WARNING: BuyDomains.com Snatching up Customer's Expired Domains?!?

[OnlineBusiness.com]

Ok so I've already wasted a good few hours trying to convince BuyDomains.com to fix the extremely unfair situation they've put me in. Things are still unresolved so I'm here with my warning. I just wanted to inform others to be careful about BD and after you purchase domains, make sure to TRANSFER your domains out of any registrar they place the domain initially.

I bought a domain SiteXXXX.com in 2014. After purchasing I received the welcome email along with the registrar details. In that email the registar they required me to use was BuyDomainsRegistrations.com.

So I continued to develop a site on my purchased domain, sitexxxx.com. I developed a simple wordpress site and then left it alone for the next year or so. Now just a few days ago I checked on the site since it'd been quite some time since I worked on it.

I checked the site and it was down. Then I checked whois and noticed that the registrant was BuyDomains.com again! I was somewhat relieved since I was hoping that it was in redemption or maybe they were holding the domain for me since I'd originally purchased it over a year ago.

So I contacted my sales rep there and asked if they could do a one time exception. He said no but was willing to give me a reduced rate on a 2nd sale. What!?! I mean they were trying to sell back a name that I purchased from them? Ok not cool but not too big of a deal.

What I did next was checked my email account to see if I received any domain expiration emails or any emails about the domain expiring. I checked and there was NOTHING. Not one email at all notifying me of the domain expiring nor the domain being expired.

So this is when I started to get suspicious. So the domain registrar that they required me to use was directly related to their company and is apparent since the registar url is http://www.buydomainsregistrations.com. I had brought this up to my sales rep and he still denies that the registrar's related to their company. How could it not?? Look at the site, it even has their logo on it.

Anyway, I asked them why I never received any renewal emails and they emphatically deny that the registrar is related to them so they have no idea. Hmm..that doesn't sound right at all.

So as I last request to get my name back I asked them if they could lower the price again..they denied my request and here I am warning others about their shady tactics.

It would've been completely fine if the domain registrar they forced me to use upon buying the domain was an external registrar like GD, ENOM, etc. And if that were the case I'd most definitely received email expiration notifications.

But that did not happen and that's why I feel sorely mistreated. Anyway, I'm staying away from BD from now on. My advice is if you're going to buy domains from them, ALWAYS transfer your domains out from whatever registrar they place your domain at.

 

[TRY]

It's your responsibility to make sure your renewal fees are paid, no exceptions. Renewal notices are nice, but they are just a courtesy and every person I've seen complain about this uses SPAM filters which block out things like renewal notices.

Also, nobody can "force" you to use any particular registrar for a domain you own. Again, that's your responsibility, not someone else's.

You are wrong sir renewal notices not just a courtesy, the following from Icaan website " Registrars are required to send renewal reminders 30 and five days before (and five days after) the expiration of a domain name. The registrar must display on its website the methods for sending these notices.

If you did not receive renewal reminders from your registrar (or reseller), please submit a complaint..." the link is on the ICANN website

 

[Name Trader]

Lots of things can happen to renewal notices long before they ever reach your inbox. Their mail server could well be on one of the spamlists for example. Just because you haven't received them doesn't mean they haven't been sent. Just playing devil's advocate, here. I feel sorry for you. But it is your ultimate responsibility to keep track of your renewal date and to renew in a timely manner. Relying on registrar reminders is always going to be a bit hit and miss, unless you are with one of the big respectable registrars. How long after the renewal date are we talking about here?

 

[Name Trader]

Look Folks. This thread really is not about the registrar not sending out renewal notices. It's about the fact that the OP approached BuyDomains about his domain 7 months after the renewal date. It then became about the emails because the OP went looking for excuses. Whether they were sent or not. Which nobody can prove.

If I received these complaints from a buyer 7 months after the renewal date, I'd tell the buyer to FO. Which is what Buy Domains have done. And the OP didn't like it. Now. Are BuyDomains an honest broker with their modus operandum? I think not, because they have been caught out in at least 2 lies about this case. Sufficient evidence for many of us to say "I don't ever want to deal with a shady company like BuyDomains which employs these shady practices". But we all know, if they have a domain that we must have, at the right price, we will buy it from them. Even knowing they employ some shady practices, like lying to their former customers.

I am actually on BuyDomains side in this dispute. It is not their responsibility to wet-nurse their customers to renew their domains. It is entirely the responsibility of the customer to renew their domains. And not for them to go bleating about it 7 months after expiry. End of story.

 

[trendicator]

but the registrar should at least email the registrant a reminder of domain expiration

 

[cocaseco]

. My advice is if you're going to buy domains from them, ALWAYS transfer your domains out from whatever registrar they place your domain at.

