Don’t be mad if you didn’t renew your domain on time.
A domain owner who failed to renew it on time, witnessed it being picked up from GoDaddy by drop-catching company, DropCatch, which is affiliated with the registrar NameBright.
The domain wasn’t disclosed, and the furious former owner attributes its loss to an alleged sale of it by GoDaddy.
Apparently unfamiliar with the domain expiry cycle, the owner lashes out about the situation:
I failed to renew a .com domain that expired on January 31. It is now April 5. April 5 is also the date I actually discovered that the domain name was no longer active. I tried to renew it at my registrar, but due to ICANN regulations, domain names become available for others to register after 60 days, i.e. March 31.
At this point, at 8.55 pm I execute the whois command on my machine. It tells me the name of the registrar as expected, and something about this domain being expired. My registrar asked 60€ or about $70 dollars to get it back (instead of renewing it for about 9€ or $10). So I looked for another registrar in a search engine and found out GoDaddy.
At 8.57 pm, on the GoDaddy website I type my domain name, and the website tells me it is not available, and ask me if I want to transfer it. So I click that button, and then there are several hosting options. As I don’t want hosting I decide not to continue.
After failing to renew the domain, it eventually dropped, and was caught by DropCatch, most likely by someone who had placed a bid via their service:
WTF?! My domain was “caught” (an euphemism for stealing). And look at the time! That’s exactly when I searched for it on GoDaddy (my timezone is UTC+2). Coincidence? I don’t think so! What do I make of that? GoDaddy sells domain names to NameBright. If you want your domain back, you have to pay a ransom. Seriously I don’t even understand why services such as DropCatch are legal. IMO, it should be illegal for registrars to park domains and make profit by selling them.
What this person doesn’t seem to understand, is that unless a domain is renewed on time, it’s up for grabs by anyone, including drop-catching service providers.
GoDaddy clarified this by communicating to the distraught former owner, who is in denial still:
“A representative of GoDaddy told me the company had nothing to do with NameBright, yet I find the coincidence extremely odd. I just sent a message to my previous registrar asking it about if they know anything. We’ll see what they say. But, by the size of both companies, I’m guessing GoDaddy is the bad guy here. We’ll see…”
Clearly not the fault of anyone else but the domain’s former owner. Moral of the story: always renew your domains on time.
