Finlead posted a couple of concerning tweets regarding his bidding account at GoDaddy Auctions. Unless this is a new and concerning policy at GoDaddy that I was not aware of before, my guess is this is some sort of error:
@godaddyauctions sends me an email that a bidder defaulted and as 2nd highest bidder I can pick up the name in the next 24h. I decided to pass, yet the name still shows up in my “won” list 3 days later. Now can’t bid on any auctions because I’m “currently blocked from bidding”…
— Finlead (@finlead) May 26, 2020
“You are currently blocked from bidding due to unpaid items” I don’t want that item dear @godaddyauctions. Please accept this and get your fake bidding in order instead of hassling me.
— Finlead (@finlead) May 26, 2020
From what I understand, Finlead was an underbidder in a recent expiry auction. Because the winning bidder defaulted on the auction and did not pay, he was given the opportunity to purchase the domain name for an amount that removed all of the winning bidder’s bids. When he decided against buying the domain name, GoDaddy locked his account because he had not paid for that auction. From what I understand, this is not limited to a single GoDaddy Auctions account.
As far as I have been aware, underbidders are not required to purchase domain names at auction when the winning bidder defaulted. I am pretty sure the policy had been to give the underbidder the opportunity to purchase, and if the underbidder passes, the next bidder gets the chance to buy the domain name for a price that excludes the top two bidders’ bids. The domain name continues to be offered to subsequent bidders until someone pays.
I can only guess this is some sort of error with GoDaddy Auctions rather than a change in policy. If it is a change, I think GoDaddy should have notified bidders of this because people with set budgets may have moved on to purchase other domain names after losing an auction.
If this is an error, it is unfortunate for any bidders who may have been prevented from bidding while the issue persisted. I will reach out to GoDaddy to get a comment and provide an update when I receive one.
Update:
Finlead reported that GoDaddy unblocked the account and removed the domain name:
Update: @GoDaddy just unblocked the account and removed the domain.
— Finlead (@finlead) May 26, 2020
I received a comment from GoDaddy about this:
“Our policy hasn’t changed. If you aren’t the top bidder on a domain, you are under no obligation to purchase it if you’re next in line.”
Not a good outcome, instead of fixing it’s issues GD is forcing runners up to pay for a rigged auction?
Does it happen frequently?
Happens enough.
Before this morning, I had never seen or heard of this happening.
According to Finlead, the issue was resolved. I am waiting for a comment from GoDaddy to understand what happened.
Godaddy is a highly inefficient company. The socially responsible thing for them to do would be outsourcing their operations and release their employees back into the workforce to be utilized by more efficient companies.
A technologically stagnant company with 50% profit margins on most of their products/services and $3B in revenue manages to have a net income which is less than their private whois service revenue (at near 100% profit margin).
https://domainnamewire.com/2020/04/24/redacted-whois-at-godaddy-a-revenue-hit-but-better-customer-experience/
It’s a shame to see all that brand value being wasted on inefficient systems and employees.