GoDaddy is a scam(reddit.com)
reddit.com
GoDaddy is a scam
https://www.reddit.com/r/web_design/comments/a562gv/godaddy_is_a_scam/
130 comments
I can. I used to work at GoDaddy and they have an "Executive Domain Team" that is basically just a fancy word for a group of people that assist domain kiters. If you search for a domain on GoDaddy's whois, they put a hold on it and publish the list to potential domain "investors" (read: kiters) who then have the option of purchasing it out from under you. These are people that literally invest thousands of dollars to buy up domains on the off chance that they can resell them at a profit. Anytime there's a sunrise period on a new domain TLD, these guys go in and buy all the popular and common names wholesale and they have a dedicated person that works at GoDaddy to help them do this.
Anytime you have a question about whether something is a scam or not, just ask yourself where the money is. In this case, it's in GoDaddy making money off of any time a domain name is sold, re-sold, auctioned, or if it changes hands. It's where the majority of their money made comes from, outside of services where people just don't know that better alternatives exist.
Anytime you have a question about whether something is a scam or not, just ask yourself where the money is. In this case, it's in GoDaddy making money off of any time a domain name is sold, re-sold, auctioned, or if it changes hands. It's where the majority of their money made comes from, outside of services where people just don't know that better alternatives exist.
This sounds exactly like what happened to me. I had a few .london domains in one of the early stages of the TLD launch. Sat there for about 60 days, and then all of a sudden - gone.
GD support were useless and I lost out on a few quality domain names. Never used them again since. In fact, I don’t even think I got my money back!
GD support were useless and I lost out on a few quality domain names. Never used them again since. In fact, I don’t even think I got my money back!
This is a known trick of many registrars, but GoDaddy has to be the leader. Happened to me on two occasions as well.
Recently it's supposed to be a bit cracked down on as they have strict quotas on how many domains they can reserve without outright buying.
As for my case, it was a couple years ago where they would also host a small site redirecting to the auction. It states that it is owned by some XYZ entity, but if you peel enough layers of the onion scheme you can get to their name.
You can read more about the practice and measures here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_front_running
As for my case, it was a couple years ago where they would also host a small site redirecting to the auction. It states that it is owned by some XYZ entity, but if you peel enough layers of the onion scheme you can get to their name.
You can read more about the practice and measures here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_front_running
Drop to a bash shell and do this: $ whois example.com
It's what I've always turned to first for availability. Super fast and less chance of a middleman grabbing it because you expressed interest.
It's what I've always turned to first for availability. Super fast and less chance of a middleman grabbing it because you expressed interest.
Doesn’t give you the price though which is one of the things people are looking for when searching for a domain and if it’s not one of the popular TLDs where you already know a ballpark figure.
You misunderstand. Command line 'whois' is how you search for a domain initially. If it is available, the price is the standard price for a domain in that TLD. If it's already owned, you learn that also. Then you can visit www or visit the registrar to see if it is for sale and for how much.
You can also search on domains.google.com. They are known to not engage in these practices.
You can also search on domains.google.com. They are known to not engage in these practices.
No I didn't. You are saying the same thing as I did but if it's a TLD where you don't know a ballpark figure you'll have to look it up somewhere to see the price which is some registrar like GoDaddy for a lot of people (especially those that don't know much about what's going on in the background).
Availability is not the only factor that people look at when they first decide on a domain. Especially if it's a side project / startup and not a bigger project where it doesn't matter if it's 9.99 / year or 500 / year.
Availability is not the only factor that people look at when they first decide on a domain. Especially if it's a side project / startup and not a bigger project where it doesn't matter if it's 9.99 / year or 500 / year.
Ok, so use ‘whois mydomain.tld’ to check availability, then google “.tld price” or “otherdomain.tld price” to check the cost without identifying your domain.
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I also have no proof, but I have heard enough other stories like this one that I firmly belief something is going on. Using GoDaddy to check if a domain is available is a good way to make that domain become unavailable.
If anyone needs to do the same thing, use this one: https://whois.icann.org
unfortunately icann uses google for captcha.
Are you a robot?
If you enable anti-fingeprinting option in firefox you basically forced to spend minutes on google captcha training minefield. And sometimes you never pass it, it just refresh tiles indefinitely.
I also had this experience once a few years ago (2011 or 2012). I found it extremely suspicious and spent a few days running a some experiments. I came up with a list of domains and watched what happened after a GoDaddy search: some (but not all) of my domains were suddenly purchased by a GoDaddy organization. Literally all of the ones that were purchased were available again after a few days (I assume this has to do with the grace period).
Since then I don't type any candidate domain into any registrar / online tool unless I'm ready to purchase.
Since then I don't type any candidate domain into any registrar / online tool unless I'm ready to purchase.
This is called domain kiting or "tasting"[0]. The founder of Go Daddy decried the idea a decade ago[1]. Of course this was after running their own kiting operation for some time using ad placement via Google Ad Sense for Domains (no content necessary, just a domain name). I know, because I worked on the app that serviced 20M domains and fed metrics back to the team that decided to buy or release. The project was shuttered after some employee abuse (buying the domains for themselves) and shortly before Bob declared the moral high ground.
0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting
1 - https://web.archive.org/web/20070707203924/http://www.bobpar...
0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting
1 - https://web.archive.org/web/20070707203924/http://www.bobpar...
Did Bob Parsons declare the moral high ground while standing on the back of an elephant he murdered?
https://gawker.com/5787676/meet-godaddys-ridiculous-elephant...
https://gawker.com/5787676/meet-godaddys-ridiculous-elephant...
You should find a registrar that does not engage in this behavior. I use gandi.net. I pay almost twice as much as the cheapest registrars charge but I never have to worry about how they are going to treat me.
