF THOSE MAYBE, AT MOST, ON A WEEKLY BASIS, IS WHEN WE BEGAN BECOMING THE MOST CONCERNED.

    TODAY WE'RE SEEING IT ON A DAILY BASIS.

    IT DOESN'T TAKE MUCH FOR SOMEONE TO GO OUT AND PERUSE SOME OF THE DOMAIN NAME FORUMS AND FIND THREADS ABOUT THIS ACTIVITY.

    THEY'RE ALMOST ALWAYS NEGATIVE.

    THEY ALMOST ALL INCLUDE SOME OF THE THINGS I JUST DESCRIBED, AND EVEN ACCUSATIONS THAT REGISTRARS ARE SOMEHOW IN SHADING DEALINGS WITH EACH OTHER TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF REGISTRANTS.

    SO WE SHARED THIS INFORMATION WITH OTHERS, WE'VE SHARED THIS INFORMATION WITH THE REGISTRIES, WE'VE SHARED THIS INFORMATION WITH ICANN, OUR CONCERNS OVER, AND OVER.

    THE LAST WORKSHOP AS WELL.

    THE FEEDBACK WE GET IS THAT THE NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS IS STILL RELATIVELY SMALL, THE PROBLEM ISN'T REALLY THAT PERVASIVE, OR THAT THE PROBLEM IS JUST THAT THE TYPICAL INTERNET USER DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE INDUSTRY.

    AND WE AGREE, THAT MAY ALL BE TRUE.

    BUT THAT'S REALLY OUR POINT.

    WHAT WE WANT TO DO IS FIND A SOLUTION BEFORE THESE PROBLEMS DO BECOME PERVASIVE.

    WHY DO WE NEED TO WAIT UNTIL THERE'S A NEED TO ACT?

    WE BELIEVE OUR REPUTATION AS AN INDUSTRY IS AT STAKE, THAT TASTING IS ON SUCH A LARGE SCALE IS JUST A NUMBER OF THE MANY PROBLEMS THAT CONSUMERS FIND THAT THREATEN THEIR CONFIDENCE IN WHAT WE DO AS AN INDUSTRY AND IN E-COMMERCE IN GENERAL.

    FINALLY, I WANT TO MAKE A COUPLE OF POINTS ABOUT THE STATISTICS THAT JOTHAN REFERRED TO.

    I THINK I'D TAKE ARGUMENT WITH THOSE A LITTLE BIT, THAT 1.8 MILLION OF THOSE WERE RELATED TO TASTING OR THAT WERE REGISTERED AS A RESULT OF TASTING.

    THE REASON IS, LOOKING -- WE LOOKED BACK AT THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 2006, AND WE USED THE ACTUAL REGISTRY REPORTS PUBLICLY POSTED ON ICANN'S WEB SITE FOR THE DATA.

    AND WHAT WE FOUND WAS THAT, IN THAT SEVEN-MONTH PERIOD, 205 MILLION NEW DOMAIN NAMES WERE REGISTERED.

    OF THOSE 205 MILLION, 197 MILLION WERE DELETED.

    SO THE COM FILE GREW BY JUST APPROXIMATELY 8 MILLION DOMAIN NAMES.

    BUT WHEN WE LOOKED AT THE TOP TEN REGISTRARS BY NUMBER OF DELETED DOMAINS, THEY MADE UP 92 -- OVER 92 -- PERCENT OF THOSE 197 MILLION DOMAIN NAMES THAT WERE DELETED.

    AND THEN LOOKING AT THE TOP TEN REGISTRARS NOT INVOLVED IN TASTING, THEY MADE UP APPROXIMATELY ABOUT 5 MILLION OF THOSE NEW REGISTERED DOMAIN NAMES.

    SO THE ACTUAL NEW DOMAIN NAMES BY NON-TASTING REGISTRARS IS PROBABLY EVEN HIGHER.

    SO TO US, THAT INDICATES THAT THE NUMBER OF REGISTRATIONS ON A MONTHLY BASIS THAT ARE ACTUALLY REGISTERED AND KEPT BY TASTERS IS PROBABLY SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER THAN 1.8 MILLION.

    NOT INSIGNIFICANT, AND WE CAN UNDERSTAND WHY REGISTRIES HAVE A PROBLEM WITH WANTING TO TRY TO STOP THIS ACTIVITY, BECAUSE IT IS STILL A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF REVENUE.

