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The Almighty Buck The Internet

Pre-Selling Domain Names? 104

Posted by Cliff from the don't-let-yours-get-swiped dept.
Allnighterking asks: "Within the last 24 hours I've been the unwitting victim of a new practice by any number of domain registrars. The concept of pre-selling domain names before they expire. Go to any of the more popular domain registrars and start searching for domain names. You will find dozens of them for sale -with the date they will expire clearly listed-. In my case yes, I was negligent in not renewing. I also did not receive notice that it was to expire either. The day after it expired (or more like 8 hours after). I found out that I was no longer the owner of a domain I've owned for over 3 years, that this domain is now the 'property' of a domain squatter selling google adds on my hard earned search engine status. What can be done? Do we have any recourse?"
"Perhaps this is just another case of ICANN , you can't.

Apparently, the sale of expired domains is big business. See this google search for more. It leaves one to wonder what would have happened a few years ago when Hotmail expired. Would Microsoft have been stuck? Or would they be doing what I've been asked to do: pony up 20k to get my domain back!"
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Pre-Selling Domain Names? More

Pre-Selling Domain Names?

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  • Just don't be an idiot (Score:5, Informative)

    by LordNimon ( 85072 ) on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @05:11PM (#13608510)
    Register your domain with a reputable registrar, one that either auto-renews or reliably tells you when it's about to expire, and you won't have any problems.
    • Nice advice but who are these reputable registrar's? This practive is more then dispickable to me.

      Could owners trademark the domain names or make them unique enough to trade mark it? Then if a squatter buys it and wants 20k, have a lawyer type up a nice letter to them.
      • register.com is one of them. They are far more expensive than a lot of others ($35/yr with no discounts until you start renewing for more than 3 years) but they'll host your DNS as part of the package if you want. For a few bucks more they'll host a few static web pages too. They have automatic renewel support, send reminders well in advance, and have fantastic telephone support. I put $210/yr into their coffers with my domain names, but it is well worth it. I've been hassle free ever since I made the switc

        • register.com (Score:5, Interesting)

          by DRue ( 152413 ) <drue@@@therub...org> on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @06:45PM (#13609315) Homepage
          I receive a lot of snail-mail deceptive advertising from register.com, and I would never use them.

          Godaddy works for me, and is less than a third of the price. They are the largest domain registrar out there now, and I don't worry about my domains at all.

          Network Solutions is the devil. [therub.org]

          • GoDaddy is not trustworthy, it seems to me. It seems to me that GoDaddy makes most of its money by exploiting the lack of technical knowledge of most of its customers. The GoDaddy web site is so fully of ads that it is sometimes difficult to understand how to buy from them.

            GoDaddy's web site is often slow. For example, as I type this it is very slow. GoDaddy wants to be a web hosting provider. Can you imagine choosing a host with a slow web site?

            I agree with you about register.com.

            Can anyone recomm

            • Re:GoDaddy exploits any lack of technical knowledg (Score:4, Insightful)

              by DRue ( 152413 ) <drue@@@therub...org> on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @08:36PM (#13610092) Homepage
              Well, I came from netsol. Netsol has just as many ads you have click through, except that they are deceptive. More than once I accidently signed up for their DNS service becuase i didn't correctly answer "Do you not want us to not host DNS for you?" Yes[] No[]

              Godaddy has a lot of ads, and probably terrible support - but that's the trade off when you want to pay $8/year. And I've never had to contact support. When you buy a domain they even have "expert" links that'll skip all that crap.

              Of course godaddy's web hosting is probably crappy. I don't see what that has to do with their registrar service.
              • I've been with GoDaddy for years. Really that's all I need, I handle the DNS and hosting myself. I just need them to hold onto my .com and leave me alone about it.

                NetSol does have free DNS hosting with every domain, but for $50 a year I think it's a bit excessive when ZoneEdit does it for $10.95 per domain (and much less for multiple domains).

