Godaddy Domain Buy Service

I like Godaddy..  and I like Bob Parsons.  Paul Sloan did a terrific interview with him in a recent Business 2.0 piece. Bob deserves alot of credit for serving his Country, working hard and creating a great American life for himself (and others) - but I'll blog about Bob another time...  today I have a gripe about one of his registrar's new services: the Domain Buy Service.

We get lots of unsolucited sales inquiries through this service.  At first we watched them roll in.  Then we wrote them politely asking to remove our email (NetworkSolutions' certified offer service has an opt-out button). Then,  when that failed we tried calling.  Again, no traction.

NOW; dissatisfied that they aren't getting any responses to their flood of email sales inquiries, Godaddy has resorted to writing our registrar:

Name: mark p
Email Address: [email protected]
Phone Number: 480-366-3303
Fax Number:
Domain Name: GLIDERFLIGHTS.COM
Ip: 64.202.160.161

Comments:
Registrant invalid whois. email address invalid.  [email protected] Registrant phone invalid. 345.946.6879  PLEASE update whois

I can tell you that the email is valid (I check it every day).  So is the phone..  I pay the bill, I hear it ring, I just don't answer it all the time. So these guys have resorted to badgering and harrassing and spamming (I've asked them to stop), ANYTHING to get me to sell my names at below market value to their customers. This post is to advise you to contact your registrar and make them aware that your whois is valid. Heaven forbid you were to miss the email from your registrar asking you to correct your whois and not respond.  Whether they realise it or not,  Godaddy risks getting traction with a sympathetic registrar (who also sells names)  to cancel a client's valid name. What a mess that would be.

Comments

[stuff]

Well, Your registrar name is
Registrar of Record: DomainNameSales
What do You expect then?

You should rename it to DOMAINSNOTFORSALE

[Frank]

You are absolutely correct 'Stuff'. But the site explains that the registrar doesn't sell names. It's just that I know that Godaddy knows that the whois info is valid.. but they go around to the registrar anyway to complain trying to illicit a response. I get the feedback from the registrar.. Alot of smaller registrants don't get that luxury. This is more of a watch your back post.

[Sang]

Hi Frank,

What is the future of .Net? over the past couple of year it's grown has been flat compared to the .Com, but there are a lot of great specific .Net sites that have seen a lot success and yet people tend to overlook it.

***FS*** I like .nets and have bought a few.. but prices are getting headier.. Good solid extension IMO.

[Kathy]

Hi Frank:

I know you if anyone knows this answer since you coined the investing in high-value generic domain names and was hoping for just a quick moment of your time.

***FS*** I honestly didn't coin it.. I have heard a few folks who have attributed to me tho. Thanks for your kind words tho

Can you tell me the best methods to get an idea of what domains are worth today? I have paid for appraisals from the top dogs in the business and they are all over the place. Even placed an ebay ad(Garage sale for domain names)which do not even match the paid appraisals. We own almost 400 names most registared in 1995. Most are generic (like WANTED.COM) and have never had any google ads or crap on them. Most have never even seen content on for all these years. Now we want to retire and cash out. We sold off several and I know we got ripped off. What is the Best method to do this? Thanks and we appreciate any help.

***FS*** If all your names are like 'wanted.com' or better then you could have the internet equivalent of the copy of 'the declaration of independence' found in your attic. you could shop your list to any of the top holders, Start at the domain forums ie. namepros.com, domainstate.com. Then shop the major buyers (marchex.com, ireit, sedo.com). If your names are good you may be a millionaire. Stop selling until you figure out what it is you've got exactly and pay your renewals. It would suck to loose a gem worth millions because your credit card bounced.. advance renew if possible.

[steven zielke]

dotmp (.mp) is ccTLD of USA Commonwealth does that rekindle any interest...