    HOWEVER, WHAT WE'RE ASKING IS, LET'S FIND A BETTER WAY, LET'S FIND A SOLUTION WHERE EVERYONE CAN STILL GET WHAT THEY WANT AND WE DON'T HAVE THIS END RESULT OF CONFUSING OUR CUSTOMERS AND THREATENING THEIR CONFIDENCE IN WHAT WE DO AS AN INDUSTRY.
    Should you still think they're up to no good, believe what you want.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    India
    Posts
    123
    Dave Zan I also thought the same and that is how godaddy wants us to think.

    I think everyone is missing the point. That I booked the domain which was showing unavailable at godaddy.com. I booked it from namecheap and I am now owner of it. THe domain was showing Not Available in godaddy.com even thought it was available.
    I think the above is the main issue.

    The rest is just on why they are doing it, the only obvious reason is to make us to shell out 18.95 for backordering.
    Since godaddy.com shows the available domain as not available which means they are fully aware of what they are doing.
    This is how they work.
    You go to godaddy.com and search to see if your domain is out of the redemption period/available.
    But godaddy.com shows it as unavailable even thought it is out of the redemption period(like i mentioned that my domain was in redemption period for more than 90 days, which is impossible. You have to keep in mind that I was checking only on godaddy.com. And now as we know that godaddy.com shows the domain as unavailable)
    As soon as you search they are obviously notified and they "taste" the domain(which they claim is done without their knowledge, now i would have believed this if godaddy.com was doing otherwise. But since they are showing an available domain as Not available I am sure godaddy is hand in glove with all this)

    The people who are affected are loyal godaddy.com customers just like me.
    Because we never search for the domain on any other website. All i had to do was search my domain on namecheap after 76 days(the maximum time it can be in redemption) of expiry i would have got my domain.
    But as we ae godaddy.com customer we search on godaddy they show it as unavailable and they "taste" the domain. It keeps happening all the time.
    The only other solutions is to use godaddy.com backorder service and viola you get your domain. The fact is that godaddy "arm twisted" you into getting 18.95 for a renewal.

  6. #6
    Aside from the domain tasting thing, 2 other things might explain it:

    1. Go Daddy's systems aren't exactly in real time.

    2. The Registry might report it's available one time then taken the next, and vice
    versa.

    3. Both 1 & 2.

    We won't know 'til someone from Go Daddy clarifies. But then, who among you will
    believe it or not anyway?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    44
    Godady is very slow to update the whois, I suggest use moniker instead (live update)

  8. #8
    Thank you for the warning. I really thought I could use any system to see if the domain is available or not...
    Two decades of web marketing experience & millions of visitors, previously a super-affiliate.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    India
    Posts
    123
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Zan
    Aside from the domain tasting thing, 2 other things might explain it:

    1. Go Daddy's systems aren't exactly in real time.

    2. The Registry might report it's available one time then taken the next, and vice
    versa.

    3. Both 1 & 2.

    We won't know 'til someone from Go Daddy clarifies. But then, who among you will
    believe it or not anyway?
    I can prove otherwise.
    I had the registration page of godaddy.com open. When i wanted to book the domain on godaddy it told me the domain was unavailable. So i immideatly sensed foul play and jumped back to namecheap(which had told me the domain was available) and registered it. After that the registration. I closed the page(tab) and was back at the godaddy.com page. I just clicked to see what whois information it was showing and it showed my whois.
    I should have clicked on the whois before registering the domain but i just did not want to lose a second. It payed off I think i beat godaddy.

    AND Dave Zan either you are the official spokesman/lobbyist/"undercover blogger for godaddy(or maybe a freelancer working for many companies) or you seem to get a kick out of "debunking" actual problems and sincere attempts by members to warn others of some scam or wrong doing. You get some sadistic pleasure in proving people wrong.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    5,929
    I don't believe that GoDaddy are anywhere near as altruistic as they pretend to be from the ICANN meeting quote.

