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Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

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Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#661

Post by ijafri »

Godaddy has been doing it for at least decade now, i just searched a domain i think 10 years ago that I in fact needed, however didn't want to use Godaddy for registration, anyway the only mistake I made was, i searched for its availability on their site, and it was available, then i went to namecheap to register it. (im from Pakistan no way affiliated with Namecheap anyhow) .. and to my surprise it got registered within i think 10 min, I was quite shocked, and then I tried to look for its whois and found Godadday had registered it, and I can swear, this was the last time i visited their website.

this godadday practice story keeps showing up every now and then everywhere reddit or HN etc.

Some people say it's great, they 'secure' your domain than hijacking.. blah blah. nonetheless it's a creepy behavior.. in the past such discussion i guess it only cost them few cents to register it for a month period etc.. not sure exactly, some peeps had suggested to make a bot to search tons of them.. but I think it doesn't cost them much... somehow....

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#662

Post by midasz »

SethKinast wrote: post #520
ted0 wrote: post #226

Ted from Namecheap here. I cannot speak to GoDaddy's practices. However, I can say that for Namecheap, this is not something we would ever even consider doing. In my experience though, lookups are more complex than most think. We are querying so many different sources to give you availability status, some of which are less reliable than others. For example, with smaller TLDs like .ai or .is, lookups may be less relia…

I used NameCheap for around 10 years, until they bungled up an order I made. I renewed a .com for an additional 9 years. When the order processed, it turns out domains can only be extended out to a maximum of 10 years, and this domain was still a few years away from expiry. The order didn't go through and I wasn't charged. The next day I got an email from NameCheap saying that they had manually charged me $80ish, ren…

So you made a mistake, namecheap made an exception because they understood mistakes happen, and then you moved to a different registrar... where you wouldn't make that mistake? Agree it's not a good look to let the customer think the order was failed and then it proceeding anyways, but I can think of a situation where it was a desired outcome - like you wanted to extend the domain and they moved to do that.

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#663

Post by thiht »

snowwrestler wrote: post #484
thiht wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the domain was a a gTLD or new gTLD (more than 2 characters on the TLD), they could get sanctioned by the ICANN, if you decided to report them. If it was a ccTLD (2 characters on the TLD), they could also be sanctioned, depending on the rules of the extension. The sanction can range from a (huge) fee, to a revocation of their accreditation, so it's not nothing.

Why would they be sanctioned? If GoDaddy is the registrar for a domain, GoDaddy knows who the real owner is. They have to, per ICANN rules. And if GoDaddy reaches out to that customer on behalf of another customer, they don't reveal any private information. Each customer only sees their own interaction with GoDaddy. They don't see each others' info.

The ICANN states that you must provide a way to directly contact a domain's owner. If I'm correct, the contact info must be freely available in the whole, whether it's an email address, an obfuscated email address, or a contact form on the website of the registrar.

Charging for this is really shady, but not contacting the domain owner when requested is a registrar agreement violation.

Note that it's also the responsibility of the registrar to ensure that contact information of their registrants are correct.

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#664

Post by jagtesh »

ted0 wrote: post #226

Ted from Namecheap here. I cannot speak to GoDaddy's practices. However, I can say that for Namecheap, this is not something we would ever even consider doing. In my experience though, lookups are more complex than most think. We are querying so many different sources to give you availability status, some of which are less reliable than others. For example, with smaller TLDs like .ai or .is, lookups may be less relia…

I love namecheap. Been a satisfied customer for close to a decade. I have to thank Drew Houston for this.

Many many years ago, when YC was newish - I read a blog post featuring Drew. He registered the first Dropbox domain (getdropbox.com I think) on Namecheap. That's when I decided to give Namecheap a try, and I'm so glad I did.

Haven't been disappointed since. Thank you!

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#665

Post by tallanvor »

ted0 wrote: post #226

Ted from Namecheap here. I cannot speak to GoDaddy's practices. However, I can say that for Namecheap, this is not something we would ever even consider doing. In my experience though, lookups are more complex than most think. We are querying so many different sources to give you availability status, some of which are less reliable than others. For example, with smaller TLDs like .ai or .is, lookups may be less relia…

You need to fix your support for ipv4+ipv6 glue records. There's really no excuse for not letting me configure this via the web interface.

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#666

Post by phynax »

ted0 wrote: post #226

Ted from Namecheap here. I cannot speak to GoDaddy's practices. However, I can say that for Namecheap, this is not something we would ever even consider doing. In my experience though, lookups are more complex than most think. We are querying so many different sources to give you availability status, some of which are less reliable than others. For example, with smaller TLDs like .ai or .is, lookups may be less relia…

+1 for Namecheap - I've been using you guys for many years and across multiple businesses - I don't even consider using another registrar anymore.

On the flip side, when I hear GoDaddy used in any sentence - The hairs on the back of my neck stand up :(

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#667

Post by phynax »

amitheonlyone wrote: post #659
ted0 wrote: post #226

Ted from Namecheap here. I cannot speak to GoDaddy's practices. However, I can say that for Namecheap, this is not something we would ever even consider doing. In my experience though, lookups are more complex than most think. We are querying so many different sources to give you availability status, some of which are less reliable than others. For example, with smaller TLDs like .ai or .is, lookups may be less relia…

The problem I have with Namecheap is that I can't make purchases with Indian debit cards while with Godaddy, Bank transfer, UPI and Indian Debit cards are accepted. I have a few domains which I really want to switch to another provider and checked out Namecheap twice but had payment issues. I even tried Paypal which didn't work either.

Thats weird - I've been using PayPal for years with Namecheap Perhaps try loading your wallet first and then paying from your balance. (Not ideal i know, but it may work)

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#668

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

ted0 wrote: post #226

Ted from Namecheap here. I cannot speak to GoDaddy's practices. However, I can say that for Namecheap, this is not something we would ever even consider doing. In my experience though, lookups are more complex than most think. We are querying so many different sources to give you availability status, some of which are less reliable than others. For example, with smaller TLDs like .ai or .is, lookups may be less relia…

I've been super happy with Namecheap's domain services. After 15 years, I've no plans to go anywhere else.

I've been less happy with Namecheap's abuse responses, unfortunately. I quit trying to report NC registered domains (or NC hosting), that were being used for clearly malicious activity.

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#669

Post by spicybright »

Godel_unicode wrote: post #606
3131s wrote: post #594

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been on Namecheap for 7-8 years and while I am satisfied, I have to say that Namecheap's search interface is unusably broken. It's been so bad for a few years that I've actually wondered if it's a sign of decline at the company... if you want very specific complaints about the UI I am happy to elaborate.

You want hover, best of both worlds. Amazing search experience, no misogynistic customer-hostile company (GoDaddy, not namecheap) behind it.

Misogynistic? How so?

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#670

Post by indigodaddy »

ted0 wrote: post #341
shadowprofile77 wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you're here answering questions, what do you have to say about your policy of selling certain unregistered domains as premium offerings for a higher price simply because their names are considered more marketable? I know that this is far from unique to namecheap and at least you disclose it as a practice (albeit in a somewhat roundabout manner) but it seems to me as a sort of abuse of registrar privilege. In ot…

I think what you're describing are Registry Premium domains. This is typically unregistered inventory that the registry withholds and sells at a higher price point. They are usually higher quality keywords. We don't set the price on these. Our registry partners do.

Strikes me as a bullshit practice though
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