When it comes to transferring a domain name, it's important to understand the policies regarding transfers. ICANN is the organization for writing and enforcing the domain transfer policy for it's accredited Registrars.

Interestingly enough, I believe GoDaddy is in direct violation of the ICANN transfer policy and here is why.

Once everything was in order, I went to Name.com to request a transfer out of GoDaddy and entered the authorization code and everything went through fine and dandy. Not long after they verified the whois contact information I was emailed an approval verification from Name.com and clicked on the link and agreed with the transfer.

Shortly after this, I received an email from GoDaddy and here is what it said:

The transfer of MYDOMAIN.BIZ from GoDaddy.com to another registrar could
not be completed for the following reason(s):

Express written objection to the transfer from the Transfer Contact.
(e.g. - email, fax, paper document or other processes by which the
Transfer Contact has expressly and voluntarily objected through opt-in
means).

The express written objection may be the result of a pending or
recently completed Change of Registered Name Holder. This is an opt-in process
during which the new Registered Name Holder agrees not to transfer for
60-days. This domain will be transferrable on 9/3/2007.

If you believe that this domain name does not fit the situation
described above, go to
http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/support.asp?prog_bla bla
for assistance.

GoDaddy was telling me that they are denying my transfer. When I called GoDaddy support, I was told that I updated my registrant data so the 60 day 'transfer prohibited' policy (set up by ICANN) was reset so I'd have to wait another 60 days. I explained to the politely that the 60 day transfer prohibit policy applies to newly registered domain names or newly transferred in domain names from registrar to registrar. Neither of this applied in my case because the domain hadn't been touched in almost a year. So, just to make sure I was correct, I looked it up and here is what I found on both the FAQ section and the ICANN transfer policy .

My registrar is refusing to transfer my name. What do I do?

A registrar may legitimately deny a transfer request in certain limited circumstances, as follows:

• Evidence of fraud
• Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) action
• Court order
• Reasonable dispute over the identity of the person authorizing the transfer
• Domain name is on hold due to payment owed for a previous registration period
• Express written objection from the domain name holder
• Domain name is in Lock status (Registrars must provide a readily accessible and reasonable means for name holders to remove the lock status. Contact your registrar for assistance.)
• Domain name is within 60 days of initial registration
• Domain name is within 60 days of a previous transfer

Registrars are required to specify a reason when denying a transfer request. Contact either the current registrar or the registrar you wish to transfer to for assistance.

I called GoDaddy back and they didn't seem to understand this policy so I stayed on hold while the manager of the transfer department, "John" looked for the policy.  When he got back on the phone he pointed to the GoDaddy Domain Name Change of Registrant Agreement and directed me to this paragagraph under GoDaddy's Role:

The domain name may not be transferred to another registrar within 60 days of the completion of the change of Registrant transaction (the "Transfer Prohibition Period"). In the event the domain name is subject to another change of Registrant within the Transfer Prohibition Period, the 60 day Transfer Prohibition Period will begin again upon completion of the subsequent change of Registrant transaction.

"Registrant transaction"... What's that supposed to mean?  John told me that this means I can change any of my contact information except for the registrant information and nothing will happen.  However, since I selected the 'change all' option to update my mailing address, the 60 day 'Transfer Prohibited' is reset.  Needless to say, I didn't understand this at all because ICANN has made it very clear what this 60 hold is for and GoDaddy doesn't write the ICANN policy and they also have no right to deny a transfer of a domain name because someone updates their information.   There was no transaction and my domain has been on GoDaddy for at least a year so I fail to understand this GoDaddy transfer policy that they've written.

GoDaddy is big enough to make their own transfer policy... ICANN?

I explained to John my contention with this and he said there is nothing he can do because that is the policy that GoDaddy wrote that was approved by ICANN.  While ICANN policy is in black and white.  Maybe ICANN didn't realize that updating a registrant contact information in GoDaddy terms is a Registrant transaction.  Truthfully, I'm not sure if GoDaddy understands it either.  Where I come from, a transaction is an item or service in exchange for a fee... like a transfer of a domain name from one registrar to another or the purchase of a domain name.

Needless to say, GoDaddy is refusing to allow me to transfer my domain name out of their control and forcing me to renew with them.  The've also claimed that when I renew a my domain, that also resets the 60 day transfer prohibited policy under ICANN.  Here it is again:

• Domain name is within 60 days of initial registration
• Domain name is within 60 days of a previous transfer

Now, I could be wrong but GoDaddy is the only registrar I've encountered this with and I couldn't find anywhere in the ICANN site that states if I update my registrant data, my registrar has the right to refuse transfer of my domain name.  Isn't this an example of the wild west of poorly written policy?

I believe this is just another shady tactic that GoDaddy plays with their customers to force renewals with them.

What do you all think of this policy??? ..  and is there something that I have looked past?