This isn't limited to Godaddy. A friend of mine tried to register a domain name on Network Solutions way back when they were still called that. He typed in his credit card number wrong. By the time he got an e-mail stating the transaction failed, someone else had already registered his domain.
My impression is that a domain checker works as a password checker: each domain/password inserted gets listed in a database. In case of domains, a simple script is enough to skim them and get the 'gold'. In case of passwords, even if the password was unique, after checking it won't be anymore..
I seem to remember a time (probably over a decade ago) where Netsol actually admitted this, tried to defend it, then eventually backed down and said that they would stop doing it. I've always used command-line whois to check for available domains since then, never had one snatched up either.
The same thing happened to me some years ago!
It was a trendy .com domain that was available, naively I didn't grab it right away, 2 days latter I went to purchase it, it was taken..
It was a trendy .com domain that was available, naively I didn't grab it right away, 2 days latter I went to purchase it, it was taken..
For what is worth I've been using Namecheap.com for domain registration, for several years and have been satisfied. Never had any problems.
Cloudflare is also entering this business and looks promising.
Cloudflare is also entering this business and looks promising.
I was happy with Namecheap until they redesigned their website and included a tonne of JS which slowed everything down. Doing something as simple as changing an A record became unbearably sluggish, and I tend to think I have a fairly high tolerance for that kind of thing.
I gave them a few months to see if it was teething problems with the new design but it persisted. Eventually I moved everything to gandi, which has been better in every way as far as I can tell - cheaper (for me), better website, better features out of the box.
I gave them a few months to see if it was teething problems with the new design but it persisted. Eventually I moved everything to gandi, which has been better in every way as far as I can tell - cheaper (for me), better website, better features out of the box.
Their online chat support is extremely helpful in my experience
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I'm going to have to be the dissenter here.
Namecheap also does domain name front running and tasting, so it's not really any different.
Namecheap also does domain name front running and tasting, so it's not really any different.
No they don't. At least not in the way that GoDaddy does it... NameCheap does this with domains that have expired and domains that are searched and reserved but fail for some reason. Since part of the service they provide is contingent on covering for people in the event of failures (missed renewals, misspellings, etc.), NameCheap auto-renews domains and reserves variations of others when they're registered. If the user doesn't end up actually renewing the domain, they mark it up and sell it as a premium domain since they now have paid for a domain without a buyer. NameCheap mostly does this as a service for existing customers. GoDaddy, on the other hand, does it explicitly for the revenue they can generate from desperate people who need domains they previously searched for.
Doesn't match my experience. I used them to check the price of A...B...C...D....com.au which was available. A few days later, I came back to register it, just to find that that domain, ABC...D...com.au and ABCD.com.au are reserved and available via auction. Checking with national registrar directly I confirmed the domain is not reserved. With that information I contacted the namecheap support who gave me some direct "add to cart" url which was not normally available.
I don't trust any registrar anymore.
I don't trust any registrar anymore.
I think you're projecting some ill intent here on the part of NameCheap that may be unwarranted. It's quite possible that someone had purchased the domain but it failed for whatever reason or that the cached version of the whois database that NameCheap was using was outdated. I've tried to register a name from the .AZ (Azerbaijan) registry through multiple sites and was able to successfully place an order only to be refunded because the information in the registry was cached and almost 4 months out of date. Additionally, some registrars are not actually able to register certain TLDs and so they use a proxy service to facilitate the transaction. It's possible that NameCheap isn't even a .com.au registrar and was simply passing along a result from whoever they partner with to fulfill those requests.
I'm not disputing that what happened to you happened the way you describe it but I am disputing that NameCheap did anything nefarious in order for the situation to play out exactly as you've described.
I'm not disputing that what happened to you happened the way you describe it but I am disputing that NameCheap did anything nefarious in order for the situation to play out exactly as you've described.
Yes they do, see my other comment:
Namecheap is also scammy. I searched for a random URL (smithstein.co.ru) and it said that while they don't sell co.ru they sell smithstein.com ( https://i.ibb.co/FxmMH81/Screenshot-20181212-133716.png ) . After clicking the button to buy it shows an error ( https://i.ibb.co/2Zbp7hB/Screenshot-20181212-133828.png ) and then when trying to search for smithstein.com I am given the option to make an offer (ie. not buy because someone else owns it)
Namecheap is also scammy. I searched for a random URL (smithstein.co.ru) and it said that while they don't sell co.ru they sell smithstein.com ( https://i.ibb.co/FxmMH81/Screenshot-20181212-133716.png ) . After clicking the button to buy it shows an error ( https://i.ibb.co/2Zbp7hB/Screenshot-20181212-133828.png ) and then when trying to search for smithstein.com I am given the option to make an offer (ie. not buy because someone else owns it)
No, they don't. See my other comment.
NameCheap provides auction services through third parties for certain domains. You're confusing a poor experience caused by a bad response from one of these third party services with them doing something malicious. GoDaddy actively sells lists to "Executive Domain" accounts specifically so they can make money off the resale of these domains. NameCheap is just listing domains from third parties that provide auction services and sometimes they either don't get a response (so they show the general "buy" option) or they get an incorrect response (so you get an error). You're suggesting malicious intent on the part of NameCheap without any evidence that it exists.
Also, how is what you described scammy in any way? There's a difference between an error showing up for a domain name vs. a domain name showing as available and then later in the day showing up for an exorbitant price on the same site. NameCheap even labelled that domain for you as coming from a third-party but you're choosing to ignore that to sell the narrative that they're scammy.
NameCheap provides auction services through third parties for certain domains. You're confusing a poor experience caused by a bad response from one of these third party services with them doing something malicious. GoDaddy actively sells lists to "Executive Domain" accounts specifically so they can make money off the resale of these domains. NameCheap is just listing domains from third parties that provide auction services and sometimes they either don't get a response (so they show the general "buy" option) or they get an incorrect response (so you get an error). You're suggesting malicious intent on the part of NameCheap without any evidence that it exists.