                Like everything in the compute industry, the price depends on how much hand-holding you want.
              • I have only good
                things to say of their support
                except for hosting.

                They are quick to help
                with most problems, though I now
                host my sites elsewhere.

                The shared IP of
                hosted sites leads to being
                RBLed sometimes.

                Other than that, and
                their awful website design,
                I recommend them.

            • I didn't say this ... but ... you hit the nail on the head. But note that having an ethical registrar won't protect you. Want proof? Try this technic go to go-daddy, or almost any other registrar. Search for a domain you own. (or one you know will never get lost... hopefully like slashdot.org) They will for 18.95 or there about, SELL you a lottery ticket. That lottery ticket says that if this domain every goes on the market we will try to registar it immediately for you. (kind of like auto bids on e-

              • Re:GoDaddy exploits any lack of technical knowledg (Score:4, Interesting)

                by bitingduck ( 810730 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @02:30AM (#13611542) Homepage
                I use SnapNames for this-- you only pay if you get the domain name, and you can have a standing order forever. They actually snagged me a name that I had been wanting and had been dormant for a while. I now have all my domains set up to get grabbed by SnapNames in the unlikely event that I manage to overlook all the expiration warnings and things. SnapNames uses a bunch of different registrars (I suspect depending on the responsiveness of their site at the instant the domain goes up for grabs).

                When SnapNames did get me a name, they registered it through BlueHill (who I hadn't heard of). A while later I decided to consolidate all my domains in one place, and BlueHill was actually the most responsive with the transfer request.

                I had also made the mistake of registering some domains through Yahoo a long time ago-- a major pain to transfer the .org name away from them, because they and Melbourne both pointed at each other as being responsible for providing the Auth code for the transfer. Melbourne was easy to get ahold of by email and phone, and tried to be helpful. Yahoo is a pain to get ahold of, but eventually it got transferred. Definitely avoid resellers (which yahoo is) and go directly with a primary registrar. Resellers just add a complication layer.

                Right now all my domains are with Godaddy (except for one with Netsol that I'll probably move away soon), but if they get difficult, BlueHill was responsive enough that I would try them.

            • GoDaddy are also reported to terminate your domain on any complaint, and charge you hundreds of dollars to get it back. Even if that complaint is entirely frivolous. I've never used GoDaddy for various other reasons, but that's the reason I'd never consdier them.

              I use tucows to manage my domains. Works great, but the setup overhead probably isn't worth it for fewer than ten to fifteen domains.

              If you want an honest, full service registrar you're probably going to have to pay more than bargain basement pr

      • Re:Just don't be an idiot (Score:4, Insightful)

        by i.r.id10t ( 595143 ) on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @07:03PM (#13609459)
        DnyDNS (www.dyndns.org) for me. I used their free subdomain service for a couple of years (and of course ddclient), so when I decided to buy a domain I registered it thru them and use them for dns. No problems/complaints for 3 years now.
        • Agreed. They do an excellent job hosting my zone, also. (Yeah, I could do it myself but I would spend more than $20 in my own time doing that, so I let them deal with it for $20/year.)

      • I've used ET Webhosting [etwebhosting.com] for several sites, both for hosting and domain registration, and have no complaints. They send notification of impending expiration well in advance.

      • Re:Just don't be an idiot (Score:3, Informative)

        by timur ( 2029 )
        I recommend DreamHost [dreamhost.com]. I've been using them for five years, and I really like their services. If you host your web site with them (cheapest plan is $8/month for 2 years), then domain registration is free.
      • I highly recommend them. Great prices, great value for all the features and low-level control you get, auto-renew, whois privacy protection, and the site isn't plastered with confusing ads. Their tech support isn't bad either. YMMV, but I switched all three of my domains to them, and it's been great so far.

