My Expired Domain - didn’t expire?
On March 25, 1999 I bought 2 domains: webuildpages.com and findyourdreams.com (both through network solutions). Today we were doing some checkups on the domains that we own, and I saw that next to findyourdreams.com my employee wrote "?"…and I thought…hum…whatever happened to findyourdreams.com, so I go there and it’s a page about the grand canyon with adsense in the middle…so I think…huh, damn thing expired….wonder who owns it now….so I go here and I say "Huh! it never expired….but someone else owns it "World Wide Internet Publishing Ltd "….not sure if that’s right….if it never expired, how can someone else own it w/o my permission?
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September 26th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
You should probably get in contact with Network Solutions about it to get your domain back. Even if you weren’t going to use it, it’s still the point that you owned the domain originally and it never expired.
September 27th, 2006 at 12:04 am
That’s a neet trick. After you figure out how they did it, let us know. (Just kidding)
September 27th, 2006 at 3:11 am
My first guess would be that the register working with World Wide Internet Publishing Ltd put in a transfer request and your domain was unlocked. Your registrar couldn’t contact you (maybe you gave them an out of date email?) and they had to approve the transfer - aka Domain Slamming.
“”Failure by the Registrar of Record to respond within five (5) calendar days to a notification from the Registry regarding a transfer request will result in a default “approval” of the transfer.
In the event that a Transfer Contact listed in the Whois has not confirmed their request to transfer with the Registrar of Record and the Registrar of Record has not explicitly denied the transfer request, the default action will be that the Registrar of Record must allow the transfer to proceed. ”
This was a lovely ICANN policy change that came into force in 2004. Previously registrars could deny transfer requests on their client’s behalf.
There is a ‘transfer undo’ part of the policy though that is *meant* to help with cases like this.
http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-08nov04.htm
Good luck! If you need some help give me a shout on email - and make sure you lock *all* of your domains (or work with a registrar who does this religiously).
September 27th, 2006 at 4:28 am
How to hijack a domain is trivial if you crack a password or infiltrate a server and you just submit a domain transfer request, intercept the email on the server before it’s downloaded, respond to it yourself and POOF! the domain is gone.
However, it’s still on Netsol so something doesn’t smell right.
Sure you paid the bill Jim?
FWIW, my primary domains are paid up to 10 years in advance just in case I forget and they are all privately registered so snoopers can’t tell where a transfer email might be sent, also locked and unmovable.
September 27th, 2006 at 6:36 am
>However, it’s still on Netsol so something doesn’t smell right.
Could it have been transferred between reseller accounts?
September 27th, 2006 at 6:39 am
“Earlier this week, domain registrar Network Solutions notified domain name owners who had failed to pay renewal or registration fees that if they did not settle their accounts by today it would put their domain names up for auction.”
Another thing worth checking - does Netsol have their auction system in place yet?
September 27th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
Jim… Holy Sh*t… It looks like one of my employees registered it… My company buys a lot of expired domain names using snapnames.com. These can only be acquired after the redemption period is over and they sell for I think $60. Anyway… this was not intentional, we have software the hunts for domains that have backlinks, are in dmoz, etc. and this one just happened to be one in a big list. Anyway, get with me and we will get this back to you if you want it.
September 27th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
[falls to floor laughing hysterically]
Can you say mult-year registration?
That’s good, I knew you could.
September 27th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Brett,
You’re the Man! Thanks so much….I’d actually love to have that name back…Find Your Dreams is actually my corporate name! email coming your way! I’ll send ya some links or free consutling or a We Build Pages clock and shirt! Nice!
September 27th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
SEO is such a small world… too funny. Jim, did you ever mention what’s behind the company name “Find your dreams” ?
But I’m glad to see you got it back!
Tony
September 27th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
Last time I “snapped” a domain through snapnames.com registration date was re-set. How do you go about maintaining the original registration date anyways?
I mean, we’re talking expired domain here, that’s been through the whole “pending-delete” phase, not transferred or anything…
September 27th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Tony,
I’ve still got the original paper where I wrote down about 25 domain names that were available….it’s burried somewhere in the office….maybe someday I’ll publish those….we might have ended up as “Seven Wishes” or something goofy like that….I still remember begging my wife to let me spend $140 to buy 2 of those domains. One was webuildpages.com, and the other was findyourdreams.com….not sure why I choose that name….I think it had to do with the fact that I’d been online for only 2 weeks, but I had found my dream….I knew I was going to be doing something with the internet….I thought I was going to become a website designer (thus the name “We Build Pages”)….but quickly found “internet marketing” (so my first slogan was “Designing and Marketing Websites”).
When I incorporated in 2001 I decided to incorporate with the Find Your Dreams name since we actually do lots of other side stuff…the Find Your Dreams was just the umbrella name.
—
Gilad….you’re asking the million dollar question there…that’s what I’ve been thinking….wasn’t going to mention it…but since you did…
September 27th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
Here is why the date does not show as reset…
September 28th, 2006 at 2:53 am
Yes these domains have been got through auction - looks like Snapnames has got in on a little pre-action with Netsol before they launch the system for everyone.
Registrars are now re-selling client domains themselves if they are not renewed, (during the expired period) so technically they never drop. This means the creation date is not reset.
“Priority Partner
These domain names are available during expired status, and only through SnapNames. A five-day advance window of availability is provided. Each domain will stay at its current registrar of record, which you can identify by checking whois. A key benefit of these domains is that, unlike deleted names, the creation date will remain intact, making these domain names potentially more valuable on future resale.”
All the major registrars are gearing up for auctions now (we’re test running the Tucows one shortly) so this looks like the place to be for your old domains Jim
September 29th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
[…] Turns out though that it was snapped up by someone named Brett from a web hosting company called Worldwide Internet Publishing. I don’t know these folks, but I’d guess that they do search engine optimization. Brett graciously and immediately offered to return the domain to Jim. […]
September 29th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
And now a huge THANKS goes out to Brett at World Wide Web Publishing (an Internet marketing and link building company with great class).
I’ve got my corporate URL back now! I’m Feeling Lucky!, and Yes, Registered for 10 years now
(and hey, it never expired
)
There’s a few lesson in here:
Make sure your domains are registered for as many years as possible, and keep your karma good!
Thanks Again Brett, there’s a ”thank you” package in the mail coming for you.