GoDaddy VP Caught Bidding Against Customers 222
An anonymous reader writes "A GoDaddy Vice President has been caught bidding against customers in their own domain name auctions. The employee Adam Dicker isn't just any GoDaddy employee; he's head of the GoDaddy subsidiary that controls the auctions.
Dicker won some of the domains he bid for, and pushed up the bid price on auctions he didn't win. The conflict of interest is unethical, but could this practice also be illegal? Said a representative for a competitor, 'Even if controlled, that practice has bad news written all over it.'
This comes hot on the heels of news that despite earlier promises to ICANN to end their 60-Day ban on transfers, GoDaddy quietly circumvented it by forcing customers to agree to the ban anyway. ICANN doesn't appear to be investigating or asking follow-up questions about this. What can be done to force ICANN to police the registrars for which it is responsible?"
This is called 'shill bidding' (Score:5, Interesting)
... and it is, roughly speaking, illegal as hell in many jurisdictions.
ICANN? (Score:3, Interesting)
More like ICANN'T!
Why is anyone surprised at unethical behaviour by GoDaddy?
Re:if there was an equal price competitor ... (Score:2, Interesting)
Isn't it possible that the only reason they have these 'low' prices is because they are ripping off customers by bidding against them?
So you save with one hand, and pay for it with the other.
Dubious savings.
Not Surprising (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:if there was an equal price competitor ... (Score:5, Interesting)
You sir are the perfect candidate to own a micro domain registrar.
I got mine about four years ago. I was frustrated with both NetSol ($$$$), GoDaddy (liked to play cat and mouse games with their customers) and the many hosts that included free domain names with terrible strings attached. A reseller web hosting account was $15/month (after four years they just raised it to $20), and a registrar account with an Indian domain wholesaler was free.
On day one I was able to sell domains for under $10 and still make money in every transaction. My then boss immediately stopped using NeSol, so as each of his 20+ domains needed a renewal, he transferred them to me. My friends took notice, so every single one moved his domains with me.
As I kept selling domains, the registrar moved me up in their sales tier, every time shaving a few cents off the wholesale price for each domain. I did not get greedy, every time I got a cut, I shaved my prices a little bit.
I call it my micro registrar company because we are talking just a few hundred domains scattered across 30 or so customers. But they love me because whenever something goes wrong, all they have to do is either IM, email me or even call me, and they get much better support than what they would get from NetSol or GoDaddy. In the rare case that I actually need the help of the wholesalers, their turnaround is pretty decent, and they are extremely polite and professional.
I am not saying that everything is perfect, or that it is a piece of cake, but it does not take a lot of work to make it happen. At least two of my friends liked it enough that they made their own micro registrars too, and as far as I know they are happy with it.
As for what the GoDaddy asshat did, it is at the very least a breach of trust. If one of my customers asks me to check a few domains for her and she tells me she wants to think about it, I am not going to buy them for myself and then ask her for more money, that's just wrong.
Move domains from GoDaddy to ? (Score:5, Interesting)
I have about a hundred domains with GoDaddy.
This is the last straw - the company is entirely unethical and I wish to no longer support them, or take chances that their unethical bullshit will one day burn me.
The reason I originally chose GoDaddy (which was quite a while ago when they were smaller) was because they had good prices and seemed reputable enough. If anyone has any auggestions on where the best place to move my domains to would be I woluld love to hear it.
I would like to avoid Network Solutions and their ilk, between their pricing, alphabet agency ties (and other things) it does not appeal to me - I would also like to avoid small fly-by-night "register your domain for 69 cents" places that may disappear or be purchased by other companies. Basically I am hoping to find a reputable, ethical registrar.....Any suggestions?
Re:So... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Its legal (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:if there was an equal price competitor ... (Score:3, Interesting)
There are a few. I switched to Monicker. Nodaddy.com has some suggestions for places to switch to.
I finally escaped GoDaddy a couple of weeks back.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Transferred my last seven domains away from that awful place. I can't stand their attitude and customer-unfriendly literal interpretations of ICANN's rules.
The last straw was when they were going to cancel my domains because my phone number was invalid. "Update immediately or we will seize your domains!" an ominous email reported.
Well, my area code changed and well -- there you have it!
Rather than let them "seize" my domains, I moved them over to another registrar. They are much smaller (only maybe half a million domains), but they are so less bullshit than GoDaddy...
Re:Get the word out (Score:1, Interesting)
Godaddy is giving me hell transferring my domains elsewhere. It's disgusting. They already screwed up one domain of mine -- wouldn't renew it, and then sold it to someone else.
It's called "shilling" and it's illegal (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Move domains from GoDaddy to ? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Its legal (Score:4, Interesting)
At least to me, your minimum/starting bid is the same as what you said.
I think that reserve amounts are set in the hope of getting a 'bidding war' started, get more people interested and bidding, and therefore end up running the price above what the item would have sold for with a minimum bid.
Selling Domains (Score:3, Interesting)
I can't believe GoDaddy is still in business. I can't remember ever reading anything good about them and every time I do see some article, it's always about their unethical business practices.
