They call it “Customer Service”, I called it jacked. I just found out what happens when you let a domain expire. I know, very much old news for those who have already been jacked.
Domain Registrars are offering a really helpful feature called domain recovery. Instead of deleting your domain like in the old days, they hold on to your domain for a period of days as a service and all you have to do is pay the small fee to have it recovered. I had four domains that were set for auto-renewal and somehow the domains were not “auto-renewed”. So “Steve” kindly asked me to take out my wallet and hand it over (he did say please). $80 x 4 plus regular annual domain registration fees. Sorry, bro but I work for a living. I canceled the domains and purchased some comparable names for the client. We will see if that will fly for now.
After a quick search at Google.com I found that registrar recovery fees compare from $150 and $260 dollars per domain. What in the world? Is everyone smoking crack out of heavy-duty Tupperware? ICANN has recognized a Redemption Grace Period or RGP probably with good intentions (grace) and registrars took it a ran with it.
“Registrar-level ‘grace’ periods differ from registrar to registrar. It could be 0 (yes, zero) days or up to 45 -1 days (usually 30 – 40 days). Registry-level (ICANN endorsed) RGP (Redemption Grace Periods) last exactly 30 calendar days, during which BOTH the registry AND the registrar are entitled to charge extra ‘recovery fees’.”
Whew-we! That sounds like a solid way to make all kinds of extra cash. Who wants to go in with me a start a Domain Wreckovery Service. I’ll get DWS airbrushed on the new Mac Book Pro and hang some fuzzy dice on the desk lamp and we are in business. It’s all about the money.
So the short version is as soon as we are free from OPEC, ICANN steps in. Ah si, comprendo. Gracias. I would seriously be interested to hear who has stumbled on to this already and how much did it co$t you?
(ICANN; Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers; www.icann.org)
(OPEX; Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries; www.opec.org)
