When domains change hands or expire, “for sale” listings remain.
[Update: I received a message from GoDaddy saying a solution is in the works and should be complete within a couple weeks.] [Update 2 Feb 20: GoDaddy says it has fixed the problem. If anyone has the same problem in the future please let me know.] In October I wrote about how domain name marketplaces still struggle with “orphan listings”. These are domains listed for sale that have either expired or were listed by their previous owner.
A couple people have recently relayed to me issues related to orphan listings and how this has become a bigger issue with listings being syndicated to GoDaddy.
In one case exactly like the one I described in October, a customer tried to hand register a domain on GoDaddy.com that had already expired. The domain was still listed on GoDaddy Auctions, though. GoDaddy.com said the domain wasn’t available for registration but could be purchased on GoDaddy Auctions. The user ended up having to use the GoDaddy app to register the domain. (GoDaddy doesn’t show auction listings in the registration path to mobile users.)
I discovered another person on NamePros who won an expired domain backorder and promptly listed the domain for sale on GoDaddy Premium Listings. He was surprised what he saw when he searched for the domain on GoDaddy. Instead of showing his Premium listing, the site showed an old Sedo “buy now” listing from the previous owner.
I know there are domains I own that still show up for sale on Sedo that were listed by previous owners. This can cause a whole slew of problems. I keep waiting for the day that someone files a UDRP on one and claims I listed it for sale on Sedo…when it was really someone else.
There are solutions, at least when it comes to fixed priced domains. Both Afternic and Sedo have mechanisms in place to monitor domains listed with instant transfer capabilities. But that doesn’t cover all domains, as was the case here.
Bobby says
Funny you mention this.
Over the past few weeks we’ve received many email notices from Afternic asking us to price domains that have long ago dropped from our portfolio and have since been picked up by others.
@Domains says
Sedo and Afternic are usually pretty good about cleaning up listings, they have even removed domains from my account that I still owned, but for some reason they couldn’t get verification of. I’m sure there will always be some listings that slip through the cracks.
George Kirikos says
They should have a “bulk search” capability, so that we can check whether any of our domains are listed on their platforms by mistake.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Bobby –
I know that if you don’t respond to those Afternic inquiries then they will delete the domains, which is good.
Also, any domain in AfternicDLS is constantly verified with the registrar.
T1D says
It took them a little time but BuyDomains got http://www.CheckingAccount.com and http://www.LLC.net removed from their system. We would get emails about them even though they’re in private reg and not for sale.
Not the end of the world and I suppose for most “domainers” getting leads from interested parties is more of a positive than a negative.
Bobby says
@ Andrew
The fourth inquiry says the domain will be deleted from their listings but the name hasn’t been listed in our account since we dropped it.
Whois still has a “buy this” link that I tested and received a notice of inquiry.
Some domains are owned or controlled by a Russian registry and we receive the inquiries which leads me to think it may be some sort of phishing scam.