GoDaddy sold the domain name UFOs.com after a week long expired domain auction, with a reported closing sale hitting $88,000 dollars.
Alas, not a penny from this auction will go to the estate of Harry Josephi DeLigter, the domain’s registrant who passed away from heart failure in November 2020 at the age of 73.
Mr. DeLigter nurtured this domain since its registration in 1996.
He is survived by his wife, the former Nancy Josephi; two sons, Richard, of Manhattan, and Harry, of Los Angeles; two sisters, Anne Lewallen of San Jacinto, Calif., and Joan Levi of New Rochelle, and a grandson.
Unlike the Carrot.com case that allowed the domain to remain in the hands of the deceased owner’s family, UFOs.com was not prevented from being auctioned. Carrot.com was subsequently sold by the deceased registrant’s family for $600,000 dollars.
GoDaddy will now receive $88,000 dollars plus renewal fees stemming from a sale that leaves many wonder, “what happens to my domain names when I die?”
Is it fair for a domain registrar to profit from the death of a domain registrant?
To avoid this predicament, read Mike Robertson’s advice on LinkedIn.
This is not what happened in the end, btw. I got in touch with his brother who renewed the domain in the last minute.