    SO ONCE WE'VE TRIED TO EXPLAIN THAT, WHICH IT NEVER GOES WELL, IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN, BECAUSE IT'S SOMEWHAT COMPLICATED, THEN WE SPEND PERHAPS THE NEXT THREE OR FOUR DAYS MONITORING THOSE NAMES SO THAT WHEN WE SEE THEY DROP, IF THEY DO DROP, THEN WE CAN REGISTER THEM FOR THE CUSTOMER AND MAKE OUR CUSTOMER HAPPY, BECAUSE THAT'S ULTIMATELY WHAT OUR GOAL IS, IS TO PLEASE THE CUSTOMER.
    This is all done for the good of the customer, of course

    So, I kinda acknowledge quan's jaundiced view of GoDaddy's services, although I'm inclined to agree with dave's thought's that this is not necessarily deliberately intended, but could be as a by-product of their other actions. We should all always be skeptical of the motivations of big business, and as far as domain registrations are concerned, GoDaddy are the 800lb gorilla.
    Signature Under Construction.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by qwan
    AND Dave Zan either you are the official spokesman/lobbyist/"undercover blogger for godaddy(or maybe a freelancer working for many companies) or you seem to get a kick out of "debunking" actual problems and sincere attempts by members to warn others of some scam or wrong doing. You get some sadistic pleasure in proving people wrong.
    If there were only like 10 registrars instead of the current 800+, Go Daddy will be
    the last among my choices. Fortunately there are lots of options, and some are a
    whole lot better than Go Daddy or even Network Solutions can ever be.

    It just so happens I know a whole lot more than the "average" domain consumer,
    based on my previous work with a domain registrar and keeping in touch with any
    and all applicable laws and policies. I base many of my posts on those, and I try to
    give those details for people to at least consider there might be more to what they
    think.

    Qwan, your latest post leads me to suspect even more Go Daddy's systems aren't
    exactly in real time. I've asked them a couple of times about this, but I never got a
    reply.

    On the side, I'm working on a disclaimer I'll eventually put in my blog to disclose all
    and any relationships I have with certain providers. But even that is suspect.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    5,929
    Dave. If you change something on your domain in the GoDaddy control panel, it usually gives you a message to wait a couple of minutes for the changes to be in effect. Usually these changes lock the domain for other changes until that change has come into effect. In most cases you can go right back in and change something else on the domain (because the previous change has already been effected), but occassionally, you really do have to wait a couple of minutes before making other changes on that domain.

    Secondly. I've purchased domains at tdnam and whilst waiting for the 14 days before getting the domain I have noticed changes in the whois where it's still registered at the registry but not at GoDaddy. It looks as if they are clearing out the old registration when I thought that they simply left the old registration intact and the whois got updated when the domain appeared in my account. I've not seen that consistently over every purchase, but then again, I haven't always checked.
    Signature Under Construction.

  13. #13
    Godaddy and Network solutions are thieves, scammers and have FKD up business practices,
    Several times i have searched for domains with them and others to find it available and when i went to register it afew days later, guess who has registered them .. godaddy and Network solutions, with creation date going back to 1999,, thats false info , theft, and a scam... ill be closing my accounts with them indefinately... RIP Godaddy and Network Solutions,, Die in hell...

  14. #14

    * Godaddy Scam

    I couldn't agree more Qwan. I believe they monitor your searches, and when they see something you like, they snatch it up. I too have seen info in WHOIS change seconds after searching it on Godaddy, even though I had checked WHOIS minutes before through another provider, only to see the ownershiop data, changed.

    But never fear, because godaddy is there to let you know, they can help you hire someone, to negotiate the address on your behalf. They get 80/90 dollars to help you buy the site you could have just bought for 18/19 dollars. One big scam.

    I think they have a program written, that automatically pulls names searched, and creates automated WHOIS logs. Then they try and get you to use their services to negotiate a price for the site. I have lost so many names to this scamming practice, it's horrible.

    I had a chance to buy a site for $100 dollars not long ago, and the minute I typed in the address, while online, the price jumped to $2,999.00. Available through godaddy.

    ICANN needs to wake up and investigate, or maybe it's time to take this to a higher authority. I've got an idea... I'll post with the results.

    Cheers, Shifty

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    5,929
    Firstly, congrats on reopening a 3 year old thread. It's quite possible for a seller to have different prices at different venues. When you say you had a chance to buy a site for $100, what was the reason the seller gave for backing out of the deal?
    Signature Under Construction.

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