(only U.S. law)
This is going to be lengthy to explain this correctly so please bear with me.
I am going to try to describe this accurately the best I can. Recently there was a new domain extension (.com, .net, .org, .co...etc) that went on sale to the general public. Prior to the launch date there was pre-ordering ($29.99 money upfront to pre-order).
Only 10 domain registrars where allowed to sell the pre-order to this extension. Once a registrar made a confirmed pre-order, that domain is locked out from anyone using the same registrar to pre-order the same domain.
For example. If I pre-ordered "Cars.co" using Godaddy registrar, then you come up after me and attempt to pre-order "Cars.co" through Godaddy also, you will be denied with a statement saying that its already been pre-ordered. Now you can go to one of the other 9 registrars and make the pre-order there for the same "Cars.co".
**Note, that the launch is a First Come First Serve basis**
On the day of the launch of the domain extension, the 10 registrars would attempt to get pre-ordered domains. If they fail to get your domain, you are refunded.
OK, so I made some pre-orders in which the registrar took the money for those pre-orders.
I want to take the time to note here, that each day that passes, more domains are pre-registered and thus are locked out from anyone else pre-registering from the same registrar. This is a key point to my question!
On the day before the official launch (20 days AFTER I made the pre-order), I receive notice from my registrar that 5 of my domains have been already reserved. I didnt think anything of it, I assumed that someone else had already won the names in the landrush phase (that ended 3 days before the launch).
I proceeded to find other domains to register. 2 days later, I used the "WHOIS" (tells you the information on who owns domains) to see who had one the 5 domains that my registrar stated had been already reserved.
Whois states that the names have NOT been registered!
I take my inquiry to the official page of the official page of the domain extension. There they have a look-up for you use use to see if a domain is still available. All 5 of the domains that my registrar stated where already reserved, are still available.
I contact my registrar to ask why these 5 domains have been taken out of the registration phase. I did NOT ask for them to be taken out.
In the second and last response I had gotten from my registrar, is that those 5 domains where being held back from the general registration because of the perceived value, and where going to be auctioned later this year. (so if they sell at auction for thousands to tens of thousands like they are projected to... That is money that potentially could have been mine) They also stated, that there was indication on the official domain extension site, that some domains will be withheld from general registration.
I want to note that the Official domain extension page on the registrar page have NOTHING to do with each other.
To sum up my question, Do I have any recourse to the following elements?
1) Money was taken for a good or service that they knowingly could not provide.
2) I was allowed to pre-order names that where withheld from the general public (through a computer glitch or neglect on their part)
3) Money was out of my possession for over 20 days, during which time I was led to believe that those pre-orders where valid pre-orders and that I had a chance to become of the owner of 1 if not all 5 domains after launch.
4) During the 20 days that my money was held (out of my possession), I lost 20 days to invest in other high quality domains (1st come 1st serve). The loss of potential money for sales of those 5 domains or other high quality domains could be great!
5) The list of reserved names was NOT provided by the registrar on the registrars site, and I am not really sure if there is/was a list provided by the official domain extension site. (I have not been able to find it).
6) There may be grumblings that this could have happened to other people. The fact that it happened to me with not just 1 but 5 domains tells me that there was a serious problem on the part of the registrar.
7) The registrar has stopped responding to my request for more information regarding this subject.
I have kept records of all conversations. I have screen shots with dates, showing that the domain names are NOW still available and UNregistered and of course the emails regarding the money and acceptance of pre-registration for the domains, and the emails regarding that the domains where reserved (20 days later).
I realize this was a long explanation, but please let me know if there is an avenue that I should investigate taking.
*as a side note, there have been some reported sales of domains with this extension. The most expensive is $350K. There was an $86K one. The latest is $3,500 for flying.co.
There are some older sales (from when the extension was classified as Colombia's extension prior to this general public launch). Those domains sold in the mid thousands on average.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
This is going to be lengthy to explain this correctly so please bear with me.
I am going to try to describe this accurately the best I can. Recently there was a new domain extension (.com, .net, .org, .co...etc) that went on sale to the general public. Prior to the launch date there was pre-ordering ($29.99 money upfront to pre-order).
Only 10 domain registrars where allowed to sell the pre-order to this extension. Once a registrar made a confirmed pre-order, that domain is locked out from anyone using the same registrar to pre-order the same domain.
For example. If I pre-ordered "Cars.co" using Godaddy registrar, then you come up after me and attempt to pre-order "Cars.co" through Godaddy also, you will be denied with a statement saying that its already been pre-ordered. Now you can go to one of the other 9 registrars and make the pre-order there for the same "Cars.co".
**Note, that the launch is a First Come First Serve basis**
On the day of the launch of the domain extension, the 10 registrars would attempt to get pre-ordered domains. If they fail to get your domain, you are refunded.
OK, so I made some pre-orders in which the registrar took the money for those pre-orders.
I want to take the time to note here, that each day that passes, more domains are pre-registered and thus are locked out from anyone else pre-registering from the same registrar. This is a key point to my question!
On the day before the official launch (20 days AFTER I made the pre-order), I receive notice from my registrar that 5 of my domains have been already reserved. I didnt think anything of it, I assumed that someone else had already won the names in the landrush phase (that ended 3 days before the launch).
I proceeded to find other domains to register. 2 days later, I used the "WHOIS" (tells you the information on who owns domains) to see who had one the 5 domains that my registrar stated had been already reserved.
Whois states that the names have NOT been registered!
I take my inquiry to the official page of the official page of the domain extension. There they have a look-up for you use use to see if a domain is still available. All 5 of the domains that my registrar stated where already reserved, are still available.
I contact my registrar to ask why these 5 domains have been taken out of the registration phase. I did NOT ask for them to be taken out.
In the second and last response I had gotten from my registrar, is that those 5 domains where being held back from the general registration because of the perceived value, and where going to be auctioned later this year.
(so if they sell at auction for thousands to tens of thousands like they are projected to... That is money that potentially could have been mine) They also stated, that there was indication on the official domain extension site, that some domains will be withheld from general registration. I want to note that the Official domain extension page on the registrar page have NOTHING to do with each other.
To sum up my question, Do I have any recourse to the following elements?
1) Money was taken for a good or service that they knowingly could not provide.
2) I was allowed to pre-order names that where withheld from the general public (through a computer glitch or neglect on their part)
3) Money was out of my possession for over 20 days, during which time I was led to believe that those pre-orders where valid pre-orders and that I had a chance to become of the owner of 1 if not all 5 domains after launch.
4) During the 20 days that my money was held (out of my possession), I lost 20 days to invest in other high quality domains (1st come 1st serve). The loss of potential money for sales of those 5 domains or other high quality domains could be great!
5) The list of reserved names was NOT provided by the registrar on the registrars site, and I am not really sure if there is/was a list provided by the official domain extension site. (I have not been able to find it).
6) There may be grumblings that this could have happened to other people. The fact that it happened to me with not just 1 but 5 domains tells me that there was a serious problem on the part of the registrar.
7) The registrar has stopped responding to my request for more information regarding this subject.
I have kept records of all conversations. I have screen shots with dates, showing that the domain names are NOW still available and UNregistered and of course the emails regarding the money and acceptance of pre-registration for the domains, and the emails regarding that the domains where reserved (20 days later).
I realize this was a long explanation, but please let me know if there is an avenue that I should investigate taking.
*as a side note, there have been some reported sales of domains with this extension. The most expensive is $350K. There was an $86K one. The latest is $3,500 for flying.co.
There are some older sales (from when the extension was classified as Colombia's extension prior to this general public launch). Those domains sold in the mid thousands on average.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
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