GoDaddy seems to auctioned off a domain without my permission
First, sorry for the bad language. English is not my mother language.
A long time ago I listed a domain for sale at the GoDaddy Auctions site. The domain name was xxx.com. (the domain name is hidden). I set the minimum bid to $2000 and the auction type as offer/counteroffer.
Yesterday I got a e-mail from Afternic telling me that "Congratulations! Your domain, xxx.com, has sold via Afternic's Fast Transfer network for $50.00.".
Afternic?, fast transfer??, $50?? . What is this? I checked my GoDaddy auction site and the domain xxx.com was still listed there, with 85 days to go.
I also checked my regular GoDaddy account, where I did not find the domain in the domain overview.
I then goto Afternic.com. I have never visited this domain before. Afternic seems to be an auction partner with GoDaddy. The login looks like GoDaddys, so I try a password reset with my GoDaddy e-mail account.
When I finally manage to login to the afternic site I see that there are multiple domains for sale by me (these are all listed at GoDaddy Auctions), all with a Buy Now price of $50. At GoDaddy Auctions they are all listed from $1000 and up.
The account at Afternic stated that I have been a member since September 4, 2021. It seems like the account is autogenerated and these domains has been added for sale without my knowledge.
I have of course contacted GoDaddy, but they have a 72 hours response time, and now the domain sale seems to have been completed at Afternic, and the domain name is not to be found at my dashboard at GoDaddy.
I seems like the domain is auctioned away for 50$ without my permission or approval.
Anyone know what I should do?
I think there is nothing you could do if the domain is sold other than wait for what GoDaddy's support department says about this. Also, make sure to search through your email for any information you might have received about this in the past because it doesn't help you if it turns out you did received notice of this in any way.
I don't think $50 or $2000 is worth pursuing with any legal actions, but you could make some noise about it on social media (just like you are doing now).
Got an email today from Afternic that this could not be reversed but "If you are interested in obtaining the domain back, we can connect you with our Domain Buy Service team who can reach out to the new registrant to inquire about a potential sale"...
The only consolation is that the other good domainnames were not sold and that I manage to remove them from the site before it was too late.
I would contact GoDaddy because you are their customer and not Afternic’s. It’s weird that if it’s listed for at least $1000 on GoDaddy that it would sell for anything less than that (even if GoDaddy uses an auction partner). Try reaching out via Twitter if possible. In my experience, that (sadly) often works better when trying to resolve issues.