With all the mistakes and errors happening with the newer Tucows/Afternic partnership for selling the registrar’s Tucows EXPIRED domain names, the following must be some kind of "error"?
These domain names are currently at auction on Afternic and have bids. ERDY.com which expired 5-29-2008. The current whois shows the expired date as 5-29-2009 because expired domain names get AutoRenewed but are still considered expired. So once the expired domain auction ends the domain should be awarded to the highest bidder. MrCoffeeBean.com is also currently in expired auction and that domain shows an expired date of 5-28-2008(9) and Oserinia.com as well with an expired date according to whois as 5-27-2008(9).
So we see a pattern… The active auctions currently are in the same time frame with the Expired Date. Afternic also offers what is called "Pre-Bidding". The pre-bidding process seems to last for a pretty long time as the Expired Domain Baecscp.com which expired 7-7-2008 (autorenewed to 2009) is listed on Afternic… Well it let me add it to My Alerts watch list anyway, but the listing page is a Uoffer page. Same thing with BedFace.com (6-27), Jait.com (7-5) and more.
Now domains like BetACot.com (expired 6-12-2008) show the listing page and has an auction start date of 7-23-2008. When you visit the domain it says it’s Expired and would make sense why it’s at an expired auction. NotAMan.com expired 6-16-2008 and is listed on Afternic with a auction start date of 7-27-2008. OnMyDay.com expired 6-20-2008 and is listed on Afternic with a auction start date of 7-30-2008.
IPBN.com expired 6-11-2008 and the listing can not be found on Afternic? Hmmm Sags.org expired 6-12-2008 and can not be found on afternic? WLF.com expired 6-19-2008 and can not be found on Afternic? X4M.com expired 6-19-2008 and can not be found on Afternic? Hmmm When I visit the sites they show right on the top that they are Expired? They have the same expired date range as BetACot.com, NotAMan.com and OnMyDaty.com? Why wouldn’t IPBN.com, Sags.org, WLF.com and X4M.com not be listed?
I searched for PF6.com, PF9.com, LADA.com, NAJO.com and PBRN.com and ZERO showed up on Afternic either. These domain had expired dates in the range of 6-21-2008 to 6-24-2008 and all the domains showed the domain was expired when I went to the sites. Why don’t these 9 domains show up?
I didn’t have time to go through the 70,000 plus expired domains but I think you know where I am going here…..
Ken Schafer - Tucows
Hi Jamie,
Apologies for the lengthy comment, but you DID ask!
First let me outline the life-cycle of an expiring domain at Tucows and how it relates to the Afternic Auction:
Day 0 – Domain name expires. Original Registrant can renew domain at any time.
Day 3 – Domain parking enabled, parked page header might contain message indicating domain is expired (parking and header message are applied at the discretion of Tucows Resellers). Original Registrant can renew domain at any time.
Day 21 – Domain listed in Afternic marketplace where domain can receive PreOrders. Exceptions: names that have been renewed by Original Registrant, names that Afternic doesn’t want to list on its site (e.g., adult, trademark, vice names), names that Tucows has selected for its Portfolio. Original Registrant can renew domain at any time causing name to be removed from Afternic.
Day 26 – Domain parked page header changes to a specific auction message (unless Tucows Reseller has configured this differently), WHOIS info now includes auction message as well. Original Registrant can renew domain at any time causing name to be removed from Afternic.
Day 38 – Last day that Afternic accepts PreOrders on marketplace names. Original Registrant can renew domain at any time causing name to be removed from Afternic.
Day 40 – Last day that Original Registrant can renew domain, causing name to be removed from Afternic.
Day 41 – Start of 5-Day Live Auction (only for domains that had at least one PreOrder on them at the end of Day 38).
Day 46 – End of 5-Day Live Auction.
With that as background, let’s look at the specific names you mentioned and where they fit in the life-cycle:
Baecscp.com – expired 7-7-2008 – not on Afternic yet (< 21 days)
Jait.com – expired 7-5-2008 – not on Afternic yet (< 21 days)
BedFace.com – expired 6-27-2008 – not on Afternic yet ( 21 days)
X4M.com – expired 6-19-2008 – not on Afternic, chosen for Tucows Portfolio, Original Registrant can renew
WLF.com – expired 6-19-2008 – not on Afternic, chosen for Tucows Portfolio, Original Registrant can renew
NotAMan.com – expired 6-16-2008 – on Afternic as PreOrder (> 21 days)
Sags.org – expired 6-12-2008 – not on Afternic, chosen for Tucows Portfolio, Original Registrant can renew
IPBN.com – expired 6-11-2008 – not on Afternic, chosen for Tucows Portfolio, Original Registrant can renew
BetACot.com – expired 6-12-2008 – on Afternic as PreOrder (> 21 days)
ERDY.com – expired 5-29-2008 – currently in Live Auction (> 40 days)
MrCoffeeBean.com – expired 5-28-2008 – not on Afternic, renewed by Original Registrant prior to entering Live Auction
Oserinia.com – expired 5-27-2008 – currently in Live Auction (> 40 days)
I think that provides a pretty clear (albeit complicated) explanation of the data you’re seeing. I know you don’t like that we’re allowed to select expiring names for the Tucows Portfolio rather than letting them all go to auction or drop but that seems to be something we have to agree to disagree about.
(Jamie – your commenting system doesn’t seem to capture blank lines so this may not have the best formatting – feel free to add blanks lines between paragraphs if you can do it via you admin access)
Cheers,
Ken.
**Jamie Says**
Thank you Ken for the detailed discription and the answer that I was expecting. I know you know that I strongly disagree with warehousing expired domains by registrars, so I just wanted Public Comment one more time with clearly stated domains to show some domains that Tucows is warehousing and publicly expressing “chosen for Tucows Portfolio”.
Kia Foster
I think Tucows, DomainDiscover and others are abusing their ICANN registrar statuses to enrich themselves and at best acting immorally. They were
not appointed to cream off best or any domains for themslves and ICANN should take away their Registrar statuses immediately
Kia Foster
Frank Michlick (DomainNameNews.com)
It may be easier to make a list of the registrars that do not keep expired names than the ones that do keep them. Many registrars subscribe to take over expired names that were not renewed by the original owners.
/FM