Also, how is what you described scammy in any way? There's a difference between an error showing up for a domain name vs. a domain name showing as available and then later in the day showing up for an exorbitant price on the same site. NameCheap even labelled that domain for you as coming from a third-party but you're choosing to ignore that to sell the narrative that they're scammy.
Let me rephrase it. It is not scammy like GoDaddy, but it is scammy like when a newspaper publishes sponsored content.
It is not that important what happened behind the scene. In the end, I went to their site and I saw something that was not clearly marked as an ad. The listing looked almost exactly like their other listings. There, there was a button that said "buy", I clicked it and was unable to buy. It is the responsibility of NameCheap to make sure that their ads are not scammy. Just like if Facebook started showing porn ads, there would be blowback and people will stop using FAcebook.
It is not that important what happened behind the scene. In the end, I went to their site and I saw something that was not clearly marked as an ad. The listing looked almost exactly like their other listings. There, there was a button that said "buy", I clicked it and was unable to buy. It is the responsibility of NameCheap to make sure that their ads are not scammy. Just like if Facebook started showing porn ads, there would be blowback and people will stop using FAcebook.
Ok... but that's completely moving the goalposts from what you said earlier. I disagree that it's not clearly marked as an ad because, even in your screenshot, there's a link and a differentiator that says the domain is coming from Kingcom, not from NameCheap. You can ignore that or say that it's not clear enough for you and that's fine but the debate here was whether or not NameCheap was kiting and front-running domains like GoDaddy and my initial statement said that they were not. Your response was "Yes they do" and that's clearly not the case here.
Correct, I moved the goalpost because, thanks to your comment, I realized that saying that NameCheap is just as scammy as GoDaddy is an exaggeration. Nonetheless, I wouldn't trust a site with ads that outright lie. It's not like we are forced to choose between GoDaddy and NameCheap. There are other options that don't reserve searched domains, and don't show ads that lie. Since that is the case, I will opt for one of those other sites when looking to purchase a domain.
Again, you're projecting malicious intent. What's the difference, in your opinion, between a lie and a mistake? If NameCheap is labelling those domains (again, according to your own screenshot) as coming from a third-party and they get a bad response from that third party, what should their case be? The ad wasn't a lie. A lie assumes that the intent is to defraud or fool you. This sounds more like a mistake that, ultimately, didn't harm you in any way whatsoever.
That being said... you do you. I have no horse in the race with NameCheap. I just think their service is great and the customer support is awesome. If you prefer another registrar, you live your best life there.
That being said... you do you. I have no horse in the race with NameCheap. I just think their service is great and the customer support is awesome. If you prefer another registrar, you live your best life there.
I've never experienced this in my 5 or 6 years of using them (not definitively saying it doesn't happen). I frequently search for domains and then come back at a later date to purchase them for the exact price they were originally listed at.
Namecheap is good. Porkbun.com is worth keeping an eye on. I've got a few domains with them. Excellent support and really competitive pricing. gandi.net is also decent for certain international TLDs.
I check https://tld-list.com regularly for ultra cheap renewals. I have two .party domains that I previously renewed for ten years for about $1/year a while ago.
I check https://tld-list.com regularly for ultra cheap renewals. I have two .party domains that I previously renewed for ten years for about $1/year a while ago.
I definitely agree, NameSilo is a smaller registrar but is my go to place for .com while NameCheap has a wider selection of extensions.
I recently got into the first wave of Cloudflare's domain registration, but I have had a pretty good experience with Namecheap over the years. It looks like I can save a few bucks here and there, but my next expiring domain isn't for a few months so hopefully I can read other's experiences by then.
Look at NameSilo.com. Their renewals are less expensive and that includes free domain privacy while NameCheap.com charges for domain privacy after the first year. They also have free 2FA and accept BitCoin.
Porkbun.com is a bit less expensive than NameSilo.com and also offers free domain privacy but I haven't tried it.
Another inexpensive one is NameBright.com but no free domain privacy, but some might prefer it if they don't care about domain privacy. I haven't tried this one either.
Porkbun.com is a bit less expensive than NameSilo.com and also offers free domain privacy but I haven't tried it.
Another inexpensive one is NameBright.com but no free domain privacy, but some might prefer it if they don't care about domain privacy. I haven't tried this one either.
Man, namesilo has a LOT of dodgy business going on in domains they register, and don't reply to any emails about it.
They are suspect as all hell.
They are suspect as all hell.
>NameCheap.com charges for domain privacy after the first year.
Didn't they recently stop that?
Didn't they recently stop that?
Yep, I just renewed a bunch of domains and all privacy was free.
I'll second this. Namecheap is amazing company! Been using them for domains and DNS (smaller scale stuff) for years.
Namecheap is also scammy. I searched for a random URL (smithstein.co.ru) and it said that while they don't sell co.ru they sell smithstein.com ( https://i.ibb.co/FxmMH81/Screenshot-20181212-133716.png ) . After clicking the button to buy it shows an error ( https://i.ibb.co/2Zbp7hB/Screenshot-20181212-133828.png ) and then when trying to search for smithstein.com I am given the option to make an offer (ie. not buy because someone else owns it)
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Namecheap is played out now. Porkbun seems to be numero uno at the moment.
