If you own a domain that you’ve registered through GoDaddy.com, then you’ve probably been invoiced at least 60 days prior to the actual expiration due date of your domain name. They usually send you two or three more invoice reminders thereafter, inviting you to renew your domain.
However, if you fail to renew your domain per invoice at about 40 days prior to the actual due date of the expiration, then GoDaddy simply cancels your domain, and you can no longer renew it, and then GoDaddy immediately forwards it to GoDaddy’s own parking page with paid advertisement.
That’s nearly 40 days prior to the actual due date of the expiration of your domain name. In doing this, GoDaddy does two things; they redirect your site traffic to their own parking page, and then capitalize from your traffic from the paid ads on their parking page.
Is this really an ethical business practice? Even if their Universal Terms of Service dictates so, does that really emphasize good business ethic? How about ICANN’s gTLDs terms of service for registrars’ business practice? Terms are just written terms, which can be changed and revised at any time to suit the targeted consumers. So, GoDaddy can definitely revise their universal terms of service, if they want to, except that they have purposely set their domain names’ renewal process in order to cheat and steal from us, the consumers.
Yahoo Domains serves me the best. They invoice me several days prior to the due date of my domains’ expiration, and then they follow up with a few reminders, at least two or three more, so as GoDaddy.com, but Yahoo does not deactivate the expired domain names for another week, and then they give me another chance to renew my deactivated domain, before they completely cancel it. And when they simply cancel the domain, they don’t forward or redirect it to their parking page with paid ads, unlike GoDaddy.com.
Last week, TechCrunch published an article on how GoDaddy warehouses expired domain names, read the article here, but a few days later, after the community negatively reacted to their shady tactics, GoDaddy immediately closed down their business division which was tasked to hide their unethical domain name warehousing.
For years, I have been registering and managing my domains through Network Solutions, but after it was sold to VeriSign, I started not liking their service, so I moved my domains to Yahoo! Domains, but there are certain tools in Yahoo! Domains’ Control Panel that I didn’t like, such as using dedicated server hosting through another hosting company, other than Yahoo!, so I moved some of them to GoDaddy.com. I have also tried Netfirms and Register.com, but I didn’t like their control panel. I however still like GoDaddy’s CP, but I severly detest their renewal process. There just don’t seem to be another better registrar out there right now, other than GoDaddy.com.
In the process, I have lost many domains through GoDaddy because of this shady invoicing practice, and I have three more domains expiring today and in January 2009, and I am not going to renew them, just because.
What I want to do is to hear from anyone who has experienced and doesn’t like the way GoDaddy does business in terms of invoicing, deactivating domain names prior to expiration dates, and then redirecting them to their parking page with paid ads.
I am talking to a lawyer about this, and I want to have a few more people, anyone, who may have experienced this shameful, unethical, and shady business by GoDaddy. So, if you have experienced the same problem with GoDaddy.com, please email me the soonest at simon@rentersq.com. I am going to try to do something about this, but I need to compile a large file.
Simon Kapenda 
I have a whole bunch of domains with GoDaddy and have never experienced anything like this. I’ve left renewal up to the final day before expiration and everything has been just fine before renewal and after. I get 60 day expiry reminders – not invoices – then regular reminders of due expirations leading up to the date – and afterwards, in fact, as I’ve renewed a couple of weeks after the actual renewal date with no problem.
Have you actually spoken with GoDaddy about this, or are you just assuming they are playing dirty when it could be some kind of easily corrected error?
I’ve experienced the same problem with GoDaddy over the years. But have not done anything, but renewing my domains. I have lost some too, and had to buy them back from those who sold them back to me. I am going to email you now, may be you can do something. I hope as more and more people get together, perhaps GoDaddy will change their way of doing business.
I recently read an article posted on TechCrunch at http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/03/godaddy-uses-standard-tactics-to-warehouse-domains and GoDaddy immediately closed down that same shady business practice.
Yes, I’m having this problem too. I’ve decided that transferring away from GoDaddy is the best course of action. I think you can still get the Auth code to go to another service. I’ll post back when I know more.
It’s the first time I commented here and I must say you share us genuine, and quality information for bloggers! Good job.
p.s. You have a very good template for your blog. Where did you find it?
GoDaddy just jacked one of our domains, just 10 days after it expired. They demanded $90 for us to be allowed to have it back.
They said they already paid VERISIGN $80 in a “release to registrar” fee. What?!?!? Really? You mean for EVERY DOMAIN that expires they pay Verisign $80 in administrative fee.
An $80 admin fee makes no sense when you have thousands of domains expiring every day and only charge $10/year. That would require the average domain be registered for 8+ years before turning a profit. Sure makes it hard to afford Super Bowl ads that way!
Honest mistake?!?!? Yeah, right. The “customer disservice” rep argued with me for 20 minutes about it and how it was “just how it’s done”.
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i experience the same.
i just realize that i can not renew it because it doesn’t on my renewal list. its co.uk domain
damn it
the pricks are giving a $0.75 discount on a .com so you cannot apply a coupon for $4 off
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I have experienced the same problem with GoDaddy. However, there is more to the story of unethical practices. If you choose to renew the domain after it expires they charge an additional $80 fee for each domain. Recently, GoDaddy charged my spouse $270+ dollars for three domains. They never explained anything upfront. Later when I contacted them to cancel the entire order, they told me to pack sand in so many words. I will never do business with GoDaddy again!!!
never knew this, on my way to renew name
More that 8 year after Simon’s blog posting this behaviour of GoDaddy is still happening. I took the auto-renewal option of my .NL domain, because my friend didn’t know if she wanted to continue her business. I suspended her website while she had to take care of other things. When she decided she will continue at some time in the future I wanted to renew the account. However it was after the 20th of the month prior the expiration of the domain and GoDaddy had put this domain in Pending Expiration status, although their control panel is still warning me that the domain is expiring soon I can not renew my domain.
I have contacted the GoDaddy customer service desk, but there was nothing the could do. It is standard business and the blame the country registries for this.
I have read on SIDN website that after expiration SIDN will keep the domain in quarantaine for 40 days. I should be able to recover it (by another registrar, if needed) in those 40 days. As her website is suspended at the moment I am not too stressed if the domain is not hosted for a couple of days, as long as I will recover the domain.
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