      • Re:Just don't be an idiot (Score:5, Informative)

        by Malor ( 3658 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @01:15AM (#13611312) Journal
        Namecheap [namecheap.com] seems quite good. I like their site layout a lot. Everything makes sense and is easy to do... and if for some reason you're confused, they even have tutorials available. They also offer WhoisGuard, which anonymizes your contact information through a remailer. This means people can still contact you if there's a problem with a domain, but they don't automatically get your real name, address, and email.

        They're also, as their name implies, quite cheap. $8.88/yr for domains, and another $5/year or so for WhoisGuard, if you want that. They offer many free services as well, like domain website redirection and good DNS management.

        I haven't seen them do anything even REMOTELY duplicitous or sneaky.

        Joker.com [joker.com] was my prior registrar. They are also good, completely non-sneaky, and inexpensive. They probably cost a little more than Namecheap does now, because of the decline in the U.S. dollar. I switched because Joker had nothing like WhoisGuard at the time. (I don't know if they do now or not.) I'm happy with Namecheap, but I'd use Joker again anytime.

        I believe Namecheap is an eNom reseller, so they are a relatively small outfit, without the infrastructure of 'real' domain registrars, like Joker. The Namecheap site is better-designed and much easier to navigate, and they have a few features Joker doesn't. Joker can be downright cryptic at times. Everything works and does what it should, but the interface is 'early Linux desktop'... clunky and strangely laid out. Namecheap is extremely polished in comparison. That said, I've seen Namecheap's web redirects get squirrely a couple of times.

        I used Network Solutions for many years, as well. They have a good interface and extremely robust infrastructure, but they're expensive. They're also complete bastards, and try to upsell you in unscrupulous ways. I suggest avoiding them. GoDaddy is another very bad outfit. And their CEO advocates torture. (he thinks we're not hard enough in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib). I suggest never, never using them.

        On the whole, if you're running a small to medium site, Namecheap may be one of your best choices. If you're running a big setup, particularly if the registrar is redirecting your website or hosting your DNS, you'd probably be better off with Joker's superior infrastructure.
      • I use Gandi. www.gandi.net - easy to use online management, reliable warnings for 30, 15, 1 and 0 days before a domain expires. 12 EUR/year. I've been using them since 2001 with no complaints or problems whatsoever.
      • enameco.com works for my domains. Last year I let one slip past the date, they put a LOCK on the domain for 30 days and allowed me to renew it late and keep it. Cant argue with that kind of service in my book.
      • I have been quite happy for the last 5 or so years with register4less [register4less.com]. They are cheap, have been very reliable with notifications, have nice privacy options for whois data, keep a domain on hold for a while after it expired (and let you renew it without additional fees) and you can use their DNS servers as well as your own (without extra fees in either case).

        I just renewed 2 domains, and found I also had 2 expired domains that I no longer use. They were still on hold and register4less was waiting for the ho
    • I had several bad experiences with netsol. A friend suggested mapname.com. After some investigation I transferred my domains over.

      It is amazing how many warnings you get from them as your domain names get close to expiring. They start warning you months before it expires and fairly frequently as the expiration date gets close.

      The guys that run it are responsive and actually take tech support seriously.

      There is usually some kind of sale going on, and you can also buy multiple "credits" at a discounted pri

    • Re:Just don't be an idiot (Score:4, Informative)

      by Allnighterking ( 74212 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @01:48AM (#13611417) Homepage
      Just so that you know This happened with one of the largest registrars on the net. Not a fly by night. But a name everyone will know as a volume dealer.
  • But be realistic - you were notified that the domain was expiring. You failed to act within what is now a very generous expiration window.

    Really... the last thing expiring domains need is one more "last-chance" for the people who fail to pay for their domain. The best solution, if you're really worried about keeping a name, is to buy a five or ten-year claim.
    • The best solution, if you're really worried about keeping a name, is to buy a five or ten-year claim.

      When I first got my domains, I was lucky to keep them renewed on time (money was that short!). Now I keep them renewed so they never have less than a year before expiration. I'll probably up that soon, too.

