GoDaddy did not send any notifications about domain expiration and right after domain expiration they transferred domain to their own account. Now requiring to hire their broker to purchase the domain. The domain is still pointing to the IP address of my site.<p>The domain has expired on January 25, on January 26th they sent an expiration notice. But I couldn't find the domain neither in expired nor in active domains.
First, Godaddy is a scammy company. Stay away from them for future. NOw, as far as I know, when a domain expires, you have a grace period as per ICANN here:<p><a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/domain-name-renewal-expiration-faqs-2018-12-07-en" rel="nofollow">https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/domain-name-renewal-ex...</a><p>I don't know if you have any legal options but according to ICANN, you should be able to renew the expired domain without extortion.
Here's a chart that outlines typical lifecycle of a domain name:<p><a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-lifecycle-2012-02-25-en" rel="nofollow">https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-lifecycle-2012-02...</a><p>Every registrar is required to allow the customer to renew the domain during the 45 day "Auto Renew Grace Period".<p>A caveat to this, some registrars will have in their terms that after 33 days the domain will be sent to an "expired domains" auction.<p>That said, since the domain is only a few days into the "Auto Renew Grace Period" you should still have the opportunity to renew the domain.<p>I've been working in the domain industry for 20+ years, feel free to reach out if you'd like me to take a look at this for you and offer guidance/assistance.
One domain I have had for over 20 years was originally purchased with GoDaddy. I then transferred to Google Domains when that opened up for supposedly better integration with Google Workspace. Now Google Domains is closing up and transferring to Squarespace but I just received an email that they do not support Dynamic DNS (DDNS) so now I'm looking to transfer my domain again.<p>I was thinking about going back to GoDaddy because their customer service was nice in helping me resolve a DNS entry issue. Namecheap appears to have good reviews here but I was also looking into <a href="https://porkbun.com" rel="nofollow">https://porkbun.com</a> but they do not appear to have DDNS.
Slightly tangential, many years ago I searched for a really cool .com domain and it was available. Tried to book the domain after a couple of days and the domain was gone. My hunch is that the site I used for searching booked it by themselves. These days I only search for domains when I’m ready purchase right away.
I have had the opposite experience with GoDaddy. I have been a customer of theirs for 20 years having bought my first domain in 2003. At my peak I had two dozen domains with them. Their customer service has always been quick to respond and take action and proactively reaches out once a year and thankfully not more. I have not had any domains taken from me for any reason, and have used their auction service to sell a few, and their back order service to get one.<p>I don’t love their prices, especially for some of the newer gTLDs. I use their DNS and have not once noticed a problem, though one might’ve happened without my knowledge.<p>I don’t think I’d choose them today if I was starting from scratch based solely on pricing but as it stands I don’t plan to move to anyone else at this point.
This happened to a client of mine, almost precisely a year ago. I had warned them - get your domain off Godaddy ASAP. They didn't listen, and left it for three months after winning it in one of Godaddy's "Auctions", which promised a year's renewal as part of the auction. Godaddy not only didn't send renewal notices, they admitted they didn't send renewal notices, and he had to buy it back from them again at "Auction" 3 months later. This time, he was sure to transfer it as soon as possible.
I have generally had good experience dealing with Go Daddy, there was a bit of an incident with an auto renew hitting my credit card for a few hundred dollars that I wasn't expecting. I have also noticed that the site appearance seems subpar and they are pushing several third-party Products such as Microsoft 365. Personally I just locked up my domain names for the next 10 years so that I don't have to worry about renewals or policy changes [hopefully anyways!]
Exactly same scenario for me. They generously offered me to re-activate the domain for $55 "lapse" fee. I generously offered them to shove it and registered a slightly different domain with a more reputable registrar. Priceless lesson, as it was a tiny hobby website.
Did you check your spam page first? (just curious) I can't believe this can be happened. Pre-notice/action-note has to be delivered before the arrival of the last meaningful day.