However, I think the core of the problem is that something ICANN needs to sort out by forbidding the resale or auction of domain names. They should only be allowed to be leased from accredited registrars at a fair price, with clear restrictions on artificially inflating the price. IMHO, the auDA has got this right for all .au domains.
Re:Its legal (Score:3, Interesting)
Indeed. I was a big GoDaddy fan until I found out they are the largest domain squatters in the world. Then I did some shopping around and found out I was paying $20/year for WhoIS privacy protection that my webhost / registrar includes for free with every domain.
I've attempted many times to migrate my main domain away from GoDaddy to my current webhost and for some reason it fails. The webhost says that GoDaddy is blocking the transfer - even though I've unlocked the domain and followed the rules.
Come to find out, it's due to the fact that I renewed it less than 60 days ago... now I get to wait.
This story is just another reason to suspect the largest and most visible company in the particular market - absolute power corrupts.
Re:Its legal (Score:4, Interesting)
I generally am never on the owning side of an auction. I'm typically on the bidding side with the exception of one thing that went through a real auction house which I got roughly 200 times what I expected.
But from my perspective, a reserve means I need to cover at least this much or I take a loss. A minimum bid says it is worth this much at least. Perhaps it is more perspective then anything and some could be wanting to start a bidding war. And your right in that the reserve promotes bidding were it wouldn't be possible with a minimum bid. All the auctions I have been to, the reserve price has always been a secrete until after the item has been auctioned too. It might be different at some auctions but from my perspective, I see it differently. I can see however, where your opinion is just as valid if not more giving some insight into the owner's mental workings as mine.
BTW, the piece I auctioned was an antique dresser I got as partial payment for helping the family of an elderly neighbor clean up after she passed on. I only took the thing because they were talking about not having any place to store it and they didn't like the looks of it. I traded $25 of the $125 I got for moving stuff into a truck after they packed it up and it sold for $7,000 plus at auction because the maker was local and in demand. I though it would bring a couple hundred or maybe even close to a grand if someone was crazy. I never saw seven grand coming from it.
Re:Its legal (Score:5, Interesting)
That's pretty much what I said, right?
I put item X up for auction. I want at least $20 for it. If I put a minimum bid on it I get one guy who puts $20 down on it. Or I set a $20 reserve, bidders 1-10, smelling a deal start bidding, it quickly exceeds $20, but since 1-10 were already looking at it, at least some have their competitive side awake and are looking for a 'win'. Next thing you know it sells for $50.
Re:Get the word out (Score:1, Interesting)
I think the entire domain squatting, link farming and other internet clutter should be done away with completely. I also think that it's unethical for Go Daddy to bid in auctions that it is holding.
But...in response you your claim that they never win an expiring domain, I did pay the $18.95 or whatever it was about five years ago to have them try to get a domain for me that was either about to expire or recently expired and to my shock and amazement at the time, they actually got it for me. I don't know if that would happen today, because it seems that now every possible domain name worth having is already taken.
If domain names were covered by the UCC (Score:3, Interesting)
If domain names were covered by the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) there might be imputed into the contract an obligation on the part of GoDaddy to engage in good faith behaviour. But it is unclear whether domain name rental falls under the UCC, and the UCC is not all that U(niform) across the states.
Re:NoDaddy (Score:1, Interesting)
Adam has been a well known domain investor for years. He runs DNForum and is famous in domain circles for his domain name IQ. He takes a position at GoDaddy a few Months ago and its news now that he buys Aftermarket domain names? Give me break.
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Move domains from GoDaddy to ? (Score:4, Interesting)
1and1 are a bit slow (sometimes takes hours to do simple additions to DNS), and their control panel sucks.
BUT there are two great things about it: Generally cheap, and you have your authcode right in their interface if you want to move to another registrar. No hostage situation to worry about.
I give them thumbs up, despite being very simplistic.
Re:Netsol (Score:3, Interesting)
I've taken a lot of shit over the years for suggesting Netsol is still the only safe place to
have domains.
And you will catch a turd from me.
NetSol, also known as Verisign back when domain wild cards were an issue. While they have since sold off NetSol, I have no way of knowing who took the idiots that thought of answering up all queries to *.com etc. The DNS issue was circa 2003.
When they tried that stunt, I went to BuyDomains and transferred my domains away from Verisign and NetSol. Since I was responsible for about 250 domains at the time, that cost them. I also wrote a letter to Verisign and NetSol. I didn't get a reply.
To this day, I don't deal with either.
Re:if there was an equal price competitor ... (Score:2, Interesting)
I must be doing something wrong. I only pay $7 a year for mine, granted I only have two domains but I figure with more domains you should be able to buy in bulk and get a better rate than I.
sitecontrol.com
Re:if there was an equal price competitor ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Following the link above or in my sig doesn't give me any commission if you sign up, and I'll tell you that they seem to be an honest company trying to provide amazing service. I'll admit they sometimes have service problems, but they are always quick to get things back online.
Seth