8 ms·

Tell HN: GoDaddy Stole My Domain

63 points by novateg 3y ago

GoDaddy did not send any notifications about domain expiration and right after domain expiration they transferred domain to their own account. Now requiring to hire their broker to purchase the domain. The domain is still pointing to the IP address of my site. The domain has expired on January 25, on January 26th they sent an expiration notice. But I couldn't find the domain neither in expired nor in active domains.

jseliger 3y ago
Happens all the time. Don't use GoDaddy. Try NameCheap.
- novateg 3y ago
  I use both. Never had this issue before
- elmerfud 3y ago
  I've never heard of name cheap pulling shady stuff like this but the name cheap has their own set of problems. If they don't agree with your ideology they will terminate your service.
  - metaloha 3y ago
    What's the story on this? I have at least one site that sounds like it might be in danger if that's true.
    - elmerfud 3y ago
      https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/20/the-daily-stormer-was-back-online-for-a-quick-second/?guccounter=1 https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/20/the-daily-stormer-was-back... I don't defend what the daily stormer has to say but I would defend their right to say it and not be canceled. To be clear it wasn't only namecheap involved in this effort to cancel their domain but since the name cheap was mentioned as an alternative to GoDaddy that is why I brought it up. We may not like the consequences of free speech but this mindset that businesses like namecheap simply registering a name so DNS resolution can happen refusing to do that based upon content they disagree with but in no way participate in bothers me a lot. Especially when it seems to be a coordinated effort of all of the registrars attempting to do this. Should the people who hold those beliefs not be allowed to rent housing, purchase electricity, shop at the grocery store, eating the restaurants? It is very dangerous to exclude people from a society based upon their ideology and their speech.
      - fckgw 3y ago
        Those companies are also exercising their free speech rights not to platform that kind of hateful content. Free speech give you the right to talk but not the right to force me to listen.
        elmerfud 3y ago
        Do you take the same attitude when a Colorado bakery decided not to sell a cake to a homosexual couple? At least that's what the news media portrayed. The reality was that the bakery was more than willing to sell them a cake but what they were unwilling to do was use their creative expression to support a position they did not agree with. Because when you say companies in a coordinated effort can exercise their freedoms to exclude people they disagree with from society in a manner that forms collusion so it effectively deplatforms them from being able to express themselves in society that is where it becomes wrong. In the same manner it would be wrong if shops that sell things refuse to sell things to people who lived a lifestyle they don't agree with. No one is asking and name cheap to use their expressive creative ability or even to host on their own systems content they find objectionable. It is simply asking them to do the one minimum thing which is register a domain name and have some glue records. The fact you do not see the difference is troublesome. You need to take a long hard cold look at history and how your position has denied people of all beliefs the capability to function in society.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - Sohcahtoa82 3y ago
        Are we having this conversation for the millionth time? Free speech doesn't mean everyone is required to give you a platform.
        elmerfud 3y ago
        An example was asked for and given where there is an ideological based denial of service. Because a registrar doesn't host or display any information that is objectionable it's simply registers some glue records. They are not giving anyone a platform. Your same attitude means that I'm not required to sell cakes to people I don't like, but I bet you were on the other side of that debate. And that is the fundamental danger of using ideology to justify denying someone a place in society. It has been used throughout history to deny a minority a place in a society that the majority didn't want. That is not the kind of world we should strive to have where the majority can deny the minority based on an ideology and lock them out of society.
- remram 3y ago
  NameCheap is on the frontpage right now for very similar problems: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39203315 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39203315
  - joering2 3y ago
    I could ignore the Eastern European staff members even though the majority of clientele is in the USA but how the heck I see the same UI issues, bugs, weird empty "warning" popups and glitches that I seen some 12 years ago today, that just boggles my mind.
- jesterson 3y ago
  Oh boy, try everything else than namecheap. Not sure which company is more scammy and incompetent. Likely godaddy more scammy, while namecheap more incompetent
novateg 3y ago
Does anyone have the same experience with GoDaddy? What are my options?
- _smfg 3y ago
  I've liked Porkbun and NameSilo, their support staff are really helpful. Porkbun has the better UI.
- solardev 3y ago
  Cloudflare's been great
codegeek 3y ago
First, Godaddy is a scammy company. Stay away from them for future. NOw, as far as I know, when a domain expires, you have a grace period as per ICANN here: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/domain-name-renewal-expiration-faqs-2018-12-07-en https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/domain-name-renewal-ex... I don't know if you have any legal options but according to ICANN, you should be able to renew the expired domain without extortion.
- novateg 3y ago
  thank you, i'll get in touch with them again using the information
- m463 3y ago
  wow: Keep an eye out for renewal reminders ICANN policy requires registrars to send you two renewal reminders approximately one month and one week before expiration of a domain name. Take immediate action when you receive these reminders to avoid the potential of losing your domain name. Be sure to keep your contact information up to date so that you receive these important reminders. Additionally: My domain name has just expired. Can my registrar require me to pay for a renewal before I can transfer the domain name to a new registrar? No. You have the right to transfer an expired domain. Registrars are not allowed to deny a transfer due to expiration or non-renewal. (unless you haven't paid for a previous registration period).
anfilt 3y ago
I use namecheap mostly for domains they don’t offer a few other registrars like name.com However STAY AWAY from godaddy!
girishso 3y ago