      I also have them registered through Directnic, which has gotten a lot of publicity recently because of their ability to stay online throughout the entire Katrina situation. They've treated me well and s
      • Directnic is awesome. I get messages at (I think) 60, 30, 15, 7 days and probably more when an expiration is coming up. (I've never let it get further.) From their FAQ:

        Q: When I buy a domain, who owns it?

        A: If you purchase a domain in your own directNIC account, you are the owner (registrant) of the domain during the registration. directNIC is your registrar. You have the total control of your domain name and you can make modifications, transfers, or sell the domain name at any time during your registration

    • But be realistic - you were notified that the domain was expiring.

      Had you bothered to even just read the write-up, you'd have seen:

      I also did not receive notice that it was to expire either.

      That's one of your arguments out of the window.
      Second, with pre-selling expiring domains, and no expiry-notification (although you could keep track of it yourself, probably), buying a 5 to 10 year claim only means you have a chance of losing your domain after 5 or 10 years, as opposed to the submitters 3 years. So I

    • The best solution, if you're really worried about keeping a name, is to buy a five or ten-year claim.

      That's a two-edged sword - 10 years from now that domain won't auto-renew on your [long since expired] credit card, and when the card has expired twice in the interim you might not think to go update the details on the registrar's site.
    • But be realistic - you were notified that the domain was expiring. You failed to act within what is now a very generous expiration window.

      No I was not notified. Not a peep. Normally I would expect that the day of expiration, they would "cut me off" then I would have the 42 days to rebuy. (as outlined in the agreement I clicked to 3 years ago) Nope 12 midnight on the 18th of Sept 2004 I was cut off and at 8am on the 19th of Sept 2004, when I woke up and tried to get mail etc..... Someone else owned my do
    • You have the absolute RIGHT to retrieve your domain name for at least 65 days after it expires, more like 75 days. It might cost you a redemption fee but you have the RIGHT.
      Demand your RIGHTS under the agreement your registrar has with ICANN.
      They cannot take your property 8 hours after it expires.
      It expires and becomes available for registration by another person after the redemption period expires. It is not the property of your registrar, even though they would like that.

  • Start a venture! (Score:4, Funny)

    by JVert ( 578547 ) <corganbilly@hotmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @05:18PM (#13608579) Journal
    Develop a browser plugin that when entering a domain it will check the history of ownership for that domain. If the domain is under dispute, give the user the option to choose with which owner they wish to view, the current or previous. You control the database of what owners are fighting over what and technically it sounds as simple as modifying the hosts file.

    The trick is to get it popular enough. The goal here is not to propigate this function on your own but get microsoft excited enough to steal the whole concept and wrap it in their latest browser. Now that tabbed browsing is finally being included who knows what comes next?

  • Network Solutions just screwed us too (Score:5, Informative)

    by dtfinch ( 661405 ) * on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @05:19PM (#13608585) Journal
    Our business name is "ICW International" and they stole icwinternational.com from us by refusing to let us pay to renew it, even before it expired. Now it's still under their ownership, but they've turned it into ads. Their phone support has refused to help us. They'll give it back for several hundred $, but they've cost us a great deal more over their rotten, criminal business practices.
    • I find it hard to believe that NetSol "stole" it from you by refusing to let you pay to renew it. Why would they want to 'steal' your domain name?

      I know lots of people don't like Network Solutions, but if this really was the case, and you can prove it, you would obviously have a good case in court to have it returned to you. Sorry, but it just doesn't sound very likely.

      And... er... if they *weren't* letting you renew it before it expired, why didn't you just transfer it to a different registrar?