Ironically, you missed the biggest lesson and advise.....manage your names! While registrars are required to send renewals, they probably don't. Ultimately, it is the domain owners responsibility. I have missed renewal emails from even the biggest registrars. We have seen similar situations with other registrars. While most registrars could use a serious revamp of their customer service, the root cause is still failure to manage your own domains. Sorry it happened and hopefully you will take steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.

I don't know what others do, but on the first of each month i review all domains expiring in two months. So for example on February 1, I was reviewing expiration's for the month of April. I review and renew if necessary, or drop or whatever. Also, I ALWAYS use auto-renew. My feeling is if it was good enough to register once, it's good enough to renew and that's just one more check to make sure it is worth buying in the first place. Do that religiously, or develop your own system, but do something as a result of what was learned here.

 

[OnlineBusiness.com]

Yes, thanks all for the advice about managing names and renewing on time. Unfortunately this isn't my biggest loss in terms of non renewals. I lost a GEO name in which I received a $30K offer in the past..simply cause I forgot to renew. That stung and I accepted it completely!

Anyway, I understand losing this name is my fault too. I just didn't like the way buydomains went about handling the situation. Lying is never good and especially when it's a big marketplace like this. They are shady. Period.

 

[TRY]

Well that is bad but you should also blame yourself there. You said you got the domain a little over a year ago and then didnt renew it regardless of the renewal notices. I think in this case , it was your fault cause as you know if you dont renew your domain then each registrar has a way to deal with your domain. Some auction while others hold you as long as you are eligible to get it back.

Also trying to lower the asking price is not.possible if you are no longer eligible to claim the domain by paying the redemption fee. All registrars send an email specifically stating how many days you have to renew or transfer away your expired domain(s) before you will have to pay a redemption fee or even have your domain sold.

I would just say in the future just stick to the wellknow domain registrars and if you get any nice deals to reg domains in any registrar that you dont like thwn just transfer out long before it is time to renew.

.. "and then didnt renew it regardless of the renewal notices".....
I thought the whole point of the thread was he didn't get any renewal notices?

 

[LucidDomains]

Rules of thumb:

If you ever buy a domain from anyone, make sure to transfer it to your preferred registrar as soon as you are allowed to.

Make a spread sheet of all your domains which includes expiry dates and check it regularly.

Don't expect expiry emails from any registrar, if you get them its a bonus.

Turn on two factor authentication at all registrars and on your email accounts.

 

[bill786]

Very unfortunate what happened to you. We have used buydomains too in the past.

After reading your post, I'm going to be very careful when dealing with them.

 

[trendicator]

don't give up just yet

 

[MisterSoft.com]

Ok so I've already wasted a good few hours trying to convince BuyDomains.com to fix the extremely unfair situation they've put me in. Things are still unresolved so I'm here with my warning. I just wanted to inform others to be careful about BD and after you purchase domains, make sure to TRANSFER your domains out of any registrar they place the domain initially.

I bought a domain SiteXXXX.com in 2014. After purchasing I received the welcome email along with the registrar details. In that email the registar they required me to use was BuyDomainsRegistrations.com.

So I continued to develop a site on my purchased domain, sitexxxx.com. I developed a simple wordpress site and then left it alone for the next year or so. Now just a few days ago I checked on the site since it'd been quite some time since I worked on it.

I checked the site and it was down. Then I checked whois and noticed that the registrant was BuyDomains.com again! I was somewhat relieved since I was hoping that it was in redemption or maybe they were holding the domain for me since I'd originally purchased it over a year ago.

So I contacted my sales rep there and asked if they could do a one time exception. He said no but was willing to give me a reduced rate on a 2nd sale. What!?! I mean they were trying to sell back a name that I purchased from them? Ok not cool but not too big of a deal.

What I did next was checked my email account to see if I received any domain expiration emails or any emails about the domain expiring. I checked and there was NOTHING. Not one email at all notifying me of the domain expiring nor the domain being expired.

So this is when I started to get suspicious. So the domain registrar that they required me to use was directly related to their company and is apparent since the registar url is http://www.buydomainsregistrations.com. I had brought this up to my sales rep and he still denies that the registrar's related to their company. How could it not?? Look at the site, it even has their logo on it.

Anyway, I asked them why I never received any renewal emails and they emphatically deny that the registrar is related to them so they have no idea. Hmm..that doesn't sound right at all.

So as I last request to get my name back I asked them if they could lower the price again..they denied my request and here I am warning others about their shady tactics.

It would've been completely fine if the domain registrar they forced me to use upon buying the domain was an external registrar like GD, ENOM, etc. And if that were the case I'd most definitely received email expiration notifications.

