GoDaddy Doesn’t Always Automatically Refund for Canceled Auctions

In July of 2022, I was told about a GoDaddy change that was made with the hope of successfully delivering more GoDaddy Auction wins to customers. I believe the policy change is that if a GoDaddy registered domain name isn’t renewed 3 days before an expiry auction, it is no longer allowed to be renewed. I don’t bid on enough domain names to comment accurately, but by and large, it seems like I receive fewer refunds for GoDaddy Auctions wins.

When I buy a domain name, I list it on an Excel spreadsheet. If the domain name is not delivered instantly, I put a yellow highlight on the cell so I can keep track of it. Today, I scrolled up and saw a domain name I won at auction on October 27th was not delivered to my GoDaddy account. I paid for the domain name on October 30th. Two weeks is a long time for provisioning.

Afternic: Who Does Domain Broker Represent?

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This comic posted on X today is something domain investors should think about when working with a domain broker. Who does the broker represent? Ultimately, it boils down to whether or not the domain name is already listed for sale via Afternic or not.

Mark Chavez posted a reply to the comic with a comment related to Afternic brokers. I think the way Afternic and DBS brokers work on behalf of buyers and sellers is a bit unclear, so I thought I would share my understanding of how Afternic and DBS brokering works.

Silver Lining: Dan.com LTO Payoff

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As you know, GoDaddy is shutting down Dan.com in October. Yesterday, Afternic and Dan launched a “Migration center” to help domain name sellers move domain names to Afternic and archive account data before October 15. Buyers were also emailed about the migration process.

I have heard from many domain investors who sell on Dan, but I had not heard from any buyers until yesterday.

I have two active LTO deals remaining on Dan.com. One of the buyers reached out to me to let me know he submitted the remaining 5 monthly payments (approximately $3k) ahead of schedule. He did this because he wanted to avoid dealing with the transition to GoDaddy.

Check Your Landers: “This domain is registered, but may still be available.”

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The image above is a GoDaddy landing page that is shown when the domain name has Afternic nameservers but is not listed for sale via Afternic. The visitor is encouraged to “Get this domain,” and clicking the link opens a new browser window with a GoDaddy search page searching for that domain name. If a person wants to buy that domain name, the prompt is to pay for GoDaddy’s Domain Broker Service (DBS).

For some reason, it would appear that this isn’t limited to the situation I described above. In fact, I mentioned it on X when I noticed a domain name of mine with this landing page even though it was actively listed for sale in my Afternic account:

GoDaddy Auctions: “Improve chances of winning this domain!”

I was attempting to place bid on an auction at GoDaddy Auctions this morning when I was shown this message on the bid confirmation page.

My proxy bid amount was just above $100, and the GoDaddy Estimated Value was just shy of $2,000.

Dan.com Being Retired by GoDaddy

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GoDaddy acquired Dan.com in 2022. The company reportedly spent north of $71 million USD to acquire the domain name sales platform. This morning, GoDaddy announced it is “merging” the Dan.com platform with Afternic. The announcement was made in a blog post, and the company provided answers to numerous questions domain investors and Dan customers will likely have in the wake of this news.

This news isn’t surprising as the company has hinted at this outcome for a while. It comes after GoDaddy acquired Uniregistry, another competitor it shut down following an acquisition of its assets. Two well-liked platforms have now been acquired and retired.