Nothing new. I used to buy and sell (mostly buy) lots of domains and wrote a review of several registrars in 2014 placing Godaddy at the very last place recommending users to stay away. Here below is what I wrote then:
"Godaddy has improved slightly on their interface since last years review. However they still have large menus that are complicated to navigate through and seem to be using the same bait and switch methods as before. After finally finding a domain that you like you will receive several offers for email, hosting, etc before you can even get to the cart. All prices seem to have an asterisk or two telling you that their super low price is only valid if you pay for 2 years or more. Going from previous experience I feel as if Godaddy wants to lock me in to use their services for as long as possible or to simply get as much money out of me before I leave. Looking around for what Godaddy charges for renewals I found several red flags where users are getting charged “market prices” for their renewals. You can see a forum thread regarding how Godaddy charges way too much for renewals here (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1365680). This post here (https://www.authormedia.com/6-reasons-authors-should-avoid-g...) even gives an additional 6 reasons why you should stay away from Godaddy."
https://archives.tenghamn.com/best/domain/registrar/2014/10/...
"Godaddy has improved slightly on their interface since last years review. However they still have large menus that are complicated to navigate through and seem to be using the same bait and switch methods as before. After finally finding a domain that you like you will receive several offers for email, hosting, etc before you can even get to the cart. All prices seem to have an asterisk or two telling you that their super low price is only valid if you pay for 2 years or more. Going from previous experience I feel as if Godaddy wants to lock me in to use their services for as long as possible or to simply get as much money out of me before I leave. Looking around for what Godaddy charges for renewals I found several red flags where users are getting charged “market prices” for their renewals. You can see a forum thread regarding how Godaddy charges way too much for renewals here (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1365680). This post here (https://www.authormedia.com/6-reasons-authors-should-avoid-g...) even gives an additional 6 reasons why you should stay away from Godaddy."
https://archives.tenghamn.com/best/domain/registrar/2014/10/...
I think I saw your post long time ago and switched from GoDaddy to Namecheap because of it. Now I'm using Google Domain. Thank you for your contribution!
Glad to hear it!
The premium renewal thing blew my mind when I first saw it. I couldn't believe they were so bold as to say that one .com is more expensive to renew than another.
Moving away from GoDaddy was one of the most rewarding "online service" switches I've made. I used to cringe visiting GoDaddy when renewing domain names where I've had to carefully navigate my way through their Dark UX patterns which feels like I've ventured into the "Dark side of the Web" where you can't trust what you read and everything is designed to upsell scams out of you.
I've moved everything to Google Domains, at $12 /y for .com domains it's only a little more expensive than GoDaddy (with Coupons) but it has a straight-forward simple and minimalist UI where I can get everything I need to get done (e.g. dns config/renewing) quickly and easily.
It's an example of a UX-focused UI built for you by contrast I view GoDaddy's user-hostile UX was designed against your best interests.
I've moved everything to Google Domains, at $12 /y for .com domains it's only a little more expensive than GoDaddy (with Coupons) but it has a straight-forward simple and minimalist UI where I can get everything I need to get done (e.g. dns config/renewing) quickly and easily.
It's an example of a UX-focused UI built for you by contrast I view GoDaddy's user-hostile UX was designed against your best interests.
I totally agree. I always dreaded the time when I had to renew my SSL cert with GoDaddy. Then, each year, while navigating on their website, I always ended up asking myself if they hired a group of psychos to design their UI.
After a couple of years I finally found Namecheap and never looked back.
After a couple of years I finally found Namecheap and never looked back.
FWIW, GoDaddy isn't the only site I've seen do this. I had the same issue a couple years ago when I tried to use Google Domains to find a domain for my website. At the time I was trying a few and found, to my delight, that nothingofvalue.com was available.
I started the process of purchasing it and then got scared when it came time to list my personal address for ownership. I stopped for about an hour to call my father to see if he would mind if I used his PO Box as the address. When I went back to redo/complete the registration, I was told the domain had been purchased by someone else.
For the next year or two, I checked it periodically, just to see if anyone had actually built a page of it. Nope. Just squatting.
I purchased nothingofvalue.org instead and have had it ever since. I also transferred the domain to Namecheap.
I started the process of purchasing it and then got scared when it came time to list my personal address for ownership. I stopped for about an hour to call my father to see if he would mind if I used his PO Box as the address. When I went back to redo/complete the registration, I was told the domain had been purchased by someone else.
For the next year or two, I checked it periodically, just to see if anyone had actually built a page of it. Nope. Just squatting.
I purchased nothingofvalue.org instead and have had it ever since. I also transferred the domain to Namecheap.
I remember I once searched for a domain name on Godaddy, and found that it was available. I waited a couple days before I decided on buying it, but next time I checked it was registered by Godaddy. If you wen to the address, you were directed to a website stating the domain has been "parked for your convenience", and you could buy it from them for now twice as much. I remember feeling so completely cheated I never did business with them again, and certainly never searched for available domains with them.
I've experienced sketchy practices from several domain brokers and hosting services. GoDaddy is just the most widely used amongst my friends and clients--making them a necessary evil in my life--luckily not at my expense.
Godaddy is for sure a scam.
They once charged me, if memory serves, $75 to resolve a complaint about one of my domains. They wouldn't tell me what the complaint was, who brought it, or how it was resolved. They just charged my card on file $75 for the "service".
I transferred my domains out and never looked back.
They once charged me, if memory serves, $75 to resolve a complaint about one of my domains. They wouldn't tell me what the complaint was, who brought it, or how it was resolved. They just charged my card on file $75 for the "service".
I transferred my domains out and never looked back.
Going to get a little off-topic here, feel free to downvote if you feel it's out of place.
Many HN users presumably saw the public launch of sr.ht a few weeks ago. I've been thinking about directions that it could be expanded in the future, and the use-cases which fit best are both (1) things I need to do to maintain sr.ht anyway, and could make into a service available to users; (2) things which are annoying to do elsewhere. To this end I'm thinking about offering domain registration. Since users pay a monthly/yearly subscription fee for sr.ht, I can just sell domains at wholesale prices and take no margin. Then you get to use the nice UI and API and so on sr.ht offers for doing DNS and domain registration (DNS probably through just pushing zone files to a git repo).