But that did not happen and that's why I feel sorely mistreated. Anyway, I'm staying away from BD from now on. My advice is if you're going to buy domains from them, ALWAYS transfer your domains out from whatever registrar they place your domain at.

I'm very sympathetic to your ordeal. However, you must have been responsible and aware of the renewal date. This should be a good lesson for you not to rely on others. These all registrars are like vultures. Next time, you are not going to lapse.
Same thing happened to me, and now I keep the calendar to make sure that all my domains are renewed on time and promptly.
All the best

 

[OnlineBusiness.com]

yes, it's true it's my responsibility to make sure when my domain expires. However, at the same time it is the registrar's responsibility to send out expiration notices and notices of expired domains. There are no if, ands about this. I would go as far as to say it is a legal requirement for domain registrars to do so.

And there are NO emails in my inbox nor spam folder regarding expiration. So it just feels a little fishy that the domain registrar they required me to use did not send out any notices, and they just conveniently picked up the domain as it expired. Hmmm..sounds really odd and that's why I'm bringing it to public attention.

 

[WebInceptions]

AGAIN: Did you pay your annual registration fee, or DIDN'T you?

That is the one and only issue. If you didn't pay it then you're just a grown man throwing a temper tantrum and nobody wants to see that.

 

[OnlineBusiness.com]

AGAIN: Did you pay your annual registration fee, or DIDN'T you?

That is the one and only issue. If you didn't pay it then you're just a grown man throwing a temper tantrum and nobody wants to see that.

@WebInceptions I'm just trying to help people and inform them of what happened to me. As kindly stated by another NP user you are absolutely incorrect in your assessment that renewal emails are a courtesy action by registrars. They are NOTconsidered a courtesy and in fact are REQUIRED. This is stated in ICANN's policies on their website.

I do appreciate the time you've taken to comment on my post but please, if you have nothing positive to add, please go elsewhere. Or at the very least get your facts straight before commenting. Thanks bud!

 

[OnlineBusiness.com]

@WebInceptions ok thanks for that piece of info. Very helpful. Now please move along. Thank you.

 

[Name Trader]

What does the registrars (or BuyDomains) ToS say about renewals?

But I can tell you that the registrar pays the renewal to the registry on the renewal date and the registrar usually returns any unrenewed domains to the registry on the 46th day after expiry (assuming it's a.com/.net domain) for a refund from the registry. So the registrar instead, did not return the domain to the registry on day 46 and elected to keep the domain for themselves. This is probably all covered somewhere in BuyDomains or their registrars ToS.

However according to ICANN the original registrant should be able to renew the domain at the registrar until it reaches pending delete (approx 75 days after expiry) by paying a registry redemption fee. But since you were even way past that, I think BuyDomains are in the right about not giving you the domain back.

They made the decision to keep the domain for themselves somewhere before day 46. For a domain which they sold for $1.2k. I can't blame them. It's probably completely part of their modus operandum.

 

[Name Trader]

Which doesn't excuse all the lying and obfuscation

 

[kawalsukhi]

We all should learn a lesson from it to be proactive for the domains we buy and understand the things should be good at our part and beware of such shady registrars!

Thanks @BrandStarters for letting us know!

 

[Name Trader]

GoDaddy retains original reg date (for instance). But, good points.

Godaddy are an expired domain auctioner, not a drop-catch auctioner

 

[DomainVP]

I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune with this company. Many registrars are into shady dealings.

Just today I tossed my domains into my server side bulk domain checker, which returns the creation date, expiration date, registrar, and current nameservers.

It turns out that I had a few domains that weren't pointing where I wanted them to, which I was able to adjust promptly.

Every domain investor should do this at least once every 4-6 months.

I wish you luck with your situation, I think you are in the right.

 

[forge]

IBM has agreed to acquire content-management software maker FileNet for about $1.6 billion in cash

Afortunadamente no puedo leer Ingles.

 

[Recons.Com]

I have bought over 60 names from BD, they have moved my names into 3 different registrars. BuyDomainsCentral (obviously their own via eNom reseller program), Hover and Annulet (I am guessing, it is their own as well). I had an issue where they transferred already expired name and near expiring one. Thanks god I checked, would have lost it or they could have some how kept them for themselves, maybe.

 

[Name Trader]

@BrandStarters - I never, ever, leave my domains with registrars I have no experience with. I always transfer my domains out to my preferred register, immediately, or at the first opportunity. I even transfer away from GoDaddy (which I have a lot of experience with) at the earliest possibility to my preferred registrar. Perhaps you should think about using a similar strategy.

 

[LucidDomains]

Perhaps changing the title before putting this thread to rest. It wasn't really the warning you made out initially. Anyway live and learn.