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.

 

[OnlineBusiness.com]

Yes, you are absolutely correct just as @WebInceptions was too. I'm not arguing that fact. It's my responsibility to renew, no questions about that.

The issue I had was the coincident that I NEVER received any notification of my domain expiring and the fact that BuyDomains picked it up as it expired. They still deny buydomainsregistrations.com is not related to them AND state the name was picked up on an auction drop.

Really? Picked up on an auction drop? Possible but I checked all domain sales reporting sites and don't see it listed.

Point is why lie unless you're hiding something. Just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Anyway my advice to anyone considering buying their names is to simply transfer your domains out from whatever registrar they force on you initially. That's all really. I'm not expecting to get my name back. Just hoping this doesn't happen to anyone else.

 

[Name Trader]

Yep. I've always thought they were a shady company with shady practices. So your experience doesn't surprise me at all. But you haven't answered 1 important question. How long are we talking about from renewal date to the time you inquired about the renewal before they started all this lying to you? 1 week, 1 month, 6 months? It doesn't surprise me in the least that they deny they own the registrar. It's probably one of the first tactics the salesman learns in their job training.

 

[OnlineBusiness.com]

@stub the domain was long expired when I inquired about it this past weekend. It expired around 7 months ago. But the reality is I have no clue to when they gained access to my domain. Was it a week after the domain expired, 30 days after? I will never know.

They lied about so many things and at this point I no longer recommend their marketplace for buying domain names.

I'm glad I only paid about $1,200 for the name. Obviously it wasn't too important to me. The main point about trying to get it back was based on principle more than anything. But they have failed to make things right imo.

 

[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

 

[OnlineBusiness.com]

Sure, can't blame them either for wanting the name back. But do fault them about them being completely dishonest about the situation.

They lied about several points including picking up this domain for several hundred on an auction drop. If that were the case I would be able to see that on any of the price archive sites.

So the fact they lied about all these things makes me even more suspicious about how they got access to my domain in the first place.

But anyway, moving on...bottomline, be careful with buydomains. And always make sure to use some expiration monitoring tool. I hear efty is good but I'm sure there are others.

 

[Name Trader]

You could pick up if they were lying about the auction drop if the domain retains it old registration date. But if it has a new registration date, they could be telling the truth.

 

[OnlineBusiness.com]

same exact creation date: Created on 2004-07-22

AND

same exact registrar which leads me to believe it was absolutely not picked up on an auction drop as they say.

 

[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.

 

[Name Trader]

Just another part of the (unnecessary) 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!

 

[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.

 

[Name Trader]

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.

Ouch!

 

[forge]

I'm going to assume here that "BuyDomainsRegistration" is nothing more than a Register.com reseller. They are certainly not an ICANN-accredited registrar. Not that this matters in this situation.

They lied about several points including picking up this domain for several hundred on an auction drop. If that were the case I would be able to see that on any of the price archive sites.

I really don't think this can be proven with absolute certainty.

You can never expect any sympathy from BuyDomains. That's just how it is. I think it's perfectly fine for you to offer members a heads-up. However, I also think you should be careful about claiming countless "lies" that you probably could never back up with solid proof.

I'm genuinely sorry you lost your domain. I've been there, at least a few times. Discovering it 7 months down the line, well... time to let it go, I would say.

 

[Name Trader]

@forge - Oh I think it was definitely a lie about the registrar not being part of BuyDomains, when they own them. And almost certainly it's a lie that they caught the domain in a drop-catch auction, whilst the old registration date was retained.

 

[OnlineBusiness.com]

However, I also think you should be careful about claiming countless "lies" that you probably could never back up with solid proof.

I guess the question is, can a name that was picked up on an auction drop still have the same exact creation date AND be at the same exact registrar where it was before the drop?

From what I know, the answer is no. I could be wrong but how could a name drop and then have the same creation date and the same registrar?

 

[forge]

Hmm. You just reminded me. Many years ago I dropped the name FileNet.net -- "on purpose". Guess who picked it up -- none other than BuyDomains. A few months down the line it was owned by a small company named IBM.

To this day I'm dying to know exactly what transpired there.

 

[forge]

@forge - Oh I think it was definitely a lie about the registrar not being part of BuyDomains, when they own them. And almost certainly it's a lie that they caught the domain in a drop-catch auction, whilst the old registration date was retained.

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

 

[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.

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

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.

 

[wwwweb]

Hmm. You just reminded me. Many years ago I dropped the name FileNet.net -- "on purpose". Guess who picked it up -- none other than BuyDomains. A few months down the line it was owned by a small company named IBM.

To this day I'm dying to know exactly what transpired there.

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

 

[forge]

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

Afortunadamente no puedo leer Ingles.

 

[ramkumaritrvs]

Buydomains don't have account here !?

According to ICANN they should send 2 notices atleast... check your spam folder before complaint..

 

[MegaPlex]

A good lesson here, Make sure always check their TOS. (Maybe the Notifications or Domain expiration things are listed on their TOS)