Guy complains about receiving renewal notices after his domain expires.
I just read a post on ZDNet by Scott Raymond that lambasted GoDaddy.com for a number of its practices.
The article starts out complaining about how GoDaddy continued to send him renewal notices for his domain even after it expired:
Recently I had deliberately allowed a domain to expire, since I no longer used it and it wasn’t worth maintaining for sentimental reasons. However, GoDaddy has a policy of spamming their customers incessantly with emails begging them to keep paying for the domain, and upsell the customer on even more services.
This continued even after the domain expired. If anything, the number of email messages trying to get me to buy back my lapsed domain increased.
I find this to be an interesting complaint as it’s the opposite of what you usually hear — “I didn’t receive my renewal notice”.
In fact, ICANN is working on guidelines that would require registrars to send at least one notice after a domain expires.
That said, GoDaddy certainly errors on the side of sending more notices.
Raymond also complains about other aspects of GoDaddy, such as the 60 day lock after you change your registrant information (although I think he doesn’t understand what information changes cause the lock).
I just find this complaint interesting in light of the usual complaint about expiration notices. I guess you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Josh says
I think I remember seeing an option in the GoDaddy control panel where you can control what notification emails you receive. I’m not sure if you can lessen the number of expiration notifications without stopping them completely.
I did a search in my gmail account just now for a name I let expire in July. From April (first expiration notice) to September 4th (deletion notice), I received 20 automated emails that mention the name.
Ms Domainer says
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I’d rather receive too many notifications than not enough. Although I keep on top of my expirations, it’s possible to miss one.
Also, I have a dedicated email just for my GD account, one NOT on my public whois records, so the emails are actually minimal.
I can think of myriad complaints against registrars in general, but domain notification isn’t one of them.
😉
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Batfan says
This is a moronic complaint.
If you don’t want to receive renewal notices for a domain that your going to let go, just cancel it and be done with it.
He is definitely the minority on this. People are busy and forget stuff. These multiple notices help to make sure they don’t lose their domain.
Trico says
Hi,
It seems to me that this issue could be easily solved and keep everyone happy.
Just as there is an Opt-Out link for regular emails, GoDaddy could include an Opt-Out link for receiving any further renewal notices.
Currently Renewal Notices and Warnings do not include any opt-out option. (I just checked one of my notices).
Of course you have to actually read the email to get to the link but at least GoDaddy is covered by having an Opt-Out
available.
This way those who don’t want any more renewal emails won’t get them but everyone else will.
Make sense?
Dave Zan says
@Trico
Next thing you know, someone will complain of Go Daddy or whoever registrar allowing users to opt-out of receiving multiple renewal notices after inadvertently letting a domain lapse.
Trico says
“Next thing you know, someone will complain of Go Daddy or whoever registrar allowing users to opt-out of receiving multiple renewal notices after inadvertently letting a domain lapse.”
Okay Dave,
So the Opt-Out would have to be more explicit.
( ) I do not want to renew (this domain) and opt-out of receiving any further domain renewal notices.
mypcmart says
@ Trico
Next thing you know, someone will complain of Go Daddy or whoever registrar allowing users to opt-out of receiving multiple renewal notices after inadvertently letting a domain lapse.
Its true. I appreciate this reply.
1d1p says
The question is when I register for a domain, did I give permission to receive marketing email?
Reminders are ok, upsells, and other promotion are not. IMO
Mikey O'Connor says
Hi all,
I was on the ICANN working group that recommended requiring a minimum number of notices be sent. Our goal was to make sure that people didn’t accidentally lose their names.
I don’t view renewal notices as marketing quite so much as that they’re alerts that a critical aspect of your network operations and identity are about to go away. It’s kindof like those “are you sure???” messages you get when you’re about to delete a critical file.
I like the “opt-out” idea, although registrars would have to be careful to think through the domain-theft implications and make sure that they’re not opening a door for bad actors.
Stephen Douglas says
Yeah, I wrote about the GoDaddy 60 day lockdown scam three or four years ago. I showed screenshots, and I alleged that GoDaddy was doing this because the FIRST email they send you BEFORE you get a renewal notice is “ICANN requires you to update your info”.
Once you make ONE change in your contact info, then that locks the domain down. If you renew the domain, it’s locked for 60 days, which prevents you from selling the domain AWAY from GoDaddy if you have a buyer. You then have to get the buyer of your domain to open a GoDaddy account, which then you push your domain into.
This way, GoDaddy maintains their high volume of domains they control. My own calculations over the years has estimated that GoDaddy’s total domain count consists of about 30% of domain owners who fall into this trap.
I don’t promote GoDaddy in any way. I tell my clients and my readers on my blog to go ANYWHERE but GoDaddy, 1and1.com, and Tucows. Those three registrars I’ve caught in significant “thin ice” ethics, if not outright trickery, to gain domain control.
Even though your post is old news about GoDaddy, the more people know about it, the better.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Stephen – they no longer lock down domains for any whois change. only the registrant’s organization name or first/last name.
Stephen Douglas says
@Dub-A
That’s good that they reacted finally to the unfairness of their earlier ripoff policies. However, the domain registrant company could change within the owner’s control, so it is still a “game” that GoDaddy is playing.
There shouldn’t be any lockdown at all unless the following happens:
1) The Name and Company of registrant changes
2) The address and other contact info changes
Those first two changes #1,2 should be mandatory combo changes BEFORE GD makes any lockdown.
I think that a DNS change should be the third change. However, what do I know? GoDaddy doesn’t give a ship about the domain industry players as a whole anyways. They want SUCKERS that buy into their sleazy ads. And man, are there a lot of suckers using GoDaddy.
Imagine if they were registered with other registrars that actually cared more about their success than the upsell?
Rebel.com
Name.com
Moniker.com
Fabulous.com
and many more professional registrars that provide expert services to the people (us) who know when we’re being “gamed”.
I don’t know if you remember, but back in early 2006, I introduced this idea to Rick Schwartz, and he was 100% on this idea… a common website that promoted the domain industry, including why domains are valuable investments, and where to go to get the best prices and services.
My, have times changed.