Thoughts?
Many HN users presumably saw the public launch of sr.ht a few weeks ago. I've been thinking about directions that it could be expanded in the future, and the use-cases which fit best are both (1) things I need to do to maintain sr.ht anyway, and could make into a service available to users; (2) things which are annoying to do elsewhere. To this end I'm thinking about offering domain registration. Since users pay a monthly/yearly subscription fee for sr.ht, I can just sell domains at wholesale prices and take no margin. Then you get to use the nice UI and API and so on sr.ht offers for doing DNS and domain registration (DNS probably through just pushing zone files to a git repo).
Thoughts?
While I have no doubt that you of all people could do DNS right, it seems a bit like scope creep IMO. I'm very excited about sr.ht, but also worried that it might be too much to execute all at once.
That being said, DNS records in Git sounds kinda neat. You avoid all the special authentication nonsense of "DynamicDNS" or proprietary APIs by using SSH keys, and you have versioning for rolling back configurations. Also you don't need a special UI that essentially builds zone files as you'd just have your users make their own. You might need some validation of the files before you actually put them into BIND though.
That being said, DNS records in Git sounds kinda neat. You avoid all the special authentication nonsense of "DynamicDNS" or proprietary APIs by using SSH keys, and you have versioning for rolling back configurations. Also you don't need a special UI that essentially builds zone files as you'd just have your users make their own. You might need some validation of the files before you actually put them into BIND though.
Well, in terms of scope, this falls under
>things I need to do to maintain sr.ht anyway
I already run my own authoritative nameservers and if I automated the maintenance and deployment of that, it'd only be an afternoon of hacking to make available to the public, and a weekend of hacking to add domain registration to it. I don't just work on sr.ht, too, so having a streamlined and integrated domain registration and DNS service would be great for my other projects.
>things I need to do to maintain sr.ht anyway
I already run my own authoritative nameservers and if I automated the maintenance and deployment of that, it'd only be an afternoon of hacking to make available to the public, and a weekend of hacking to add domain registration to it. I don't just work on sr.ht, too, so having a streamlined and integrated domain registration and DNS service would be great for my other projects.
Your scope, yeah, but I think the previous poster was talking about product scope.
Though I do think it could be a good idea.
Though I do think it could be a good idea.
>That being said, DNS records in Git sounds kinda neat
I think luadns.com does this, https://github.com/luadns/dns
I haven't actually used them so not sure how good their product is.
I think luadns.com does this, https://github.com/luadns/dns
I haven't actually used them so not sure how good their product is.
I spent two hours one time transferring all my domains (~10) to Google Domains. What a relief to be done with that company. There is not one honest step in the GoDaddy flow, you really have to keep your hand on your wallet.
Disclaimer: I work for Google, no interaction with the domains team though.
Disclaimer: I work for Google, no interaction with the domains team though.
How is Google’s support for domains ? I am very hesitant to buy anything from Google that may require support, as an Android developer I’ve heard too many horror stories to trust Google in this area (basically, there is no way to even talk to a human being, you can send an email and get a canned response from a bot. You’re better off talking to a brick wall).
It's exactly what you can imagine. I'd instead recommend gandi.net. It's a few bucks more but they take their motto to heart.
I posted this on the reddit too:
I tried to buy a domain with gandi. I left it in my cart for a day and then the price went up $20 dollars. I loaded up the Tor Browser, searched the same domain name and it was back at the normal price. It would stay that way even when i looked up new .scot domains. Proof: https://i.imgur.com/7kMutbB.png . The "no bullshit" moto just sounds like Googles "don't be evil" moto, bullshit designed to fool geeks into thinking they're honest people. Does there even exist a site to buy domains that doesn't do this bullshit?
I tried to buy a domain with gandi. I left it in my cart for a day and then the price went up $20 dollars. I loaded up the Tor Browser, searched the same domain name and it was back at the normal price. It would stay that way even when i looked up new .scot domains. Proof: https://i.imgur.com/7kMutbB.png . The "no bullshit" moto just sounds like Googles "don't be evil" moto, bullshit designed to fool geeks into thinking they're honest people. Does there even exist a site to buy domains that doesn't do this bullshit?
The current price on .scot domains is $49. Perhaps you're seeing a difference due to exchange rate? This is the first and only report I've ever heard of Gandi even remotely doing something like this. Unlike Google, Gandi actually does live up to its motto. And like Google, if they ever fail I'm ready to jump ship.
On what date was this picture taken?
[Edit] I just checked the exchange rate on google and 49usd is 67aud. Looks like it was just an exchange rate mixup on your part.
On what date was this picture taken?
[Edit] I just checked the exchange rate on google and 49usd is 67aud. Looks like it was just an exchange rate mixup on your part.
I think you are right, which makes me feel quite stupid. I think what tricked me is that I must have logged in to gandi at some point and then come back to look at my cart I'd made while logged off and it switched to AUD, which also uses $, so I thought it had changed without me doing anything.
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I really like Google Domains. $12 a year gets you a domain, private registration, transfer lock, DNSSEC, IPv6 support, and Dynamic DNS (using DDclient). Before Google Domains I used GoDaddy - so perhaps I'm just comparing it against a terrible service to start with, but that is a lot of features for a flat low rate.
On the other hand, I don't like Google and I'm in the process of exiting their ecosystem completely. DuckDuckGo, just got my first iPhone ever, switching to ProtonMail, using Firefox, Pi-Hole to block google analytics. Router configured to drop all traffic to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Weirdly, Google Domains will probably be one of the longest holdouts of all the Google products
On the other hand, I don't like Google and I'm in the process of exiting their ecosystem completely. DuckDuckGo, just got my first iPhone ever, switching to ProtonMail, using Firefox, Pi-Hole to block google analytics. Router configured to drop all traffic to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Weirdly, Google Domains will probably be one of the longest holdouts of all the Google products
Unless you make heavy use of Dynamic DNS I can recommend iWantMyName. Have about 10 domains with them and really like them (one-click install of many popular services, generally they don't send you any mails unless it's necessary), on the other hand I do not have much experience with any other registrar.
