Anyone who has bid and won a domain on the expiring domain auction sites knows what it is like to deal with half-assed, no morals, unethical registrars who are submitting their customers’ domains for auction. These registrars (many or most are resellers) are more interested in preventing the renewal of your domain unless it’s $30 a year or more, and who make it almost impossible to transfer your domain out. This blogpost is a followup on my earlier blog post on “REGISTRARS THAT NEED TO BE EATEN”.
The obvious is apparent with these registrars as soon as you login (If you can, in fact, login). The fact that some of them are resellers who are bought out by supposed “legitimate” registrars should be a good thing for those who are suffering with the original registrar. My first article on crappy registrars didn’t name names. However, my blog article today is about ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM (IYD) registrar, a hideous bungheap purchased in July of 2007 by Tucows, who still has not yet done anything with it to improve or change its features or policies. ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM isn’t the only piece of sh*t registrar out there playing games with your hard-earned money and your valuable domains, but they happen to be on my radar at this moment because they’ve cost me hours of labor (which I charge a minimum of $100 an hour) for a domain transfer on a domain that’s probably only worth a few hundred dollars or more.
I warned IYD that I was going to report everything I experienced in my attempt to transfer out a domain that is actually one of my client’s domains that my client bought through me on Snapname bids. In fact, a very knowledgeable and respected source provided me with email addresses of inside executives of Tucows in order to help me with my issues with IYD. However, I didn’t want to go that route because I wanted the experience of any domainer who had to deal with the problem of IYD without my inside connections.
You don’t have to search hard to find lots of complaints on the internet about ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM, and most talk about the same issues I’m discussing here. A quote I found on a news release about Tucows purchase of IYD said: “Tucows has a solid reputation within the industry as a customer-focused organization,” said James McKenzie, IYD’s CEO. “We’re very confident that as Tucows customers, IYD affiliates will continue to receive the high level of service and support they have come to expect,” added Ted Cucci, IYD’s COO. “It was important to us that any buyer commit to continuing the services that our customers demand.” Well folks, demand we do. The words of Ted Cucci were apparently “Freudian slips” about their customers “demanding” services from IYD. Apparently, lots of IYD customers “demand” services from IYD and don’t get them. I have discovered this for myself, and it makes me fume blood lava out of my ears.
The following screenshots show the loving care that ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM gives its customers when they try to login, find their auth code to transfer the domain out and unlock the domain. At the date of this writing, I have no idea whether the domain I’m trying to transfer out has successfully been transferred. Why? IYD doesn’t let you know right away, especially when you’re very close to expiration date time! Even more insidious is that IYD will TAKE WHOIS REGISTRATION CONTROL OF YOUR DOMAIN AT LEAST SIX WEEKS BEFORE YOUR DOMAIN EXPIRES.
Before I show the screen shots, I want to make it VERY CLEAR that TUCOWS now controls this registrar ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM. So I put the blame on TUCOWS, which is no slouch of a domain service and is making millions of dollars a year, for not immediately upgrading the domain management system of IYD after they purchased the registrar with its “700,000 domains”. So let us proceed:
The domain in questions is IDEALDATE.NET. It’s expiration date is January 5, 2008. However, see the below screenshot of the whois registration taken on DECEMBER 13, 2007, at least THREE weeks BEFORE the expiration date of IDEALDATE.NET:
Notice that the new registrant of the domain is “Pending Renewal or Deletion _ SecureWhois, Inc.” That’s comforting to know that your domain, three weeks before it’s expiration date, has been “CAPTURED” by Securewhois, Inc.”. That entity is in fact, IYD.
It doesn’t end there. If you try to unlock your domain or transfer it out, even when you are INSIDE YOUR OWN ACCOUNT, you get the mysterious “Transfershield” lock, which I personally never set, don’t know what the password is, and the password for Transfershield was never sent to me:
Isn’t it nice of ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM to “protect” your domain from being “hijacked” by adding a secondary password requirement to your domain, even without your permission or your input? When you ask for this password, you will get the heavy handed “send us a copy of your driver’s license, social security number, etc. etc. by fax” to determine that the domain is actually yours, even though you are in your own account with them. More delays, more hassle.
Here is the smoking gun part of my blog post: Just how many domains out of the 700,000 domains that TUCOWS bought from IYD are in this “underground bunker” of snagging expiring domain names for resale at Snapnames or elsewhere? Take a look at Domaintools revelation of the more than 180,000 — yes that’s ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY THOUSAND domains under the IYD whois registration ID of “Pending Renewal or Deletion _ SecureWhois, Inc.” And remember, they choose to SET THIS WHOIS CHANGE on YOUR DOMAINS at least six weeks before your domain expires. This means at least 25% of all domains owned by IYD are in the process of being procured for resale in the auction aftermarket. Want proof?
Here’s a snapshot of a domain OGANESYAN.COM which doesn’t expire until Jan 25, 2008. This screenshot was taken December 13, 2007, about six weeks before expiration. Notice that the domain does NOT have the name of the true registrant (which is me), even though the domain has not yet expired.
These screenshots are certified, dated correctly and true.
ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM changes the ownership of a domain that is not renewed at least six weeks BEFORE expiration to their own whois registration company “Securewhois”. They can be clearly seen as taking advantage of domainers who are trying to transfer out their domains before they expire. Imagine trying to SELL your domain a month before expiration, but not able to access it because that domain is locked under the “Pending Renewal or Deletion _ SecureWhois, Inc.” whois registration.
I am forwarding this article directly to my contacts at Snapnames for further investigation. I invite anyone who has had trouble with registrars cheating them or hindering their efforts to transfer out their domains to me, and I will list them. Take screenshots of all the steps you’ve taken to make the transfer and do not alter the screenshots so that the original date stands.
Be careful, fight for your rights, and be involved with any domain organization like DNOA or ICA to help discuss this travesty with ICANN so these rogue registrars can be eliminated once and for all.
What a complete drag !
itsyourdomain.com what a totally inappropriate name they have, maybe they should rename themselves Welltakeyourdomain.bz
Thanks for sharing this, the more these types of cowboys are brought to public attention the better !
regards
andy
http://www.UrlAcademy.com
These guys are the epitome of horrible registrars and snap should never have worked with them. The company name has to be the biggest irony of the whole story.
http://domain-history.domaintools.com/?page=details&domain=idealdate.net&date=2007-12-13
HEre’s your historical whois from 12/13
Stephen, it looks like IYD isn’t changing the whois. In fact, the problem is it *never* changed your whois after you bought the domain. I looked at the historical whois to confirm this. According to Tucows, this is a problem with domains won at SnapNames where the whois is never changed to the buyers’ name.
+++++++
SD: Hi Andrew, I appreciate your investigating further into my claim of ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM (IYD) changing the whois to match their own “pending delete” whois information, which in my normal routine of renewing domains, was brought to my attention. Their claim of “oops, forgot to change the sold domain to the correct buyer’s whois info” might be correct, but that opens up a whole new bag of maggots, of which Snapnames is paying careful attention per my blog.
Your post of ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM’s response to my complaint is very appreciated and http://www.domainnamewire.com is in my top five favorite domain news websites, but it doesn’t take a logistic expert to quickly see even MORE insidiousness on the part of IYD with their response. Please see my new post regarding IYD’s “damage control spin” to you in regards to this issue. In the meantime, check out the few responses from IYD customers here who just “gave up” on their domains after getting no customer support from IYD.
++++++
I won a name at Snapnames last October that went to IYD. I only checked the whois just now to see the same false whois ‘Pending Delete or Renewal’ details. However the domain is not set to expire for 9 months! I sent a support ticket to IYD with my correct whois details, NO REPLY. I called international to IYD and listened to Vivaldi for 10 minutes, NO ANSWER. I am wondering whether I should just let them keep the name, rather than suffer the well known IYD blood and lava syndrome.
Jonathan makes a great point as to the amount of valuable time you need to dedicate to IYD to manage your domain/s with them. For a $100 domain, do you spend three hours trying to get the domain transferred out when you charge $75 an hour for your time?
IYD has made a killing with this blotted and confusing domain registration and management system which puts a question like Jonathan just posed into many domainers’ minds: “Do I continue hassling with this, is this domain worth it?”
IYD is hoping that it’s NOT worth it to the last buyer suffering with IYD’s horrible service and domain name management. This way, they get to resell the domain again for $100 in a Snap auction and keep the 80% profit. It’s more profitable to IYD to make it a nightmarish maze than allowing the domain to be transferred out or even renewing the domain. Great point, Jonathan.
SD
I won my domain name by using snapnames. I was under the impression that you can place the domain after paying for it, in an account of my choice with my preferred registrar…HA. I was made aware that Answerable was my new registrar..I can log in, and update the info on my profile in the account but when it comes to transferring, it’s a joke. I want it OUT of there and in my account with my other domains. They are VERY comfortable with saying how most reputable registrars have the auth. codes for you within their interface and readily available to you…so where’s it at with them??? Why can’t I find it??? Is there a support # that I overlooked that I can call?? I haven’t found anything helpful…and I DO NOT want my domain with them.
So how do you get a domain that has expired but they have captured by Pending-Renewals?
Are they just holding those domains until someone buys them at auction and pays them off?
Nice business. You register domains, and we’ll do everything we can to capture all domains registered through us and sell them at a profit – oh and if you register with us or are forced to through Snapnames etc, we’ll do it all over again…
ITSALLABOUTUS.COM
++++STEPHEN DOUGLAS SEZ+++++
You have to contact their support team and request that they update your records on the domain, but definitely file a complaint ANYWAY at Snapnames so the team at Snap can give them “assistance” on converting whois records to their customers after the auction is complete. And your last sentence… “spot on”, as they say in the UK.
I see ENOM on your client list. I’ve got a client who bought a domain through one of their resellers. The reseller, with an Indian address, is MIA; 404 for a home page, no response to email… The reseller’s enom-based GUI is useless in terms of getting an unlock or an EPP. ENOM refuses to help. Is the domain owner, a public entity, forced to either pay the bad registrar else send their name to auction? Surely, there must be other options.
