Time to Find a New Registrar

Scroll Down for Info on Godaddy’s Explanation

I registered a domain name at Godaddy.com, on a lark. Then it lapsed. It was a com name. After it lapsed, I decided to see if I could revive it.

Their site said it was not available, so I registered the net version. Then I sent an email asking what was going on with the com domain, because their site said something about a redemption period. I just got a reply. They’re holding it hostage. They’ll give it back to me for ninety dollars. I told them to keep it.

I’ve registered more domains than I’ve actually used. Sometimes I get a domain idea I like, and I register it for the hell of it. Until now, I reflexively went to Godaddy. But they can forget my business from now on. I hope they enjoy their worthless domain more than they would have enjoyed my continued patronage.

One unfortunate thing about Internet hosting and domain businesses is that they have no oversight. There are no ethical rules binding these people, and a lot of them are creeps. They should consider their customers clients and look out for their best interests, but they don’t have to. I’m surprised that a well-known outfit like Godaddy would resort to something resembling extortion, but I’m sure it’s completely legal.

I’ll be moving all my domains to my current hosting company as they near expiration. It’s time for Godaddy to go, go, go.

Glad I learned this lesson with a domain I don’t care about.

More

Godaddy now says “the registry” charges them $80 to “redeem” a domain name, and that this is why the fee is so high. I don’t know who they’re talking about. All I know is, somebody is trying to charge me a ton of money for a worthless domain which has never been associated with a website, and which would cost about six bucks to register, were it new.

Evidently, there are companies above Godaddy in the food chain. Googling around, I come up with one name: Verisign. Are there others? I don’t know. All I know is, they’re the folks who get the bulk of the cash.

Here is what I suspect. “Redemption” consists of clicking a check box on a website somewhere or typing a few characters into a form and pressing “Enter.” That’s how complicated most of the processes associated with creating a website are. If redemption is different, you have to wonder why. I’m still thinking “ransom.”

I also wonder why Godaddy doesn’t mention this when you email them about redeeming a domain. You would think they would want customers to know they’re not the ones applying the screws. It looks like I was mistaken and Godaddy is not evil after all. But it sure looks like somebody is milking this.

Even More

It looks like expired domain names are auctioned off on a site at tdnam.com. So I suppose what you’re paying for is the service of having your site yanked off the auction site. However my expired domain isn’t on the site. So I wonder what I would be paying for.

Hmm…someone on Metafilter claims a Godaddy affiliate called Wild West pounces on expired domains and buys them for ransom purposes.

I don’t know what the deal is, and I don’t care. I take care of the domains that matter. This one was just a whim.