Where has my domain name disappeared to?

May 31, 2013 9:10 AM

My domain name expired and I want to get it back, but GoDaddy says I have to pay an additional $80 to get the domain back from the "domain registry." The customer service person says that the domain registry is a separate entity from GoDaddy. Is there any way I can get it directly from this domain registry without going through GoDaddy?
posted by Cybria to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Type it in, it may be one of those companies bought your URL and you'll have to buy it from them.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:15 AM on May 31, 2013

Check if it's available on NameCheap.com. Much more reputable company than GoDaddy.
posted by no regrets, coyote at 9:28 AM on May 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Try a different registrar, e.g. Namecheap, to see if you can pick up your domain yourself instead of being hostage to Godaddy (a registrar which i wish would just GoAway).
(no, no regrets at echoing no regrets, coyote)
posted by anadem at 9:30 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Sounds like it's in the Redemption Period. A friend had this happen to them with a different provider and was met with a similar request for money. You can read about it on ICANN's site. See "I accidentally let my domain name expire. How do I get it back?"
posted by Magnakai at 9:38 AM on May 31, 2013

Yes, I'd do as Ruthless Bunny and Magnakai suggest, then I'd get a better domain registrar. Godaddy is notoriously crappy; I had some experience with them, and they were appallingly not good at being a registrar. And get a registrar that will auto-renew, and do a good job of renewal notification.

http://www.tucowsdomains.com/renewal-and-expiration/what-happens-to-domain-names-when-they-expire/
http://www.ehow.com/how_8331321_recover-expired-domain-names-godaddy.html
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/recovering-an-expired-domain
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=66b0fca7-ad86-4b5c-997b-1d1b4b47911a
posted by theora55 at 9:46 AM on May 31, 2013

Currently registries do not deal directly with registrants. The rules of the game change slightly in the coming years with the introduction of new gTLDs but that's not relevant to your issue.

It most certainly sounds like your domain name is in the Redemption Grace Period. During this time only the original registrant can submit a request to the registrar asking them to "redeem" the domain name from the registry. The registrar is charged a fee for this and the registrar, in turn, marks that fee up.

The Redemption Grace Period lasts for 30 days, after which there is a 5 day Pending Delete period. After this the domain name is released by the registry and is available for anyone to attempt to register.

If this domain name is in any way valuable to you I highly recommend that you use a backorder service either directly through Godaddy (meh) or Snapnames, Namejet or some other similar service. But in the end you'll only pay slightly less for it than you would pay to Godaddy to get it back.

Good luck.
posted by FlamingBore at 12:55 PM on May 31, 2013

For future reference, Namecheap has never charged me extra for reregistering domains I accidentally (recently) allowed to lapse.
posted by Good Brain at 5:42 PM on May 31, 2013

Good Brain - if you catch it within the expiry period there is no extra fee. After that they would charge you just like every other registrar. No registrar is exempt from those fees.
posted by FlamingBore at 8:03 PM on May 31, 2013