Speaking of registrar problems, let me warn you about a very bad one, mydiscountdomains.com. Maybe this will save you some money.
mydiscountdomains.com is a total scam. We transferred our domains there thinking it was a good idea to save a few bucks. Wow, was that ever wrong. The first thing that happened is we started losing email from the mydiscountdomains forwarding. In fact, the email wasn’t working right for almost 3 months before we discovered (after we lost several big orders and the customers called) things weren’t getting through because of mydiscountdomains configuration problems. I don’t know how much business we lost, and how many contacts simply fell through the cracks. All in all mydiscountdomains.com cost us many thousands of dollars. I don’t think it ever worked right.
Whenever we had a problem with our mydiscountdomains websites or email, we called the mydiscountdomains phone number. It isn’t listed on their website because they never answer their phone anyway, but you can find it in whois because they are forced to list it there. It’s only an old fashioned answering machine with a recording that hardly speaks English. If you email them, you might as well just forget it. We sent mydiscountdomains “support” (what a joke) over 20 emails and got only 1 response (early on in our failed relationship).
After a year of repeated problems with mydiscountdomains, we tried to transfer our domains from mydiscountdomains to a more reputable registrar, but that was the worst experience of all. Nothing would transfer. They blocked out transfers! After complaining to the ICANN or whoever it was above them, we were informed through the grapevine that mydiscountdomains was likely in some sort of financial trouble, chapter 7, or bankruptcy reorganization and they could be down for many months. What a nightmare mydiscountdomains turned out to be. I think we saved about $2 per domain and lost many thousands of dollars, or more, of business.
Mydiscountdomains.com is a scam registrar. Stay away or you will regret it.
(Request from Jerry to remove previous post, but I think his statements are relevant to my article).
XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:
Hi Jerry,
You aren’t the only one who has complained about this registrar. Don’t lose your nerve, make our factual statement and stand behind it. These types of companies who fail to service their customers fairly expect that people will just walk away from their anger and their money, which in turn, keeps them on the same path of hurting more customers.
Good article.
I have worked for IYD for quite a while. Their practices especially those enforced by Ted Cucci and Jim McKenzie, the current owners of Network Merchants, were horrible. They were scamming people when it came to transfers, renewals, redemptions and I am pretty sure they are doing the same kind of scam with Network Merchants.
XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:
Really? Tell us more!
Can’t tell you any more because it is a lie and have no proof of any wrong doing. BT
XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:
That is sad. Don’t make accusations without having the proof to back them up. Or, if you’re scared of repercussions and lawsuits from GD, then just say “I’m scared”. I’ll post it.
I also worked for IYD for quite some time and can tell you that nothing they did was illegal. They followed ICANN policy and never scammed anyone. Both Ted Cucci and Jim McKenzie are very reputable and did nothing dishonest or immoral regarding their business practices.
XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:
And your name is…???? hidden? Anonymous email? No website? Do your initials “BT” stand for “BOGUS TALK”?
Show your face when you make a claim that doesn’t address the FACTS of my article, proven with screenshots and firsthand experience I had with IYD. You make your claim not knowing I CONSULT for registrars, and I know the good ones and the bad ones, and the bad ones follow a common path… somewhat similar to WebNameSolution.com for the moment (10/09). I’d like to get an explanation from either Ted or Jim or both on why I lost three domains I bought from Snapnames that they offered up and didn’t change ownership on my whois info after the sale as required. It wasn’t possible for me to do it since an account was never created in my name at IYD after I purchased the domains. This is old news, so put it to bed. Tucows has them neatly tucked away…
You all have no idea what you are talking about, you cheap mother fckers. Go grow some balls and make some money….. Pussies!!!
XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:
These types of posts help me understand that not all men are created equal. Some men (I’m assuming he has male genitals) call other men “pussies”, while HIDING behind anonymous posts. It amazes me that there are morons who post these comments without logically thinking through their own position, typically, being “frightened” about posting their real names and info.
However, if anyone wants to make a quick $50 bucks by Paypal, and can identify this poster, here’s the info I got from his comment (some fake, and probably the IP address is a proxy). However, I will pay someone to tell me how they found the ID.
Here you go! Have fun!
NAME: Fckyou
Email: bob@aol.com
(IP: 208.44.137.195 , 208-44-137-195.dia.static.qwest.net)
http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=208.44.137.195
Im with you on all this bro…the people who run these companies are all in line for indictments before it is all said and done so far as I can tell, snapnames’ Mr Brady is probably the poter boy du jour, but he is only todays blue plate special, there surely is more to follow, can you hear the rats scurry as the water rises?
XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:
Hi Stew!
How about giving me some other scandals or “weird” situations for my story on the Domain Industry and its image? Have any other suggestions about other unethical conduct? Let me know. You can email me if you want.
I am happy to do that however where as I am now represented by Kamber Edelson
http://www.kamberedelson.com/ in the class action perhaps it is better you speak with them directly @
Michael J. Aschenbrener | KamberEdelson LLC
350 N. LaSalle St., Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60654
1.312.589.6379 (direct) | 1.312.589.6370 (firm) | 1.312.589.6378 (fax)
maschenbrener@kamberedelson.com | http://www.kamberedelson.com