      • Re:Network Solutions just screwed us too (Score:5, Interesting)

        by dtfinch ( 661405 ) * on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @05:44PM (#13608820) Journal
        I attribute it more to incompetence than malice. They had it locked so we couldn't transfer it. Backordering hasn't worked. Their last response was to use their "make a certified offer" and offer enough to make them want to switch it back. The root of the problem was that the original developer of the site registered the domain several years ago, forgot the login password, changed his home address and phone number, and changed his email address. This is just enough to break all of Network Solutions' procedures for verifying that it's our domain. We've been fighting with them a couple months, calling several times a week. It should be bloody obvious to them that it's our domain. If it wasn't, it's already expired so they could just sell it to us. If they don't let us buy it back, we'll file a UDRP complaint, which'll cost us a couple thousand $ more.
        • yes, it also was Network Solutions, and I had to fax in a copy of my drivers license to get them to change their info.

          Since then I haven't had a problem with them.

          The only issue would be if you were NOT listed as ANY of the contacts (tech, admin or registrant). And in that case, I wouldn't let you change anything either.
      • We'll probably put up a similar page. It wouldn't be the first time we've put up anonymous websites educating the public about someone that tried to screw us. Luckily we don't keep all our eggs in one basket. It was one of our least popular sites, despite it being our name.
    • I know it doesn't help you at all, but it's not possible to register a .com.au domain without having a company with, you know, the *actual name of the domain you're trying to register*.

      It's the same story with all the other forms of the .au domain (.org.au, .asn.au, etc). You have to prove registration of the name in question in real-world-land in order to register. I couldn't even register [myname].org.au, I had to register [myname].id.au, since I am not an organisation, but an individual.

  • I Believe . . . (Score:4, Informative)

    by Dausha ( 546002 ) on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @05:20PM (#13608596) Homepage
    I believe there's a Federal law prohibiting squatting. That is, if you either have a trademark or lose a site, then you can buy the domain name for the regular registration site. This was a big deal a few years back.

    • I believe there's a Federal law prohibiting squatting.

      There is, it's called the 1999 Anti-CyberSquatting Act, or the more official name of Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, or the even more official name of S.1948 Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999.

      Too bad it doesn't cover the current scheme of patent squatting being rampantly performed by some companies with the excuse that they are doing it "defensively." Or does it? IANAL, but if it applies to names

  • You don't own squat (Score:3, Insightful)

    by FatRatBastard ( 7583 ) on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @05:26PM (#13608648) Homepage
    found out that I was no longer the owner of a domain I've owned for over 3 years, that this domain is now the 'property' of a domain squatter selling google adds on my hard earned search engine status.

    Not that this is going to make you feel any better, or help out in any way, but you never *owned* the domain name in the first place. IMO that's one of the major problems with the way the registry is set up in the first place.

    If you own a trademark to the name you may (and I stress may) be able to get it back, or at least keep others from using the name (take it to arbitration???) but, from the sound of it, you're probably SOL.

    • Not that this is going to make you feel any better, or help out in any way, but you never *owned* the domain name in the first place.

      That depends on who his registrar is. I use Gandi and I own the domain as long as I pay for it. In fact, it's the first sentence in the first section of their contract [gandi.net].

      I don't understand how this story even got posted. If there was ever a non-story, this is it. Some guy lets his domain name expire, it's registered by someone else, and then he publicly gripes about it

      • If you really owned it, would you have to keep paying Gandi each year to make sure that you _still_ own it?

    • If you own a trademark to the name

      If you've been using it for 3 years, and it's directly (or obviously) derivable from your business name then it doesn't need to be registered as a trademark to get the same protections under the law.

      A trademark can be either registered with the PTO or it can be a commonly used word, phrase or graphic that people commonly associate with your business. Your domain name, being in use for over 3 years, would be commonly associated with your business by people who know of

      • This is actually true. Most "places" that allow trademarking state that you have to use it on product or or services before you can officially trademark it. Its also stated that Trademarking doesn't give you much legal leverage...
  • Submitter: It leaves one to wonder what would have happened a few years ago when Hotmail expired. Would Microsoft have been stuck? Or would they be doing what I've been asked to do: pony up 20k to get my domain back!"

    Microsoft would pony up a LOT more than 20K to get Hotmail back ... and/or spend that much on lawyers too.

