Afternic: Auto Renew Turned Off for Canceled LTOs

Earlier this week, I received an email from GoDaddy reminding me one of my domain names would expire on June 29th. The domain name caught my attention because I thought I had sold it, and receiving a renewal email for a domain name I sold would have been peculiar.

It turns out I had not sold the domain name. Instead, it was a domain name that was bought on a 12 month LTO in May of 2025, paid for 5 months, and later returned to me when the buyer canceled the deal. When Afternic returned the domain name to my account, the company did not re-enable auto renew for this domain name.

This is not the first time this happened to one of my domain names. In April, I mentioned this issue on X. I don’t think it’s the first time I reported it, but I can’t quickly find the prior time(s):

Afternic Listings Should be Removed if Domain Name in Expiry Auction

I saw a domain name in the Dropping.pro newsletter that caught my attention this morning. When I clicked through on the domain name, I was taken to a BIN page on GoDaddy’s website rather than the expiry auction landing page. The domain name is currently listed for sale via Afternic for $65,000 with a lease to own option available:

At the same time, this domain name is in an expiry auction at GoDaddy with a high bid of $3,550. The auction ends later on this afternoon:

Did GoDaddy Just Sell Hantavirus.com?

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The hantavirus outbreak has received significant news coverage over the past week. According to various reports, the virus was linked to an outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship, and several passengers became ill and some reportedly died. Apparently, others who came in contact with some sick cruise ship passengers have also become sick.

This morning, I was curious about who owned the Hantavirus.com domain name. When I visited Hantavirus.com, I saw an Afternic landing page that typically shows up after a domain name was sold on Afternic but before the buyer changes the nameservers:

How to Transfer a Newly Registered Domain Name Sold on Afternic

It’s a great feeling to sell a newly registered domain name. It validates that the time and money I spent on researching something was worthwhile, particularly when the domain name was sold without any outbound effort.

In mid-March, I read an article about something that got me thinking about domain names. I immediately registered 17 domain names at GoDaddy and listed them for sale on Afternic. Out of the blue, two of those domain names sold yesterday (singular and plural two word .com domain names). This was great, but it also led to a bit of confusion for me.

Since these domain names were less than 60 days old, they were ineligible for the Afternic fast transfer service. Instead, Afternic prompted me to provide the authorization codes for these domain names. Within the domain name settings page for each domain name, the typical link to get the authorization code was not there because they were within the ICANN mandated 60 day transfer lock period.

GoDaddy to Host Domain Academy Meetup in Arizona

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GoDaddy will be hosting a Domain Academy meetup in the company’s Tempe, Arizona office on May 7th. Domain investors who are members of the Domain Academy platform are invited to attend the in-person meeting. The free event will be held from 3-7pm, and an RSVP is requested.

If I didn’t have family commitments, I would consider attending. If I were to attend, I would be sure to set meetings with my Afternic and GoDaddy partners who I work with on a regular basis. I haven’t personally met a few of these people, and it would be a good chance to meet in person.

GoDaddy Giving DDC Members $50 Bonus for Premium Auction

GoDaddy DDC Domain Pro members receive a monthly auction credit they can use for GoDaddy Auctions. This credit was originally $20/month but GoDaddy recently increased that to $30/month. The only rub is DDC Pro members need to manually enter the discount code each month to take advantage of this offer.

James Iles emailed me this afternoon to let me know DDC Pro members will be able to redeem an additional $50 auction credit for domain names they win in the “Premium Auction Event” that starts tomorrow. This is in addition to the standard auction credit code for expiry domain names on GoDaddy Auctions.