GoDaddy-owned Dan.com ignored user settings, funneling domains to Afternic

The latest product release at Dan.com arrived yesterday with an email notifying users that domains with a BIN price will be added to Afternic.

Those who had opted out of this integration presumed that no such decision will be made without their authorization.

The GoDaddy-owned company went ahead regardless of user choice, toggling the integration setting of accounts to ON. In effect, all domains that involved a BIN price were funneled out to Afternic and its network of registrars, without an explicit authorization by account holders.

Such a disregard of user choice sets a dangerous precedent, as GoDaddy seems to believe that it’s “ok” to make decisions on their behalf. It seems that GoDaddy thinks “it’s no big deal” to do so, as the action can be reversed: By opting out (again!) from the Afternic integration at Dan.com, these domains are removed from Afternic.

Of course, this move by GoDaddy should have consequences. It was not a glitch, or a code error—it’s a calculated attempt to dump domain inventory to Afternic, an aged marketplace in perpetual beta. While both Dan.com and Afternic are GoDaddy companies, each platform has its own terms of service and rules. Users of either service should not be forced to use the other, or to have their portfolios forcefully listed for sale.

Domain investors pointed out that the integration arrives with plenty of complications, such as minimum offers becoming “floor prices” at Afternic:

On February 1st, GoDaddy announced that Dan.com and Uni Market fees increased to 15%, while Afternic fees dropped to the same number. The real scandal is what happens to domains listed for sale on GoDaddy-owned marketplaces, all while using a non-approved DNS: fees of 25% are imposed.

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Comments

2 Responses to “GoDaddy-owned Dan.com ignored user settings, funneling domains to Afternic”
  1. BullS says:

    as I said why bother
    Dan will be gone sooner than later
    what the point of running 2 devil platforms??
    a company running 2 platforms makes no sense

  2. Jeff says:

    It gets worse… there is a thread at Acorn Domains – people whose BINs were set in GBP on Dan are having the BIN change to the same number in USD on Afternic. So Godaddy is not able to deal with different currencies and putting the wrong BIN on Afternic domains.

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