• About
    • History of Dallas SEO
    • SEO Expert Witness Services
  • Contact
  • Topics
    • Bing
    • Blogging
    • Branding
    • Domain Names
    • Google
    • Internet Marketing
    • Link Building
    • Local Search
    • Marketing
    • Public Relations
    • Reputation Management
    • Search Engine Marketing
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Search Engines
    • Social Media
    • Tech
  • Advertise
  • Email Newsletter

Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Search, Marketing, Tech, and Domains.

SEMrush

Home » Domain Names » GoDaddy Customer Loses Domain Name Due to Auto Renew Fail

GoDaddy Customer Loses Domain Name Due to Auto Renew Fail

Posted on February 9, 2023 Written by Bill Hartzer

GoDaddy Selling My Business Name Domain Name

A GoDaddy customer lost their domain name because auto renew failed. Sadly, they’re not alone.

There is a post on Reddit that details how a business owner lost their domain name because they relied on GoDaddy’s Auto Renew service to renew their domain name. Their credit card failed to be charged, and they lost the domain name.

Here is the question/post that was made, describing the situation:

“I started my business in California in 2011. I registered the domain name with GoDaddy around the same time. I paid for it for many years. A few years ago, my business debit card was reissued with a different expiration date. The debit card number didn’t change, though. GoDaddy processed it as if it was a different card and sent me an email saying that billing failed. It never occurred to me that having the card reissued because it expired would result in automatic payments failing. It had never failed before. I didn’t notice this was a problem until GoDaddy had already taken back the domain name. Now they are asking nearly $3000 for it on their domain brokerage site!!

Since this is my business name, would I have a possible legal claim to get this domain name back?”

Here is my response. I really hope that you go right now and renew all of the domain names that are important to you, and do NOT rely on auto renew at your domain name registrar.

I run a stolen domain name recover service, and have for several years. So, I know a bit about all of this.

Many points of what you’re saying just aren’t true. It’s not GoDaddy selling the domain name, it’s someone who registered the domain name when it became available. GoDaddy themselves do NOT sell domain names, they only LIST domain names for sale in the marketplace: the current registrant listed the domain name with GoDaddy.

What occurred is that the domain name was set (by you) on Auto Renew. That is the #1 way that people LOSE their domain names, as they rely on the payment going through automatically. In many cases it does not, and the same thing happens to many other people, just like you.

You failed to renew the domain name, so GoDaddy either puts it up for auction before it “drops” and becomes available for anyone to register, or they let the domain name expire (it drops) and anyone can register the domain name. Not sure what happened in your case, but the current registrant acquired the domain name legally, it was NOT stolen from you. They have rights to the domain name unless you can prove: they registered or acquired it in bad faith or you have a trademark on the word in the domain name. If that’s the case, you can filed a UDRP domain dispute (a URS if it’s not a .com domain). The UDRP filing fee is $1500 and you have to have a domain attorney file and defend the UDRP dispute.

You have a few options at this point to get the domain name back:
– contact the current registrant of the domain and make them an offer. Usually they may accept your offer for $1,000 for example if they have it listed for $3,000. But they may stick to their price.
– you can wait and do nothing, place a backorder on the domain name, and once it expires you’ll have a good chance of getting the domain name IF the current registrant does not renew it.

– If you feel the current registrant acquired the domain name “in bad faith” such as you owning a trademark on the word in the domain, OR you were doing business on that name in the past (you had a live website on it), you could claim a “commonlaw trademark” when you file a UDRP.

If anyone is reading this, PLEASE go RIGHT NOW and renew your domain name for at least 2 years in advance, I recommend at least 5 years in advance. Set calendar reminders to renew your domain name as a reminder if you must. Do NOT ever rely on auto-renew on a domain name you can’t afford to lose. Because chances are that you WILL lose the domain name, and auto renew will fail.

I’m sorry this happened to you. But, it happens to a LOT of people, as we are contacted every single day about someone “stealing their domain name” which unfortunately isn’t the case, like your case here. It’s your responsibility to renew the domain name, and the registrars are providing “auto renew” service as a courtesy to customers.

Filed Under: Domain Names

SEMrush

About Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer is CEO of Hartzer Consulting, an SEO Consulting firm that includes services such as search engine optimization, technical SEO audits, domain name consulting, and online reputation management. As an SEO Expert, Mr. Hartzer frequently serves as an SEO Expert Witness and Domain Name Expert Witness in legal cases worldwide.

Recent Posts

  • ChatGPT Versus Google Bard: Which is Better? March 22, 2023
  • All Domain Names Need SSL: Parked Domains Are Losing Traffic, Revenue March 17, 2023
  • Google is Finally Sunsetting Google Glass March 16, 2023
  • Microsoft Teams Free Classic Shutting Down April 12, 2023 February 21, 2023
  • GoDaddy Customer Loses Domain Name Due to Auto Renew Fail February 9, 2023
  • dotDB is Not Shutting Down February 1, 2023
  • Someone Stole My Domain Name: Here’s What You Do January 4, 2023
  • Web Hosting Services Market to Grow to $254.86 Billion by 2029 December 13, 2022
  • This SEO Blog Post Was Written by ChatGPT December 8, 2022
  • Facebook Rolling Out Facebook Articles December 7, 2022
  • Doing SEO is Better Than… December 6, 2022
  • Tucows and GoDaddy Report Q3 2022 Results November 6, 2022
  • How to Measure App Events Sourced by Organic Search and SEO September 20, 2022
  • Google Allegedly Eavesdrops and Monitors the Brain 24 hours a Day to Control Humanity September 14, 2022
  • Why You Shouldn’t Hire SEOs Based on An Email September 13, 2022
  • Global SEO Market to Reach $122.11 Billion by 2028 September 9, 2022
  • Bluehost Launches New Commerce Solutions for WordPress September 8, 2022
  • Which CMS? How to Choose the Best CMS for Your Purposes August 29, 2022
  • Accidental SEO Manager: Interview with Ash Nallawalla August 15, 2022
  • Sometimes Google Isn’t Family Friendly August 1, 2022

US Agency Awards Judge

DFWSEM logo

Bill Hartzer is a Brand Ambassador for:



Industry Friends

I Love SEO
WTFSEO
SEO By the Sea
Jeff Lenney
Jeff Gabriel
Phil Drinkwater
Dixon Jones
Brian Hartzer
Navah Hopkins
DNAccess

Connect With Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Twitter
Bill Hartzer on Instagram
Hartzer Consulting on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on YouTube

Categories

  • Advertising (19)
  • Bing Search Engine (6)
  • Blogging (42)
  • Branding (12)
  • Domain Names (212)
  • Google (237)
  • Internet Marketing (25)
  • Internet Usage (85)
  • Link Building (53)
  • Local Search (39)
  • Marketing (182)
  • Marketing Foo (30)
  • Pay Per Click (3)
  • Podcast (18)
  • Public Relations (8)
  • Reputation Management (9)
  • Search Engine Marketing (44)
  • Search Engine Marketing Events (48)
  • Search Engine Marketing Firms (19)
  • Search Engine Marketing Jobs (33)
  • Search Engine Optimization (164)
  • Search Engines (204)
  • Social Media (192)
  • Tech (7)
  • Web Analytics (17)
  • Webinars (1)

Note: All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only, and are mentioned only to help my readers. All other trademarks cited herein are the property of their respective owners. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.




Hartzer Consulting



Website, Content, and Marketing by Hartzer Consulting, LLC.

Copyright © 2023 ·