Recently went through the same process. I really like the management interface and tight integration with GSuite.
They don't support all of the latest TLDs though, so be sure to check first if you want to do a complete port away from your current registrar.
They don't support all of the latest TLDs though, so be sure to check first if you want to do a complete port away from your current registrar.
Their domain privacy service just blackholes any emails sent to it instead of forwarding them on.
Almost cost me a domain due to their scammy set-up - since the domain was listed as "Domains By Proxy" or something similar, GoDaddy argued that it wasn't actually mine (despite selling it to me, and selling the privacy service to me) and the request to transfer couldn't go ahead.
Thankfully Nominet were incredibly helpful (and seemingly well aware of GoDaddy's M.O.) and they managed to sort it for me.
Sadly, I've just checked their site and they list GoDaddy as a registrar to use them looking for a domain, which is a shame.
Almost cost me a domain due to their scammy set-up - since the domain was listed as "Domains By Proxy" or something similar, GoDaddy argued that it wasn't actually mine (despite selling it to me, and selling the privacy service to me) and the request to transfer couldn't go ahead.
Thankfully Nominet were incredibly helpful (and seemingly well aware of GoDaddy's M.O.) and they managed to sort it for me.
Sadly, I've just checked their site and they list GoDaddy as a registrar to use them looking for a domain, which is a shame.
Couldn’t we reverse this on them? For example, get a list of available domains and reverse-scrape from various users to trick the algorithm into thinking the domains were valuable?
A few years ago, I typed in a domain I wanted and was surprised to see a link to Godaddy Auctions saying I could have it "Buy It Now"-style for $80. I've had miserable experiences with Godaddy so I really didn't want to do it, but I wanted the domain and figured they'd jack it up to $5,000 if I hit refresh. A few days went by with no registration details, and all I could find in my account was the receipt. I called them up and was told that somebody else already owns the domain, but, if they don't re-register it when it expires, and they don't re-register it during the 30 day grace period, then I'd have the pleasure of being able to own it. When I told the person that I could have just waited and registered it on my own without spending $80, she said that since it's a 5-letter domain, Godaddy would have put it on the market as a premium domain. Apparently, I got a bargain.
I transferred it out of Godaddy as quick as I could, and one of the first things I did at my current job was convince my boss to start transferring his 400+ domains out of Godaddy. He had no idea that the "premium domains" that they charge him $100/yr to "premium renew" aren't actually anything special, and other registrars don't do that.
I transferred it out of Godaddy as quick as I could, and one of the first things I did at my current job was convince my boss to start transferring his 400+ domains out of Godaddy. He had no idea that the "premium domains" that they charge him $100/yr to "premium renew" aren't actually anything special, and other registrars don't do that.
Link to hacker news from... 7 years ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2326790
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2326790
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GoDaddy made me angry earlier this summer when it broke domain forwarding when they added shortlinks. All my URLs instantly broke. Customer support said it was by design.
To fix it, we made NavHere (https://navhere.com/) to be a simple domain forwarding service. Just a few weeks ago, GoDaddy announced they are going to fix their domain forwarding...
To fix it, we made NavHere (https://navhere.com/) to be a simple domain forwarding service. Just a few weeks ago, GoDaddy announced they are going to fix their domain forwarding...
That said, domain forwarding is still broken on GoDaddy for people who wish to forward domain-a.com/* to domain-b.com/base-path/* and preserve the path.
This was always accepted as a reality within the affiliate marketing communities, we knew never to use godaddy services to search for an available domain unless you purchased it immediately.
I heard many anecdotal stories as consequently I owned the #1 us organic position for "available domain" and primarily referred people to godaddy and namecheap.
edit I see a godaddy insider confirmed the practice
I heard many anecdotal stories as consequently I owned the #1 us organic position for "available domain" and primarily referred people to godaddy and namecheap.
edit I see a godaddy insider confirmed the practice
I have known a few people who think they are going to make millions selling domains. They had hundreds of domains, with auto renew. Set it and forget it. That has to got to be 50% of goDaddy revenue.
I moved over to Amazon Route 53. It's not terribly user friendly, but at least it's not GoDaddy.
I moved over to Amazon Route 53. It's not terribly user friendly, but at least it's not GoDaddy.
I wasn't a big fan of Amazon's domain name prices, but Route 53 is by far the best DNS I've ever used in my life.
Godaddy got a domain I searched and did not buy, and generally the user experience is like doing business with a scammer and penny pincher. On the other hand, they found a buyer for one of my domains for $5000. Kinda of a wash.
I just sold a domain on GoDaddy two weeks ago. Should I be afraid, that I won't get my money? I thought there was nothing to worry about, since it's such a big company....
Probably off-topic, but I've always wondered how malware authors register domains that are generated by Domain Generation Algorithms, without it being trackable back to them.
Are there any landmines to step on when transferring a domain? Seems like you pay a transfer cost but they extend you by 1 year. Easy as that? I'm ok with a bit of downtime.
You shoudn't have any downtime. Copy your current DNS records for your transferring domain(s) and input them at the destination Registrar, then initiate the transfer, and done. It is surprisingly easy.
The only edge case to check is if you are using non-standard or less common DNS record types (ALIAS, CAA) then first confirm with the destination Registrar that they support the record types you need.
Or if you want to keep things really simple, switch to a third-party DNS host before transferring and use the same name-server settings.
