Fiscal.com appeared to be destined for an expiry auction at GoDaddy earlier this week. The domain name auction was due to conclude on Monday afternoon, and bidding had surpassed the $30,000 mark. I was a participant in the auction (bidding over $30,000), and I was prepared to spend considerably more than the high bid. In fact, I had offered more for the domain name earlier this year.
The Fiscal.com auction disappeared from GoDaddy Auctions at some point between Sunday night and Monday. This was surprising because the domain name was registered at GoDaddy and there was less than 24 hours remaining in the auction. As far as I know, a 2017 change in how the expiry process works was supposed to ensure that GoDaddy-registered domain names that make it to 3 days or fewer in an auction with bids can no longer be renewed by the registrant since the redemption period had passed.
From my own recollection, this doesn’t seem to happen very often. I wrote about one instance where this happened earlier this year involving the ChicagoPizza.com domain name. Off the top of my head, I can’t recall a high value domain name that was registered at GoDaddy that was pulled from auction with less than a few days remaining. Of course, a registrant should be able to renew a domain name for as long as the registrar allows.
Vito noticed that Fiscal.com had been removed from auction, and he tweeted to ask what happened:
What happened to one of the best 1-word domain names we’ve seen on auction in months?https://t.co/0bElRx6tQm was ending tomorrow @godaddyauctions and was at about 35k just coupla hrs ago.
Gone Now. pic.twitter.com/EKyyRBj1J7
— Vito (@VitoDotTV) August 17, 2021
I had also emailed GoDaddy representatives to find out what occurred since I had been monitoring the auction and was a bidder.
Last night, Paul Nicks, GM & VP of theAftermarket at GoDaddy, responded to Vito’s tweet to share what he learned about this auction:
Hey Vito, the domain was redeemed to the original registrant beyond when it would typically be able. There was a server issue that didn’t allow the day 30 post expriation process to run normally, so the option to redeem remained alive beyond day 30.
— Paul Nicks (@PaulENicks) August 18, 2021
It’s disappointing to lose out on the opportunity to bid on an exceptional domain name like this. I presume GoDaddy would also rather have the auction revenue than the renewal revenue.
Absolutely support and endorse the registrant being able to renew. No way should GoDaddy be blocking a renewal on the basis of the TOS.
just more rules for thee, not for me…..
funny how big names always get saved, if the little guy screws up he has to eat it, special options for the 1%
This response on Twitter is the next one you share with us.
Paul nicks
@PaulENicks
Replying to @PaulENicks @VitoDotTV and @godaddyauctions
The root issue has been identified and patched so this edge case shouldn’t happen again
The answer is very unconvincing, weird things have happened at Godaddy auctions for a long time and you have posted it yourself on your blog.
Godaddy should update their current auction system and improve it, it cannot be answered has been patched,
this keyword leaves in the air how many times they will give the same answer again.
there have been a number of times in the past couple years where after winning a closeout auction, the domain is transferred to either epik or moniker and a refund for me. they are still doing it somehow.
If the domain name was registered at a partner, like Enom, the registrant may have additional time to renew. The policy change was only applicable to GoDaddy-registered domain names.
checking back on the last few it happened to and they were godaddy domains.
Would be a question for Paul and Joe. Maybe you can post the domain names and ask them to address.
I have had this happen a number of times even AFTER winning an expired domain at Godaddy and they give a refund.
I also wondered what had happened and why it had disappeared as almost immediately there was a redirect.
Fiscal.com had not been actively used (?ever). I suspect that the ‘new’ owner contacted the previously owner with an offer to buy it if they reregistered it. So, instead of getting zero, the new owner got $30k+ rather than Godaddy.
I am generally interested as to why you think that fiscal.com is such a great domain name. I wrote an article about it at convertwithben dot com . I realize that it is a one word dictionary domain, but what kind of company might the end user be? IMHO, the end user in this case is totally mismatched.
“Fiscal.com had not been actively used (?ever). I suspect that the ‘new’ owner contacted the previously owner with an offer to buy it if they reregistered it. So, instead of getting zero, the new owner got $30k+ rather than Godaddy.”
I am almost positive you are wrong. It appears to be owned by the same entity as before it expired. See this press release: https://www.cuinsight.com/press-release/fiscal-credit-union-announces-plans-merge-unify-financial-credit-union
In addition, I offered much more earlier this year than the figure you mentioned, and I was told the domain name is not for sale. I was prepared to spend much more than $30k if it went to auction.
At the end of the day, it’s a bummer for bidders and GoDaddy (the company lost out on the auction proceeds and had potential bidders upset with their procedures or lack thereof).