The bewildering array of GoDaddy’s poilicies and agreements
I have a vested interest in going through every single one of GoDaddy‘s online documents, as they relate to domain names, since they seized one of my domains. They are holding it for a $75 ransom, so it’s my goal to get it back for nothing (that money can buy a lot of hosting and domain names).
My first step is reading through the Go Daddy Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. This is not a new document, since it says Revised: 7/11/2006. However, there are still some interesting things in there I didn’t know. This document won’t help my case because it deals with disputes that are NOT with the registrar. Oh, well! But, did you know you are asking for trouble if…
- your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which another party has the right or,
- your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
Basically, bad faith is defined as buying a domain to hurt another party (taking business, libel, or fraud). None of these apply to my situation.
Most of the other stuff in this policy deals with administrative procedures when someone is trying to interrupt your domain registration. However, the following looks interesting…
7. maintaining the status quo
We will not cancel, transfer, activate, deactivate, or otherwise change the status of any domain name registration under this Policy except as provided in Paragraph 3 above.
Paragraph 3 is…
3. cancellations, transfers, and changes
We will cancel, transfer or otherwise make changes to domain name registrations under the following circumstances:
1. subject to the provisions of Paragraph 8, our receipt of written or appropriate electronic instructions from you or your authorized agent to take such action;
2. our receipt of an order from a court or arbitral tribunal, in each case of competent jurisdiction, requiring such action; and/or
3. our receipt of a decision of an Administrative Panel requiring such action in any administrative proceeding to which you were a party and which was conducted under this Policy or a later version of this Policy adopted by ICANN.We may also cancel, transfer or otherwise make changes to a domain name registration in accordance with the terms of your Registration Agreement or other legal requirements.
According to this policy, my case doesn’t fit any of these situations. So, my next step is to read through the Registration Agreement.
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Comments
[...] it seems GoDaddy has covered itself with regard to taking my domain. It’s not looking good as far as avoiding [...]
Why are they “seize” your domain? It’s interesting how you’ll accuse a company of wrongdoing, but not post what action/circumstance preceded that action. GoDaddy will NOT just randomly say, “Oh, let’s take this guys domain.” There is always a reason for it. Since the amount you are talking about sounds a lot like a redemption fee, did you forget to renew your domain? Did you not see the renewal notices and the domain expired?
They seized the domain because of a SPAM complaint.
I got an email from them but didn’t respond immediately, so it is a hard lesson learned about contacting them ASAP when they contact me.
They also hit me with a redemption fee (back in Oct 07) on this domain so it’s now going to cost me $150 for 6 months of registration.
It never occurred to me you can get hit with these kinds of fees for a single domain name registration.
So, GoDaddy notified you, and you chose not to respond. Redemption fee they “Hit you with” is because you CHOSE not to either renew your domain in a timely manner or you disregarded the communicaitons. Sounds like all your problems in this case were due to a lack of response or responsibility on your part. Why don’t you suck it up and instead of casting GoDaddy and other businesses in a bad light, admit you didn’t do your part. I just can not for the life of me understand why so many people want to hold other people responsible. If I don’t pay my mortgage, I’m not going to be all upset and butt hurt if the mortgage company tries to foreclose or charges me late fees – it’s MY RESPONSIBILITY.
I’m not quite sure why you equate this to a mortgage, because it’s not. It’s a domain name. There are no costs (essentially) to registering a domain name. So why the fees?
There are a million in one reasons why someone lets a domain name lapse. But, in every case, GoDaddy (and other reigstrars) penalize you to their advantage.
It’d be different if they were using the fee to pay ICANN for administering the global name servers. They are just putting the money into their pockets.
So who exactly is helped and hurt by this fee? The registrar benefits. The domain name buyer is hurt.
[...] best recommendation is not to register a domain with GoDaddy if you expect to use a private registration. Other registrars offer a much better deal. As long as [...]
Did you know that registrars like GoDaddy don’t actually own the domain names? They have to buy them from companies like verisign (http://www.verisign.com). GoDaddy makes little to no profit on domain names, where companies like NetWork Solutions charge much more, to make profit. Let me give you this comparison. When you go to the movies, that box office price goes to the studio, and your concessions are what pay for the theater operations. That is closer to how GD does it than other companies. So when you go to a company that charges more for domains, it would be like paying 3x the amount for a movie ticket, and the movie theater keeps the overage.
“It’s a domain name. There are no costs (essentially) to registering a domain name. So why the fees?”
Just pay your bills. If you want the domain name, make the effort to keep it. If you think the registrar messed up, read this: http://www.icann.org/registrars/redemption-proposal-14feb02.htm
Actually I kinda agree that redemption fee is kinds ludicrous, not to mention the amount of the fee. I mean, if a customer, for whatever reason be it personal finanical or plain old forgot, didn’t renew and then is told “yeah you can renew for $85 (redemtion and regular renewal)” he may not have that amount of money to pay, so there goes the company losing possibly a hosting plan as well…cause if a person doesn’t have a domain, then why would he need a hosting plan. It’s kinda like cellphone contract cancellations. Why are you charging me for cancelling a service you won’t give, yet you charge me the same whenever your satellite or whatever is down? Looking forward to your next steps. =o)
I wish you success in getting back your url!
Keep blogging!