  • If all else fails ... kick and scream. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bgramkow ( 664943 ) on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @05:31PM (#13608695)
    Unfortunately, there isn't a lot that can be done about this. Most domain registrars no longer send out notices when your domain is about to expire. To make things worse, if your information (contact info, etc) in the registrars database is incorrect they may cancel your domain within 15 days if you don't respond to their notice. I've read that ICANN started requiring registrars to contact customers yearly regarding domain status, but this doesn't seem to be enforced.

    As far as what you can do, I suppose the going rate for bulk prevention is still about 16 times that of bulk cure.

    Try to keep track of domain names and expiration dates. Consider consolidating domains if you own more than one. Renew early and/or for a longer time period. If nothing else, search the net and try to buy a domain ... yours.

    Verify the owner information with the registrar. For businesses the corporate owner or other company personnel should be listed as the domain owner. (NOT the company name or the name of an outside web designer) Remember this is the person who will be authorized to make changes, renew, etc.

    Make sure that you're getting the registrar's emails. Don't give the registrar an email address you may not have in a few years. Add the registrar's domain to your email account's no spam list.

    Oh and one more thing: Send a nasty email to your domain registrar from a throwaway email account. That ALWAYS works.
  • I'll say it again, a domain name is NOT intellectual property. Owning it is NOT the same as owning a trademark, it is not protected by any laws, and if you loose it you have no recourse. Everybody including google seems to think the opposite, but the law indicates otherwise. If you loose it, you loose it, and as long as contractual responsibilities of managing it are honored, if you don't renew you are fucked. Nobody put in your contract they have to notify you 30 days prior to expiration, did they?
    • True, but if you happen to own a trademark on the name, then you can prevent anybody else from making use of it, which negates the profit incentive for them to grab your domain. Trademark your domain, and you can probably get your domain back in cases like this, without too much effort.
    • You are not entirely true, in fact you are referring to USA rules regarding .com .net and .org domains. The rules about italian .it domains are dramatically differents so that the domain name is equivalent with trade marks. There has been also a controversial judgment on the dispute over armani.it between misters Giorgio Armani (who registered the name "armani") and Luca Armani (who *was* the domain owner).
  • of which you speak?

  • Most registrars have an option to auto-renew your domain. Problem solved.
  • "this domain is now the 'property' of a domain squatter selling google adds on my hard earned search engine status."

    HA!!

    If your domain was so important you would have paid attention and not let it expire.

  • I have a bit of the same problem.... (Score:3, Informative)

    by herrvinny ( 698679 ) on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @05:59PM (#13608962)
    I'm trying to purchase a domain from a domain squatter. He's just putting up a GoDaddy ForSale sign, but he doesn't know the first thing about selling a domain. I've offered him $300, which I think is a fair price, but he's holding out for a multithousand dollar offer, which is extremely doubtful, considering the domain name. (not posting the domain name so he isn't warned) Anyway, to keep On Topic, try using Snapnames.com to retrieve the domain when it expires, or try suing them. There is a law (see below link) that bans cybersquatting: http://www.gigalaw.com/library/anticybersquattinga ct-1999-11-29-p1.html [gigalaw.com]
    • That's funny. I've had the same experience. There happened to be a name I was interested that was being squatted. I asked them for a quote, and it came back at 10,000 dollars. I said that was way out of my league, and thank you but no. They asked me to make a counter offer. I said that I really hadn't been planning on going above 100 dollars, as I didn't have a lot of cash. After that, for 6 straight months, offers kept trickling in every week or two... first for 6,000, then 3,000, then 1,000, 900...
    • I'm having a similar problem too.. trying to buy a domain from a squatter... yet in my case, I've asked for a quote and they won't even give me one! I'm just ignored! At least if they said I'd owe them $10k, I could say "that's unreasonable", but I don't even get that!

      It isn't even like I'm competing with someone for it... they've been squatting that domain for 4 years, ever since I purchased the .org equivalent of their .com!

