When I win an auction for a domain name that is registered at a registrar I use on an irregular basis, I tend to transfer the domain name to GoDaddy. Having many registrar accounts with few domain names is a good way to lose track of inventory, and my preferred registrar is GoDaddy. I have run into a bug transferring domain names, and it has not been fixed so I am going to report it here.

I recently won LeadershipAndStrength.com at NameJet. The domain name is registered at Register.com, so I attempted to transfer it to GoDaddy. My initial transfer attempt to GoDaddy failed, so I ensured the domain name was unlocked at Register.com and attempted the transfer again. When I re-initiated the transfer, I encountered an erroneous error message at GoDaddy:

GoDaddy’s security has been under the microscope lately, with two high profile security incidents reported by Krebs On Security on November 21 and on March 31. I wrote about the first incident, which involved an account held by Escrow.com. With many employees working from home because of Covid-19, it has likely become a much more challenging task to ensure GoDaddy employees use best security practices to avoid being hacked or having systems or accounts compromised.

According to an article in The Copper Courier, GoDaddy tested its employees by deploying an email promising a holiday bonus, but it was really a phishing test in disguise:

GoDaddy recently posted a job listing on LinkedIn for an Aftermarket Sales Account Executive, presumably on its Afternic team in the company’s Cambridge office. If you know of someone that is looking for a sales job and would be good at inbound domain name sales, perhaps this is the right opportunity for them.

When I was reading through the job description, something unusual caught my attention. The company is encouraging people who have a “side hustle” to keep it up while they are employed by GoDaddy:

Logan Flatt noticed what appears to be a new GoDaddy / Afternic inquiry landing page, which he shared on Twitter today:

When I visit https://t.co/MRkK8uheE8, I see what appears to be a new or test lander from Afternic. Using
Nameserver 1:https://t.co/NkK3UqHVDs
Nameserver 2:https://t.co/i9kkvT4sey pic.twitter.com/SC9JeYoKA6

— Logan (@LoganFlatt) December 12, 2020