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flyswatter Registered | 2007-07-12 17:38:13 In my line of work I deal with this a lot from them. They've been doing this for years, with at least one time of taking a break from it. Last I saw, when you update the registrant information they give you a little warning saying this will put it on hold. Is it fair? No. Is it against ICANN policy, well by updating your contact info and agreeing to the hold you have now given them the loophole they created for an objection to transfer. I still doubt the "legalities" of it.

admin - While that may be ok... Super Administrator | 2007-07-12 19:41:22 I didn't bother reading the warning because I believe I have a clear understanding of the black and white text in the ICANN policy. "Domain name is within 60 days of initial registration and Domain name is within 60 days of a previous transfer". Those are the only reasons to deny a transfer based on the transfer prohibit policy. So all else is null and void. With all the up selling and pop-ups on the GoDaddy website, one becomes numb to all of the crap after a while.

buggy - Godady sucks Registered | 2007-07-14 20:28:20 I'v been trying to raise the alarm about this change of registrant scam for a while. There are other scams at godaddy as well. The FamilyAlbum.com scandal at Godaddy was the biggest scam of all. Someone who wanted the domain put in a backoreder for it and then reported to godaddy that the whois for FamilyAlbum was incorrect. Specifically that the email was incorrect. So what did godaddy do. They emailed the owner of Family album and of course they didn't respond becuase the email was bad. After godaddy got no response the deleted the domain and the guy who pu in a back order for the domain now owns it. Here are some other reasons godaddy sucks. 1 they lie on there website and make you agree to not transfer your domain if you update your whois. This is just dishonest. Nothing in ICANN policy allows for this. 2, They have a reputation for shutting down sites based on uninvestigated complaints. If someone complains that you are spamming with your domain they shut you down without any investigation. The burden is on you to prove you weren’t 3, They have a link in there whois to report false whois. Let me ask you; what qualifies any joe blow who looks up my domain in the whois to determine if the whois is false. This is asking for abuse. The type of abuse that led to the theft of familyalbum.com By the way, and this is an aside. I found a domain I wanted the other day at godaddy that had false whois- bad email. Nothing can stop me from puttiing in a back order for it with godaddy and then reporting the false whois. But I degress, let me go on. 4, Their control panel is the worst in Biz. 5 when You try to renew you have to deal with nonsense like having the renew auto set to 2 years and being upsold tons of junk on the long road to checkout. 6 Bob Parsons is a self-important, egotistical, sexist ass. Grown men who where earings are pathetic. Any woman who gives godaddy business should be ashamed of themselves. Have you seen the godaddy TV ads? They scream “I love to degrade women,” and let me point out that I am a man that thinks women shouldn’t be allowed to vote. So if I think Parsons is sexist there must really be somehting wrong with him. 7. There is no grace period after your domain expires. The day it expires they will charge you a boatload of money to get it back. Reputalbe registrars dont pull this kind on nonsense. Why would anyone who knows anything about domains put up with this. 8 When you buy a domain at Godaddy or change your DNS to Godaddy, they steal your traffic for at least three days. That’s right folks you heard it hear first. They steal your traffic for at least three days. At any ohter registrar you can start using your domain right away. By the way this is grounds for a class action lawsuit and I am sure some clever attorney will get on it eventually. The list goes on, but if your are stupid enough to use godaddy you probably already stopped reading There are many other problems with godaddy not least of which is domain security. Did you know that the owner of Mall.com, City.com, prices.com and many other top shelf domains had all his domains at Godaddy and they were stolen. Here is link to an interview about it. http://tinyurl.com/ynqgtd I never heard of any domains being stolen out of Moniker. Godaddy is too big and their are too many people working there if you get my drift. It\’s the law of large numbers. It only takes one bad apple to spoil the apple cart. My guess is you have theives inside Godaddy. FamilyAlbum.com comes to mind. We don\’t know who owns it now do we? Let me continue with a few more reasons why godaddy sucks. I recently sold a few domains to people who wanted to transfer their domains to godaddy. I gave both people the auth codes. They initiated the transfers at godaddy. In both cases I and the other party received emails from godaddy saying the transfers would not go through unless I followed a link to login into an account at godaddy and approve something. Of course the domains werent’ at godaddy so there was nothing to approve in my account or any other account. In both cases the people (one of them a famous domainer who is very familiar with the godaddy interface) were confused and worried that the domain transfer would not go through. In both cases I had to explain to them that godaddy’s email is just dead wrong. In both cases the transfer went through in 5 days. Unfortunately I still have about 2500 domains at Godaddy so I have had lots or experience with them. I am in the process of moving out though. On another note I received an email the other form an account manager day that my domains would be auto-renewed but I first had to “confrim the last 4 digits of my Credit Card.” The only problem is that I don’t have any of my domains at godaddy set to auto-renew. This kind of thing is just dirty tricks. Come on, let get real, who sends out emails saying they are going to auto renew domains that aren’t set to auto renew. Obviously Godaddy is making these guys hussle. I don’t want my domains at a registrar where the employee’s have to hussle. It reminds me of Registerfly where there risk department worked purely on commision. They didn’t get paid unless they froze people’s account. Another thing; Godaddy support is poorly trained. Here is where the curse of being big comes into play. They just can’t train enough people properly. Also when you transfer your domain out of godaddy you get a scary email that says your domain has been cancelled. You blogged about this once yourself. What kind of messed up #@%& is that?