  • From "How To Snatch Domain Names" (Score:5, Informative)

    by Goo.cc ( 687626 ) * on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @06:03PM (#13609001)

    Here is a quote from an excellent article from Mike Davidson's Blog [mikeindustries.com] where he talking about how domain names expire:

    "Contrary to popular belief, domains do not expire when they say they do. If the owner of a domain does not renew by the expiration date of the domain, the domain goes into "expired" status. For 40 days, the domain is in a grace period where all services are shut off, but the domain owner may still renew the domain for a standard renewal fee. If a domain enters this period, it is a good first indicator that it may not be renewed, but since the owner can re-register without penalty, it can also just be a sign of laziness or procrastination.

    After 40 days are up, the domain's status changes to "redemption period". During this phase, all WhoIs information begins disappearing, and more importantly, it now costs the owner an additional fee to re-activate and re-register the domain. The fee is currently around $100, depending on your registrar. When a domain enters its redemption period, it's a good bet the owner has decided not to renew.

    Finally, after the redemption period, the domain's status will change to "locked" as it enters the deletion phase. The deletion phase is 5 days long, and on the last day between 11am and 2pm Pacific time, the name will officially drop from the ICANN database and will be available for registration by anybody."

    • then wouldn't it be practically impossible for a cyber squatter to snatch a domain that is actually in use? If "all services are shut off" doesn't that mean that the website and/or email will cease?
      • What the previous post forgot to mention is this:

        Registrars "own" the domain, in the sense that they can themselves pay the renewal to Verisign, change the whois on the domain, and they sell it to someone else, all without it ever actually "expiring" at all. This is what happened to the poster. Registrars control the whois. Who the owner of the domain is is whoever they say it is.

        Actually, it's even worse now. Verisign "auto-renews" the domains on their expiry date and charges the registrar for doing so
    • For 40 days, the domain is in a grace period where all services are shut off, but the domain owner may still renew the domain for a standard renewal fee.

      First you are correct. Second despite the print advertising this flat didn't happen if it had. I wouldn't have "Asked Slashdot"

  • Notification (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sethadam1 ( 530629 ) * <ascheinberg&gmail,com> on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @06:04PM (#13609006) Homepage
    Look, buddy, I hate to be cavalier about it, because I totally empathize. I let a domain expire about 2 years ago, and was lucky enough to be able to renew it. But honestly, it's your fault, just as it was mine then. It's really not much different than getting your car towed: had you remembered to put change in the meter, you'd be fine, but since you didn't you now have to pay a REALLY exhorbitant amount to get your car back.

    Since my episode, I switched to godaddy.com (I am not affiliated, just a happy customer). Godaddy emails me at 90, 60, 30, 15, 10, and 5 days until expiration, and even has an auto-renew option so my domains renew themselves.

    Definitely check them out.
    • I also reccomend GoDaddy. They are useful on the phone, and do have all of the online tools that can allow me to auto renew via email. I have done this for several years now, and wont use another registrar without it.

      Plus they are also very clear as of what the law grants me, the consumer, and what recourses I do have.
    • First... I ain't your bud. Second, if stated policy (like the 40 day grace with all the domain in stasis) had happened I'd be kicking myself in the butt, and no problem. Heck it even happened to Microsoft (hotmail) and a number of other name domains. The complaint is that the registrar you are so fond of sold off a domain with a high google rank (#1 depending on the search) to a domain add spammer.

      BTW the day after I bought the same domain with the top 3 tld's since they were unowned (and known to me had

      • Re:Notification (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        >> First... I ain't your bud.