And yes, paying the target Registrar should extend your registration time. For example, say you bought a domain last year and paid to register it for five years (so four years remain). Now you transfer it to Gandi.net and pay their transfer fee. You used up one year originally, transferred, and it's yours for five years again. Your unused years at the outgoing Registrar 'roll over' to the new one.
The only edge case to check is if you are using non-standard or less common DNS record types (ALIAS, CAA) then first confirm with the destination Registrar that they support the record types you need.
Or if you want to keep things really simple, switch to a third-party DNS host before transferring and use the same name-server settings.
And yes, paying the target Registrar should extend your registration time. For example, say you bought a domain last year and paid to register it for five years (so four years remain). Now you transfer it to Gandi.net and pay their transfer fee. You used up one year originally, transferred, and it's yours for five years again. Your unused years at the outgoing Registrar 'roll over' to the new one.
Thank you.
Totally off topic but I must. Because of the the painful UI to the horrible marketing to the elephant killing paid for by the founder, I celebrate everything anti-Godaddy.
Couldn’t this be considered “front running”?
How do you go from this post to "front running"? The guy is talking about a domain auction lasting more than 90 days.
I could be mistaken by the main point was that they are searching for a domain on Godaddy and finds it was purchased and subsequently put up for auctions moments after the search.
I doubt that's the main point. There's simply nothing in the original post that suggests this.
The guy later commented that GoDaddy had registered the domain the same day he searched it, but judging by his original comment it doesn't seem that he ever saw it available.
>Okay, so I searched for one domain name on godaddy. It was available but it was on 'auction' being sold for more than $10k.
After reading OPs post over and over again, it seems pretty clear that the guy is upset about the auction lasting more than the 90 days that was originally promised.
>The auction was supposed to last 90days. After these 90 days there were 4 views in total (all by me) and it got renewed for another 90 days and it keeps saying that the auction has started the day I searched for the domain for the first time.
>If someone is able to justify this as not a scam, please post your opinion
I think it's very weird that all the commenters seem to be assuming that there's frontrunning happening here.
I guess it's just easy to hate on GoDaddy while totally ignoring the facts.
It's far more likely that this guy resolved the domain to check if it exists and got fucked by passivedns instead of GoDaddy.
The guy later commented that GoDaddy had registered the domain the same day he searched it, but judging by his original comment it doesn't seem that he ever saw it available.
>Okay, so I searched for one domain name on godaddy. It was available but it was on 'auction' being sold for more than $10k.
After reading OPs post over and over again, it seems pretty clear that the guy is upset about the auction lasting more than the 90 days that was originally promised.
>The auction was supposed to last 90days. After these 90 days there were 4 views in total (all by me) and it got renewed for another 90 days and it keeps saying that the auction has started the day I searched for the domain for the first time.
>If someone is able to justify this as not a scam, please post your opinion
I think it's very weird that all the commenters seem to be assuming that there's frontrunning happening here.
I guess it's just easy to hate on GoDaddy while totally ignoring the facts.
It's far more likely that this guy resolved the domain to check if it exists and got fucked by passivedns instead of GoDaddy.
Can anyone be surprised at how worried I was when I learned that webfaction were being bought by GoDaddy?
I’m glad Godaddy is getting shamed. I hope they lose a ton of business over this.
I had a very similar experience back in 2007. Searched for the domain, was available (and super unique). Next day ready to buy and it was up for auction.
Nowadays I would only use Google. They have a reputation to worry about if they try and pull over these tactics, unlike Godaddy and similar shady companies.
Nowadays I would only use Google. They have a reputation to worry about if they try and pull over these tactics, unlike Godaddy and similar shady companies.
I had my suspicions about searching for domains on godaddy. Do a search for a domain, come back in a few days and it was purchased by someone else.
It's not surprising a company founded by an elephant murderer turned out to be a scam.
https://gawker.com/5787676/meet-godaddys-ridiculous-elephant...
https://gawker.com/5787676/meet-godaddys-ridiculous-elephant...
I'm just an user, I'm not in the business of buying/selling domains.
Besides their shitty website, I never had a problem with GoDaddy.
I've been a customer of theirs for about 15 years.
Just sharing my experience.
Besides their shitty website, I never had a problem with GoDaddy.
I've been a customer of theirs for about 15 years.
Just sharing my experience.
I moved over a decade ago purely because of their shitty website. It just made me angry, wading through what could be a satire of all the annoying, shady and deceptive sales tactics that I don't think existed anywhere else at the time. I started paying more elsewhere to avoid the stress, and expected them to die off in the race to the bottom. But there they still are, and they aren't the cheapest and aren't offering anything unique. They are one of the reasons I'm so intolerant of advertising in general, because what I see is marketing driving people to give money to an abusive company, when just about every alternative is a better option. It just seems wrong.
Same for me. I have a couple of domains with hosting at them, which get about 20k users per day in total. I've been a customer for 10 years or so and while there were some hiccups sometimes, usually it just works without problems.
Their 1st line support is not the greatest when there is an actual problem, though. Luckily I only had a few problems during the years.
Their 1st line support is not the greatest when there is an actual problem, though. Luckily I only had a few problems during the years.
15 years, huh? If a video of "hungry villagers" butchering the elephant GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons murdered while wearing neon orange GoDaddy baseball caps doesn't give you a problem with GoDaddy, and you also have no problem with all the dark patterns on their terrible web site and the shady shenanigans so many people are reporting that GoDaddy currently perpetrate on their users, then what would they have to actually do to convince you to switch to a more reputable service?
https://gawker.com/5787676/meet-godaddys-ridiculous-elephant...
https://gawker.com/5787676/meet-godaddys-ridiculous-elephant...
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Guys, I really don't mind the downvotes. And I won't ask for clarification either.
