This is How I lost my Domain Name at Epik.com

[Fadi H]

Hello everyone,

I've been closing my eyes on many things that I didn't like on Epik.com Registrar. But today is the final day and I'm transferring all my domains from there for a Never comeback.

So what happened is that I had a .CO domain hosted at Epik, Which Expired on December 11th 2021. I did not renew it or transfer it as I've been busy and thought I still have time as I know that .CO domains have a 40 day grace period and that's by the registry. And during that grace period domains are transferable and renewable.

Yesterday I logged in to my account and didn't find the domain, So I clicked the blue button and the support agent said that they will look into the matter and reach back to me later.

Today I received the following response :

"Hello Fadi,

The domain expired on December 11, 2021 and the grace renewal period is 15 days which means that the last day that you have to renew your domain was on December 26, 2021. Since renewal did not take place, and someone had a backorder on your domain, the backorder was fulfilled.

We may be able to get in contact with the new owner to help you get your domain back but you might need to provide your best offer so we can send it to our sales team.

Looking forward hearing from you. "

So I clicked back the blue button questioning about that backorder story and I got the following response :

"Thank you for patiently waiting. I have confirmed with our tech team that domain renewals of 40 day grace period is only applicable for domains without back order. You will only get 15 day grace period if there is a backorder for your domain."

But in fact if you visit Epik.com You will not find this backorder story anywhere on the site.

They referred to this link which doesn't help :

https://www.epik.com/support/faq/expired-registration-recovery-policy/

I'm not satisfied with their answers at all and this is the first time I hear of this 15 day back-order story and it's not even mentioned anywhere on the site.

You can see it clearly "After the discretionary grace period the customer's domain is deleted from their account. And deleted domains may be recoverable for up to a total of 69 days after the expiration date.

Where is the 15 day backorder story?

Your opinions matter, Do you think what they did is right?

 

[Daniel Owens]

I love these thread title
Epik, Godaddy, etc... stole my name
In fact 99.9 % of the time they messes themself up and blame on other people.

These type of titles should not be allowed here because no one stole your name.

Wonder if epik can sue for slander jk lol.

 

[Daniel Owens]

The title is clickbait?

 

[Rob Monster]

Ironically this domain was an internal backorder - a domain that was marked to not drop.

If Fadi had been patient and replied in a civil way, he would have gotten the domain back for the cost of the renewal. However, in light of Fadi's approach that was not an option as it rewards thuggery. As I saw it, the charity auction was the next best alternative.

For those unaware, with the expiry stream on Epik, there are 3 paths:

1. The registrant can set the domain to go to NameLiquidate. The owner gets to keep 91% of the auction proceeds. It can be set to go there automatically as a portfolio setting here:

https://registrar.epik.com/account/portfolio-settings/

That is possible up to do day 7 of expiry and then the auction runs 7 days.

2. The registrant can do nothing, and then after the grace period, Epik can elect to warehouse the expired domain. If the domain is not sold, often the former registrant can recover the domain for a $199 fee for up to 1 year. This is entirely at Epik's discretion but has saved many registrants over the years.

3. The registrant can do nothing and the domain will go to Daily Diamonds on the day last day of the expiry delete cycle. There is often good inventory there and the auction runs 24 hours but the registrant does not participate in the auction proceeds as Epik funds the renewal fee during this phase of grace period.

https://www.epik.com/buy/daily-diamonds

Hope that clarifies why the charity auction path was viable, and also why Fadi could have prevailed with just a bit of patience. The object lesson for everyone is to always try the nice guy approach. More generally, smile at the world, and the world smiles back.

 

[Rob Monster]

@Rob Monster I love you so much and admire your orphan project, I think I'm a little strapped to buy that but it is good the $'s is going for a good cause and half to OP is pretty fair as you will probably get more for it then if he tried to sell it. Also what's this reverse auction thing, does it mean price is reduced daily? If so he can get it back cheaper then about 1K?

Looking for the lemonade knowing that Romans 8:28 is in effect.

The remedy seemed as close to even-handed as possible.

As for NameLiquidate, it is a reverse auction - the price bottoms at just $9 and the domain is already renewed.