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Ask HN: My domain registrar rug-pulled me for $3000 [fixed]

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Ask HN: My domain registrar rug-pulled me for $3000 [fixed]

#1

Post by shrinks99 »

I registered the domain onlyfans.sexy ~6 years ago as a gag where I'd post pictures of fans (everything on the site and in this post is SFW). This year I got an email stating that, like all prior years, the domain would auto-renew at $38 in seven days and didn't think anything of the next two emails also notifying me that the domain would auto-renew.

It would seem that I very much SHOULD have paid attention to those next two emails, because in both the three and one day renewal emails the price changed from $38 to $3000. Needless to say, I was surprised when I was billed $3k USD (plus tax).

After contacting Hover's customer support, they told me that there was nothing that they could do about this and they have a no refund policy because "Hover does not have the ability to override or reverse pricing set by the registry. Premium domain pricing, including renewal costs, is determined by the registry, and they may adjust those prices over time. Once a renewal has been processed, we are charged that fee immediately by the registry, and those charges are non-refundable to us."

So according to Hover, the .sexy registry (Uniregistry) sets prices as it sees fit, decided to jack up the renewal cost at the last minute because they can, and there's simply nothing they or I can do about it. Has anyone here experienced anything similar?

Re: Ask HN: My domain registrar rug-pulled me for $3000 [fixed]

#3

Post by shrinks99 »

rglullis wrote: post #2

Doesn't seem to be an issue with Hover, here.

Arguably yeah! The issue I have seems to mostly be with Uniregistry (aside from the fact that Hover takes a cut of the transaction).

...But I'm also not a Uniregistry customer, I'm a Hover customer. Do I have any recourse with the TLD owner?

Re: Ask HN: My domain registrar rug-pulled me for $3000 [fixed]

#4

Post by ontoillogical »

rglullis wrote: post #2

Doesn't seem to be an issue with Hover, here.

I believe this is extremely unexpected behavior for an "auto-renew" feature. If I'm told that I will be autorenwing something in 7 days and am told about a price, that price changing within those 7 days feels like something the consumer should be protected against!

Re: Ask HN: My domain registrar rug-pulled me for $3000 [fixed]

#5

Post by wjnc »

Register a complaint with the creditcard company with proof of last years $38, the auto renew message with price of $38 and the amount they put on your card. Pretty clear and cut? You can’t offer X and then take Y. It’s Hovers problem what the price behind the door is.

Did you read the ToS? The ToS states they renew at prices mentioned on the website. I can find .xyz to renew at $19.99. Now get your screenshots and get your money back. (I’ll correct myself transparantly: this is not very clear from the ToS. Prices are in USD and from time to time they can limit the number of domains at that price. That says little about the price at renewal.)

Re: Ask HN: My domain registrar rug-pulled me for $3000 [fixed]

#6

Post by rglullis »

ontoillogical wrote: post #4
rglullis wrote: post #2

Doesn't seem to be an issue with Hover, here.

I believe this is extremely unexpected behavior for an "auto-renew" feature. If I'm told that I will be autorenwing something in 7 days and am told about a price, that price changing within those 7 days feels like something the consumer should be protected against!

How?! Hover is just a proxy between the customer and the real TLD owner. It could very well be that the TLD system saw that the domain was about to expire and decided to jack up the price then.

Maybe Hover could've bought the domain themselves when close to the expiration date to secure the lower price, but then if the customer decides to let the domain go it would be they holding out the bag.

Re: Ask HN: My domain registrar rug-pulled me for $3000 [fixed]

#7

Post by ofjcihen »

rglullis wrote: post #6
ontoillogical wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe this is extremely unexpected behavior for an "auto-renew" feature. If I'm told that I will be autorenwing something in 7 days and am told about a price, that price changing within those 7 days feels like something the consumer should be protected against!

How?! Hover is just a proxy between the customer and the real TLD owner. It could very well be that the TLD system saw that the domain was about to expire and decided to jack up the price then. Maybe Hover could've bought the domain themselves when close to the expiration date to secure the lower price, but then if the customer decides to let the domain go it would be they holding out the bag.

Sounds more like the risk is on Hover then and not on the customer. If you advertise 38 dollars to me for a product you source from someone else and that the producer suddenly charges 100x the price you can’t just charge me that price because “that’s the price”.

You’re making money as a middleman, you accept the risk of a middleman.

Re: Ask HN: My domain registrar rug-pulled me for $3000 [fixed]

#8

Post by shrinks99 »

ofjcihen wrote: post #7
rglullis wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How?! Hover is just a proxy between the customer and the real TLD owner. It could very well be that the TLD system saw that the domain was about to expire and decided to jack up the price then. Maybe Hover could've bought the domain themselves when close to the expiration date to secure the lower price, but then if the customer decides to let the domain go it would be they holding out the bag.

Sounds more like the risk is on Hover then and not on the customer. If you advertise 38 dollars to me for a product you source from someone else and that the producer suddenly charges 100x the price you can’t just charge me that price because “that’s the price”. You’re making money as a middleman, you accept the risk of a middleman.

The domain renewal cost in their dashboard is notably right back to $38 too!

Re: Ask HN: My domain registrar rug-pulled me for $3000 [fixed]

#9

Post by ofjcihen »

shrinks99 wrote: post #8
ofjcihen wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds more like the risk is on Hover then and not on the customer. If you advertise 38 dollars to me for a product you source from someone else and that the producer suddenly charges 100x the price you can’t just charge me that price because “that’s the price”. You’re making money as a middleman, you accept the risk of a middleman.

The domain renewal cost in their dashboard is notably right back to $38 too!

Absolutely take a screenshot of this and your prior charges and dispute this with your bank.

Re: Ask HN: My domain registrar rug-pulled me for $3000 [fixed]

#10

Post by dghlsakjg »

rglullis wrote: post #6
ontoillogical wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe this is extremely unexpected behavior for an "auto-renew" feature. If I'm told that I will be autorenwing something in 7 days and am told about a price, that price changing within those 7 days feels like something the consumer should be protected against!

How?! Hover is just a proxy between the customer and the real TLD owner. It could very well be that the TLD system saw that the domain was about to expire and decided to jack up the price then. Maybe Hover could've bought the domain themselves when close to the expiration date to secure the lower price, but then if the customer decides to let the domain go it would be they holding out the bag.

The issue isn't that the price changed. The issue is that they auto charged after the price was quoted lower. If the registrar had said, "hey the price just got jacked way up, do you still want to buy this?" There would be no issue.

But because they said the price was x and not 100x, but then charged 100x, there is a real problem.

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