Slightly tangential, many years ago I searched for a really cool .com domain and it was available. Tried to book the domain after a couple of days and the domain was gone. My hunch is that the site I used for searching booked it by themselves. These days I only search for domains when I’m ready purchase right away.
ekimehtor 3y ago
I have generally had good experience dealing with Go Daddy, there was a bit of an incident with an auto renew hitting my credit card for a few hundred dollars that I wasn't expecting. I have also noticed that the site appearance seems subpar and they are pushing several third-party Products such as Microsoft 365. Personally I just locked up my domain names for the next 10 years so that I don't have to worry about renewals or policy changes [hopefully anyways!]
hbcondo714 3y ago
One domain I have had for over 20 years was originally purchased with GoDaddy. I then transferred to Google Domains when that opened up for supposedly better integration with Google Workspace. Now Google Domains is closing up and transferring to Squarespace but I just received an email that they do not support Dynamic DNS (DDNS) so now I'm looking to transfer my domain again. I was thinking about going back to GoDaddy because their customer service was nice in helping me resolve a DNS entry issue. Namecheap appears to have good reviews here but I was also looking into https://porkbun.com https://porkbun.com but they do not appear to have DDNS.
- aranelsurion 3y ago
  Having just recently dealt with GoDaddy support, I can tell you that it all seems to be outsourced elsewhere. Their agent had absolutely no idea what they were talking about and only seemed to be interested in getting rid of me as quickly as they can. I ended up solving my issue by inspecting HTTP requests in the dev. console, to find out the error their backend emitted and their frontend wouldn't show.
- zipping1549 3y ago
  You can use their own DDNS client they built to showcase their api or you can build your own with their api: https://kb.porkbun.com/article/190-getting-started-with-the-porkbun-api https://kb.porkbun.com/article/190-getting-started-with-the-...
- beckler 3y ago
  move your domain(s) to porkbun, but setup cloudflare's nameservers on your domain. then you can manage your records and setup ddns through cloudflare.
  - techcode 3y ago
    For those of you that use DDNS for essentially homelab (say to allow friends and family to watch media on your self hosted Plex Media Server) - just use TailScale. I would think about actual publicly know IP address (like it is for dynamic DNS) only for things like hosting your own mail server.
GauntletWizard 3y ago
This happened to a client of mine, almost precisely a year ago. I had warned them - get your domain off Godaddy ASAP. They didn't listen, and left it for three months after winning it in one of Godaddy's "Auctions", which promised a year's renewal as part of the auction. Godaddy not only didn't send renewal notices, they admitted they didn't send renewal notices, and he had to buy it back from them again at "Auction" 3 months later. This time, he was sure to transfer it as soon as possible.
mdotk 3y ago
Dynadot is best. Avoid Godaddy like the plague.
- joering2 3y ago
  No it is not. As someone who has been using basically every registrar out there, I can tell you DynaDot has one of best prices (at least first year) but just about year ago they had nasty problem with their DNS servers (all 3 !) and all my sites with domains hosted there were down, 100% in the dark. Ultimately they fixed it and apologized but going through their forum you could see this was constantly happening and many people were upset. I never heard of domain registrar all 3 DNS servers going down for close to 10 hours straight. Big red flag in year 2023. I moved out to what I consider being extremely stable and easy to chat for help registrar located with staff in USA (contrary to namecheap) that is NameSilo. They are usually $1 more expensive but who cares? I still register with DynaDot sometimes when I see real good deal price wise but if I want to use the domain for live project I transfer it to NameSilo.
- jefozabuss 3y ago
  Not sure if they are the best but I'm also a Dynadot costumer for ~15 years and had no problems reactivating expired domains (happened mostly due to forgetting I don't have enough balance prepaid in my account and the emails going to spam for some reason)
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
nickisnoble 3y ago
iwantmyname.com
minhoryang 3y ago
Did you check your spam page first? (just curious) I can't believe this can be happened. Pre-notice/action-note has to be delivered before the arrival of the last meaningful day.
MikeyRobertson 3y ago
Here's a chart that outlines typical lifecycle of a domain name: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-lifecycle-2012-02-25-en https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-lifecycle-2012-02... Every registrar is required to allow the customer to renew the domain during the 45 day "Auto Renew Grace Period". A caveat to this, some registrars will have in their terms that after 33 days the domain will be sent to an "expired domains" auction. That said, since the domain is only a few days into the "Auto Renew Grace Period" you should still have the opportunity to renew the domain. I've been working in the domain industry for 20+ years, feel free to reach out if you'd like me to take a look at this for you and offer guidance/assistance.
Postosuchus 3y ago
Exactly same scenario for me. They generously offered me to re-activate the domain for $55 "lapse" fee. I generously offered them to shove it and registered a slightly different domain with a more reputable registrar. Priceless lesson, as it was a tiny hobby website.
threesevenths 3y ago
I have had the opposite experience with GoDaddy. I have been a customer of theirs for 20 years having bought my first domain in 2003. At my peak I had two dozen domains with them. Their customer service has always been quick to respond and take action and proactively reaches out once a year and thankfully not more. I have not had any domains taken from me for any reason, and have used their auction service to sell a few, and their back order service to get one. I don’t love their prices, especially for some of the newer gTLDs. I use their DNS and have not once noticed a problem, though one might’ve happened without my knowledge. I don’t think I’d choose them today if I was starting from scratch based solely on pricing but as it stands I don’t plan to move to anyone else at this point.
- southernplaces7 3y ago
  How idiotic that this above comment gets downvoted just because it goes against majority narrative here. The comment was an honest personal opinion of their own experience with Godaddy, nothing more, but of course a certain absurdly and somewhat surprisingly childish mindset on this site seems to be self-absorbed attitude of completely disdaining anything that doesn't fit a cozy personal and nearly tribal diatribe in favor of X or against Y. Sometimes you'd almost think one was reading YouTube comments instead of those written by supposedly adult, balanced tech people.

