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GoDaddy Whois Contact: Your Domain Name is Infringing

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Earlier this month, I wrote about receiving several emails from GoDaddy that originated from the GoDaddy Whois contact form. Those emails were all domain name purchase inquiries that appeared to originate from the same entity based on the email address(es) used to originate the emails.

In my opinion, using the Whois contact form is a good way to contact domain registrants since it comes from an official GoDaddy email address and has GoDaddy branding within the email. It can also be frustrating for domain registrants who receive many of these redundant emails.

GoDaddy gives visitors four options when they choose the “Contact Domain Holder” link on a Whois lookup page for domain names registered at GoDaddy:

Sold for $50k in 2014, Ingles.com Re-Sold for $400,000

In September of 2014, Ingles.com was sold in auction at NameJet for $49,899. The auction caught my attention because I had just returned from a trip to the mountains in North Carolina, and there is a popular supermarket chain called Ingles. Unfortunately, I was an underbidder in the auction because GoDaddy just reported that Ingles.com was re-sold for $400,000 in June of this year.

If you visit Ingles.com, you can see the domain name forwards to the SpanishDict.com, which is a Spanish to English translation tool. The word Inglés in Spanish translates to “English,” so this is a pretty solid domain name acquisition.

Uniregistry Market Names Merged Into Afternic

If you have domain names listed for sale in your Uniregistry Market account, they may have been added to Afternic. This is notable and important to follow because sellers need to ensure their Uniregistry Market names and prices are updated to current market prices and availability.

This morning, I was tracking down a domain name I owned and sold on a payment plan via Escrow.com. When I was checking the Whois record, I noticed the DomainTools message stating, “This domain is listed for sale at one of our partner sites.” I clicked the link and was taken to a for sale page at Afternic indicating the domain name was actively listed for sale on the Afternic platform.

“Someone would like to contact you about your domain.”

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During the past few days, I have received quite a few emails via GoDaddy from what appears to be the same person or entity inquiring about different domain names I own. The emails are being sent via the GoDaddy Whois contact form. The other party generating these emails is using the “Interested in purchasing the domain” option.

When I received the first email, I sent a reply and did not hear a response. A follow-up email also yielded no reply. When I received a subsequent inquiry, my reply was “stop,” but I received additional inquiries on a different domain name this morning. In fact, I received four emails for the same domain name this morning.

GoDaddy and Afternic Take Step to Work More Seamlessly

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If you regularly log in to your Afternic account, you probably noticed a change to the login screen earlier this week. There is now a “Login with GoDaddy” button below the password field to allow Afternic customers to log in to their Afternic accounts using their GoDaddy credentials:

GoDaddy Extends Employees WFH Until March

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With the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic still spreading throughout the United States and the world, companies have had to make adjustments, particularly as it relates to employees working out of the office. GoDaddy, with more than 9,000 employees, has had the bulk of its employees work from home since March of this year.

GoDaddy recently announced that most of its employees will continue to work from home through at least March of 2021. In areas of the world where working in the office is deemed safe, the company is allowing employees to return to the office. For example, employees in GoDaddy’s China office have already returned to the office.