But I believe sharing someone's experience I believe doesn't deserve a downvote. Anyway, downvote as much as you want :)
Godaddy is a scam and a massive domain squatter.
I use domainr.com for this very reason.
What is godaddy supposed to have done wrong here? OP strangely enough doesn't seem to make any specific claims of wrongdoing.
They registered a domain soon as OP searched for it and jacked up the price, basically.
That's not what the OP says though. The OP says the domain was registered the same day he searched it on GoDaddy, he never specifies when this happened.
If you read the guys comments, it almost feels like he's going out of his way to avoid specifying this really important detail. https://www.reddit.com/user/joevenet/comments/
And if this thread is supposed to be about godaddy squatting, why the story about the 90 day auction expiry? To me this definitely reads like a complaint about Godaddy auction processes and not about squatting.
If you read the guys comments, it almost feels like he's going out of his way to avoid specifying this really important detail. https://www.reddit.com/user/joevenet/comments/
And if this thread is supposed to be about godaddy squatting, why the story about the 90 day auction expiry? To me this definitely reads like a complaint about Godaddy auction processes and not about squatting.
I used godaddy in 2010-2011 for domains. no problem with them. ymmv
how do I delete this. I'm sorry for sharing my experience with godaddy. I was just talking about domain registration. I am suspicious of domain name auctions. There is no way to delete comment.s I would have deleted it as soon as it went to zero but could not.
If that was your experience, then don't delete the comment. Doing so promotes echo chambers. If you are concerned about Karma, simply submit some articles to balance it out.
I think you often can't if it's got a reply on it. Your best bet is to edit it. My suggestion is to append a note to it instead of completely removing it or changing it, since that alters the record of what really happened, and causes replies to no longer make sense.
Adding something like "Edit: Whoops, was just trying to note X, but it didn't come across right." would be sufficient, but it's up to you. To my knowledge, you have until two hours after posting to edit it, so time's running out...
Adding something like "Edit: Whoops, was just trying to note X, but it didn't come across right." would be sufficient, but it's up to you. To my knowledge, you have until two hours after posting to edit it, so time's running out...
> sorry for sharing my experience with godaddy
Personal experiences are sometimes useful information. However, yours is somewhat out of date and lacked detail.
Personal experiences are sometimes useful information. However, yours is somewhat out of date and lacked detail.
That doesn't say anything about this individual's suspicion that they create a sense of artificial scarcity and/or bad faith "auctions".
GoDaddy was my first registrar in like 2004 and leaving them was an extremely difficult process at the time. I believe they made it troublesome on purpose, though I would not also rule out incompetence.
My understanding of GoDaddy over the last couple of decades is that they weren't always a bad player in the space. They are, supposedly still, the largest registrar. I don't see a future where that can ever stay true, however. I used to use them, but my final straw was their backing of SOPA in an incredibly heated time for Internet legislation which has reverberated into present day.
A lot of their market presence in the past had to do with their marketing, such as the Super Bowl commercials they ran, GoDaddy partner Danica Patrick, and some local philanthropy in Arizona, where their headquarters is.
Eventually, people found better deals with Gandi, Namecheap, and others, and their industry force evolved into one with far less impact.
Now the industry is evolving into one with no overhead with Cloudflare providing domains at-cost as companies provide value-added services which subsidize operating costs for providing domains to customers. This will ultimately put companies we've known in the past to be giants, and to this day are still publicly traded, in dire straits as they find new ways to stay relevant.
GoDaddy provides no high-value value-added services in comparison to other market leaders. So, for most who have moved on, there's no reason to go back. They are a now a middleman for no one other than small agencies or individual customers at best, who arguably do not provide any value for them either.
We'll see what happens to GoDaddys, Namecheaps, and Network Solutions when you can't charge people for domains anymore. What happened to TLS certificates will almost certainly happen to domains, too, albeit with ICANN fees remaining as the last overhead.
A lot of their market presence in the past had to do with their marketing, such as the Super Bowl commercials they ran, GoDaddy partner Danica Patrick, and some local philanthropy in Arizona, where their headquarters is.
Eventually, people found better deals with Gandi, Namecheap, and others, and their industry force evolved into one with far less impact.
Now the industry is evolving into one with no overhead with Cloudflare providing domains at-cost as companies provide value-added services which subsidize operating costs for providing domains to customers. This will ultimately put companies we've known in the past to be giants, and to this day are still publicly traded, in dire straits as they find new ways to stay relevant.
GoDaddy provides no high-value value-added services in comparison to other market leaders. So, for most who have moved on, there's no reason to go back. They are a now a middleman for no one other than small agencies or individual customers at best, who arguably do not provide any value for them either.
We'll see what happens to GoDaddys, Namecheaps, and Network Solutions when you can't charge people for domains anymore. What happened to TLS certificates will almost certainly happen to domains, too, albeit with ICANN fees remaining as the last overhead.
>GoDaddy provides no high-value value-added services in comparison to other market leaders
I don't think there's all that much serious competition for auctions.godaddy.com
I don't think there's all that much serious competition for auctions.godaddy.com
A while back I came across some of my archives that mentioned a BBS name that was popular in the past. Thinking it would be neat to own the domain name of the company that went out of business, I went to GoDaddy and checked. It was available awesome. Got distracted, came back an hour later and it was no longer available, but was at auction.
My first suspicion is nothing nefarious happened. I could have misread available vs auction, but I don't think so. I might have mistyped the domain name, but I don't think so. Something didn't feel right.
A few days later I checked another domain using whois through icaan. No resolution. Available. Pop over to GoDaddy and do the same thing ... check name is available. As a test, I wait an hour and come back to the name at auction.
I cannot explain what happened it except maybe GoDaddy's name check leaks or someone had the exact same name ideas when I had them. Again, this was years ago and am unsure if it still occurs.