buggy - godaddy is the worst Registered | 2007-07-14 20:30:13 Check out www.noDaddy.com

mastn - transfer still denied after 60 Registered | 2007-08-04 16:11:49 GoDaddy support told me my domain would be eligible for transfer away from them on July 19 (today) ... [EDIT] This was a mistake on the part of their tech support ... the domain was successfully transferred away on AUG 03, yay! That totals more than eight months of headaches caused by Registerfly ... all done now. In the end, I lost one domain thanks to eNom's refusal to cooperate and their rapacious domain-tasting practices. I recovered all other domains and have transferred them to mydomain/Dotster. Now, at mydomain/Dotster, I'm having recurring troubles with their interface ... each time I register or transfer-in a domain name, they give all ownership and contact info to one of my CLIENTS, disregarding my own default settings on their site. I've contacted their tech support several times across the past several months about this. NEVER have I received an answer ... and so far, the problem persists as recently as yesterday (Aug 03). So ... I'm done with the Registerfly troubles except for the money that Registerfly ripped from me ... but I have new troubles at another major registrar ... scary troubles. It's NOT GOOD that all my domain transactions result in my domains being given-over to one of my clients, lock stock and the bean-gun ... and it's NOT GOOD that I can't seem to raise any response or solution from them (mydomain/Dotster). Will these aggravations ever end?

Festus - GoDaddy Registered | 2007-07-24 16:07:48 I pretty much dislike GoDaddy myself... but they are fabulous compared to registerfly, that is for sure. I transfer any domains that I am going to use for a serious website out of GoDaddy to Tucows because I do not feel comfortable with GoDaddy's security and terms. There website is horrible with all the ads and screens full of junk I don't need.

helpivebeenrobbed - question Registered | 2007-07-28 00:10:39 Question about money left in our registerfly accounts by helpivebeenrobbed Comment (0) I still have money in my "registerfly" account. I've not yet heard of a way to get it out. They claim they will still register domains as a reseller. Is this true? and is this my only viable option to get some use out of that money? Obviously since they swindled me out of thousands of dollars worth of domains (see the posts of "helpivebeenrobbed") I don't believe them. I put $300 in there while I was trying in vain to save some of my domains. Thanks! ( SCOTT@CHRISTCARES.ORG)SORRY FOR POSTING UNDER A UNRELATED ENTRY, BUT I'M SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS & U GUYS ARE ABOUT MY ONLY HOPE TO GET INFO- THANKS AGAIN!

richaseale - $ left in RF account Registered | 2007-07-30 13:59:50 I too have quite a tidy sum left in my account at RegisterFly. I have had no response from RF in attempts to get my $3183 back. I told them I am willing to get it back by new register or renew of domains but they just closed my problem report with no answer twice!! Has anyone rcd any reimbursements... if so, how? Thanks..... Richard seale

helpivebeenrobbed - important registerfly ALERT Registered | 2007-08-03 16:11:21 I just found out a couple of my debit creditcards have just been hit with a bunch of fraud charges from Saudi Arabia - $80.00 each saying "Master Money Purchase STC SAWA RECHARGE RIYADH" I was told that this was an Internet scam company - I told customer service that I was tech savey and that I only dealt with reputible companies... then I remembered I used these cards in vain trying to save my domains with registerfly. I just wanted to a quick heads up just in case there is a connection - nothing would surprise me about registerfly including selling our creditcard numbers. I'm sorry for not taking the time to learn how to start my own thread, but I am rushed, but wanted to give a warning.

mastn - GoDaddy didn't get all TLDs Registered | 2007-08-16 21:27:37 A previous client's webmaster contacted me this week ... the client's Registerfly domain (.net) expired last weekend. For some reason, it was NOT aquired when GoDaddy paid off Medina. GoDaddy support had no explanation ... they just said sorry ... eNom has some of the Registerfly domains. This domain was originally registered for five years starting Aug2001 ... renewed in Aug2006 for another year at Registerfly. After expiring last weekend, the domain /whois showed eNom as the registrar, and ALL ownership and contact info had been replaced to indicate that Registerfly owned and controlled the domain name. I've provided Registerfly screenshots and proof of ID to eNom ... their new support organization seems to indicate that the domain will be put into the new eNom account that I had to create for the former client ... heavy sigh I thought I was DONE with this crapola! But this indicates that problems will be ongoing for many-many Registerfly customers, as their domains reach expiration ... And it indicates that the GoDaddy so-called *solution* is really no solution at all ... I'll update this post when I find out how much eNom is really going to help. UPDATE Aug16 ... eNom support performed perfectly! The domain was pushed into the new eNom account, and it has been successfully renewed. I'm amazed and gratified. I wish that had happened so easily a few months ago with my own domains that eNom wasn't quite so helpful in rescuing from Registerfly. This does demonstrate progress and some hope, though. I don't suppose I'll ever know why eNom retained this domain ... why it didn't go over to GoDaddy last May. I've asked ... and if anyone explains it to me, I'll update this post again.

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