63 points by novateg 3y ago

jseliger 3y ago

Happens all the time. Don't use GoDaddy. Try NameCheap.

novateg 3y ago
I use both. Never had this issue before
elmerfud 3y ago
I've never heard of name cheap pulling shady stuff like this but the name cheap has their own set of problems. If they don't agree with your ideology they will terminate your service.
- metaloha 3y ago
  What's the story on this? I have at least one site that sounds like it might be in danger if that's true.
  - elmerfud 3y ago
    https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/20/the-daily-stormer-was-back-online-for-a-quick-second/?guccounter=1 https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/20/the-daily-stormer-was-back... I don't defend what the daily stormer has to say but I would defend their right to say it and not be canceled. To be clear it wasn't only namecheap involved in this effort to cancel their domain but since the name cheap was mentioned as an alternative to GoDaddy that is why I brought it up. We may not like the consequences of free speech but this mindset that businesses like namecheap simply registering a name so DNS resolution can happen refusing to do that based upon content they disagree with but in no way participate in bothers me a lot. Especially when it seems to be a coordinated effort of all of the registrars attempting to do this. Should the people who hold those beliefs not be allowed to rent housing, purchase electricity, shop at the grocery store, eating the restaurants? It is very dangerous to exclude people from a society based upon their ideology and their speech.
    - fckgw 3y ago
      Those companies are also exercising their free speech rights not to platform that kind of hateful content. Free speech give you the right to talk but not the right to force me to listen.
      - elmerfud 3y ago
        Do you take the same attitude when a Colorado bakery decided not to sell a cake to a homosexual couple? At least that's what the news media portrayed. The reality was that the bakery was more than willing to sell them a cake but what they were unwilling to do was use their creative expression to support a position they did not agree with. Because when you say companies in a coordinated effort can exercise their freedoms to exclude people they disagree with from society in a manner that forms collusion so it effectively deplatforms them from being able to express themselves in society that is where it becomes wrong. In the same manner it would be wrong if shops that sell things refuse to sell things to people who lived a lifestyle they don't agree with. No one is asking and name cheap to use their expressive creative ability or even to host on their own systems content they find objectionable. It is simply asking them to do the one minimum thing which is register a domain name and have some glue records. The fact you do not see the difference is troublesome. You need to take a long hard cold look at history and how your position has denied people of all beliefs the capability to function in society.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
    - Sohcahtoa82 3y ago
      Are we having this conversation for the millionth time? Free speech doesn't mean everyone is required to give you a platform.
      - elmerfud 3y ago
        An example was asked for and given where there is an ideological based denial of service. Because a registrar doesn't host or display any information that is objectionable it's simply registers some glue records. They are not giving anyone a platform. Your same attitude means that I'm not required to sell cakes to people I don't like, but I bet you were on the other side of that debate. And that is the fundamental danger of using ideology to justify denying someone a place in society. It has been used throughout history to deny a minority a place in a society that the majority didn't want. That is not the kind of world we should strive to have where the majority can deny the minority based on an ideology and lock them out of society.
remram 3y ago
NameCheap is on the frontpage right now for very similar problems: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39203315 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39203315
- joering2 3y ago
  I could ignore the Eastern European staff members even though the majority of clientele is in the USA but how the heck I see the same UI issues, bugs, weird empty "warning" popups and glitches that I seen some 12 years ago today, that just boggles my mind.
jesterson 3y ago
Oh boy, try everything else than namecheap. Not sure which company is more scammy and incompetent. Likely godaddy more scammy, while namecheap more incompetent