        Then why the f is he wasting his time giving you advice for being a dumbass? Piss off, you irresponsible asshat.
  • It is not in the public interest to have advertising companies doing this. Such companies do little to no public good and a certain amount of public harm in their normal course of operations by wasting resources. They do considerably more harm in these cases. It would be ideal to do structural changes to DNS to make their model of business unprofitable or undoable, or legal changes to make it illegal. As a lesser solution, perhaps practices like this should be illegal or prohibited.
  • Yeah, I let a couple of mine slip into expired status, then into Redeemtion status, now eNom want $160 per domain to get them back. I suspect someone put in a bid somewhere for the domains. They haven't started squatting yet, but you just know they won't release them back into the public pool when there's money to be made.

    I let them expire as I don't really need them anymore, plus eNom's prices are a rip-off at $30 p/a, or $30 to transfer out. All my other domains are with another provider for $15 p/a, w

  • Looks Familiar (Score:2, Interesting)

    by renata.org ( 692451 )
    I had similar problems with a registrar a couple of years ago. I didn't receive any notice of expiration and when it expired, they asked me to pay a 200 USD charge for reactivation... After some discussion, I could renew the domain for the normal price and as soon as I could I changed to another registrar, where all my domains are kept safe today, with many notices of their expiration dates.
  • The concept of pre-selling domain names before they expire...blah blah blah...The day after it expired...blah blah blah...

    You admit to letting your domain name registration expire. Where's the pre-selling?

    As for those wondering where to find a good registrar, I have a small personal web site with Digital Space [digitalspace.net] with domain names registered through them. When the registration comes up for expiration I get email notice at 90, 60, and 30-days before the expiration date.

    Seriously, OP needs to grow up.

    • You admit to letting your domain name registration expire. Where's the pre-selling?

      Learn to read. The time lag between my losing the domain and the other guy picking it up was 0. There was no "statis Period" as outlined in the agreement and noted by others. If the domain wasn't "valuable" then 42 days before possesion transferred I would have been cut off with time to say "oh Shizza" pay my "fine" so to speak and not bother /.

      In order for the time lag to be 0 it had to be sold before it expired. You can
  • Man, I sort of want to snark all over this poor guy for using a shady registrar and getting shafted, but can we have a moment here, please? Does anyone remember the old, old days of, say, 1994?

    Back when the internet was just this weird old place full of academics, old-school hacker types, weird "cyberspace" early adopters and the few commerical institutions who had some kind of online presence were seen as strange little furry mammals slinking around in the shadows not bothering anybody? When you actuall
    • I sort of want to snark all over this poor guy for using a shady registrar and getting shafted

      So which registrar(s) do you trust?
      • I don't -- I don't have to. But there must be some out there. The internet is an extremely transparent medium, and it is very hard to astroturf your fraudulence out of the public view. If I was looking for a registrar, I'd figure out what the biggest forum was, and browse around there for awhile (perhaps this one? [webhostingtalk.com] Maybe.) I imagine I'd discover pretty quickly who was and wasn't shady.

  • Gee, how low-tech (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by Lars T. ( 470328 )
    here [heise.de] is an article (in German - Google Translation [tinyurl.com]) about a Trojan that is used to do distributed checks whether >12,000 well known domains have become "free" on various WhoIs databases. Which are then taken over within minutes and used to promote (porno-)dialers and the trojan.
  • Take some personal responsibility and figure out when all of your domains expire. I've heard this 'whois' thing-a-ma-bob works wonders.

    Then put the dates on your calendar and remind yourself a month ahead of time.

    When you get reminded, renew your registration.

    Done.

    I mean, if your domain name is important enough that you will miss it when it's gone, you shouldn't be leaving it in the hands of anybody else.
  • Domains should be like cars. How is that? Well you buy a car, but it has to be registered with some authority inorder for you to drive it down the street, or in most places even in the back woods for that matter.

    Even if that registration expires you still own it, however in most places your now required to remove it from public streets. Even sitting in front of your house its illegal to have it on a public street.

    Domains should be the same way, you own it from the moment its created. Registration is just
  • I think in the UK, Nominet's dispute policy covers domain squatters and they don't hardly ever go in favour of squatters. Maybe the same applies with ICANN contact them and report it and see how it goes from there.

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