novateg 3y ago

Does anyone have the same experience with GoDaddy? What are my options?

_smfg 3y ago
I've liked Porkbun and NameSilo, their support staff are really helpful. Porkbun has the better UI.
solardev 3y ago
Cloudflare's been great

codegeek 3y ago

First, Godaddy is a scammy company. Stay away from them for future. NOw, as far as I know, when a domain expires, you have a grace period as per ICANN here: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/domain-name-renewal-expiration-faqs-2018-12-07-en https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/domain-name-renewal-ex... I don't know if you have any legal options but according to ICANN, you should be able to renew the expired domain without extortion.

novateg 3y ago
thank you, i'll get in touch with them again using the information
m463 3y ago
wow: Keep an eye out for renewal reminders ICANN policy requires registrars to send you two renewal reminders approximately one month and one week before expiration of a domain name. Take immediate action when you receive these reminders to avoid the potential of losing your domain name. Be sure to keep your contact information up to date so that you receive these important reminders. Additionally: My domain name has just expired. Can my registrar require me to pay for a renewal before I can transfer the domain name to a new registrar? No. You have the right to transfer an expired domain. Registrars are not allowed to deny a transfer due to expiration or non-renewal. (unless you haven't paid for a previous registration period).

anfilt 3y ago

I use namecheap mostly for domains they don’t offer a few other registrars like name.com However STAY AWAY from godaddy!

girishso 3y ago

Slightly tangential, many years ago I searched for a really cool .com domain and it was available. Tried to book the domain after a couple of days and the domain was gone. My hunch is that the site I used for searching booked it by themselves. These days I only search for domains when I’m ready purchase right away.

ekimehtor 3y ago

I have generally had good experience dealing with Go Daddy, there was a bit of an incident with an auto renew hitting my credit card for a few hundred dollars that I wasn't expecting. I have also noticed that the site appearance seems subpar and they are pushing several third-party Products such as Microsoft 365. Personally I just locked up my domain names for the next 10 years so that I don't have to worry about renewals or policy changes [hopefully anyways!]

hbcondo714 3y ago

One domain I have had for over 20 years was originally purchased with GoDaddy. I then transferred to Google Domains when that opened up for supposedly better integration with Google Workspace. Now Google Domains is closing up and transferring to Squarespace but I just received an email that they do not support Dynamic DNS (DDNS) so now I'm looking to transfer my domain again. I was thinking about going back to GoDaddy because their customer service was nice in helping me resolve a DNS entry issue. Namecheap appears to have good reviews here but I was also looking into https://porkbun.com https://porkbun.com but they do not appear to have DDNS.

aranelsurion 3y ago
Having just recently dealt with GoDaddy support, I can tell you that it all seems to be outsourced elsewhere. Their agent had absolutely no idea what they were talking about and only seemed to be interested in getting rid of me as quickly as they can. I ended up solving my issue by inspecting HTTP requests in the dev. console, to find out the error their backend emitted and their frontend wouldn't show.
zipping1549 3y ago
You can use their own DDNS client they built to showcase their api or you can build your own with their api: https://kb.porkbun.com/article/190-getting-started-with-the-porkbun-api https://kb.porkbun.com/article/190-getting-started-with-the-...
beckler 3y ago
move your domain(s) to porkbun, but setup cloudflare's nameservers on your domain. then you can manage your records and setup ddns through cloudflare.
- techcode 3y ago
  For those of you that use DDNS for essentially homelab (say to allow friends and family to watch media on your self hosted Plex Media Server) - just use TailScale. I would think about actual publicly know IP address (like it is for dynamic DNS) only for things like hosting your own mail server.

GauntletWizard 3y ago

This happened to a client of mine, almost precisely a year ago. I had warned them - get your domain off Godaddy ASAP. They didn't listen, and left it for three months after winning it in one of Godaddy's "Auctions", which promised a year's renewal as part of the auction. Godaddy not only didn't send renewal notices, they admitted they didn't send renewal notices, and he had to buy it back from them again at "Auction" 3 months later. This time, he was sure to transfer it as soon as possible.

mdotk 3y ago

Dynadot is best. Avoid Godaddy like the plague.

joering2 3y ago
No it is not. As someone who has been using basically every registrar out there, I can tell you DynaDot has one of best prices (at least first year) but just about year ago they had nasty problem with their DNS servers (all 3 !) and all my sites with domains hosted there were down, 100% in the dark. Ultimately they fixed it and apologized but going through their forum you could see this was constantly happening and many people were upset. I never heard of domain registrar all 3 DNS servers going down for close to 10 hours straight. Big red flag in year 2023. I moved out to what I consider being extremely stable and easy to chat for help registrar located with staff in USA (contrary to namecheap) that is NameSilo. They are usually $1 more expensive but who cares? I still register with DynaDot sometimes when I see real good deal price wise but if I want to use the domain for live project I transfer it to NameSilo.
jefozabuss 3y ago
Not sure if they are the best but I'm also a Dynadot costumer for ~15 years and had no problems reactivating expired domains (happened mostly due to forgetting I don't have enough balance prepaid in my account and the emails going to spam for some reason)

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

nickisnoble 3y ago

iwantmyname.com

minhoryang 3y ago

Did you check your spam page first? (just curious) I can't believe this can be happened. Pre-notice/action-note has to be delivered before the arrival of the last meaningful day.

MikeyRobertson 3y ago

Here's a chart that outlines typical lifecycle of a domain name: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-lifecycle-2012-02-25-en https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-lifecycle-2012-02... Every registrar is required to allow the customer to renew the domain during the 45 day "Auto Renew Grace Period". A caveat to this, some registrars will have in their terms that after 33 days the domain will be sent to an "expired domains" auction. That said, since the domain is only a few days into the "Auto Renew Grace Period" you should still have the opportunity to renew the domain. I've been working in the domain industry for 20+ years, feel free to reach out if you'd like me to take a look at this for you and offer guidance/assistance.

Postosuchus 3y ago

Exactly same scenario for me. They generously offered me to re-activate the domain for $55 "lapse" fee. I generously offered them to shove it and registered a slightly different domain with a more reputable registrar. Priceless lesson, as it was a tiny hobby website.

threesevenths 3y ago

I have had the opposite experience with GoDaddy. I have been a customer of theirs for 20 years having bought my first domain in 2003. At my peak I had two dozen domains with them. Their customer service has always been quick to respond and take action and proactively reaches out once a year and thankfully not more. I have not had any domains taken from me for any reason, and have used their auction service to sell a few, and their back order service to get one. I don’t love their prices, especially for some of the newer gTLDs. I use their DNS and have not once noticed a problem, though one might’ve happened without my knowledge. I don’t think I’d choose them today if I was starting from scratch based solely on pricing but as it stands I don’t plan to move to anyone else at this point.

southernplaces7 3y ago
How idiotic that this above comment gets downvoted just because it goes against majority narrative here. The comment was an honest personal opinion of their own experience with Godaddy, nothing more, but of course a certain absurdly and somewhat surprisingly childish mindset on this site seems to be self-absorbed attitude of completely disdaining anything that doesn't fit a cozy personal and nearly tribal diatribe in favor of X or against Y. Sometimes you'd almost think one was reading YouTube comments instead of those written by supposedly adult, balanced tech people.