Godaddy sold me a domain name that was already taken!

[peterj]

I bought a domain name a few weeks ago and just got round to setting it all up only to find out it's been registered by someone since 2008!

Has it happened to you?

How is this possible?

Cheers

pete

[stern112]

Wow! Never heard of that. How is that possible? How do you know someone else has it?

[pcpupil]

Are you sure that there is not any letter out of,misplaced,or doubled or anything.

I just had a domain given to me just if i would renew it.For instance,you would figure all the [get my ex back] and ect...domains where taken.

Well i got this one but its spelled [myxback]-----not[myexback].
A lot of affiliates do this.
For example,lets say theres a product called,
affiliateprojectx------dot com.This would be the owners site.

The affiliate would just add an extra x,so it would look like this:,
affiliateprojectxx-----dot com.When its all put together like its supposed to be,you dont even notice the extra x,looks like its the owners site.

[monsur]

I don't like it at all

[Ruth Hendrickson]

If you purchased the domain a few weeks ago, maybe you forgot the actual name you purchased. Or there might have been a typo. Go through the cpanel to the upload section and see what Godaddy named it. There should be a folder with the name of the domain. You should also contact customer service at Godaddy and ask them about it.

[davezan]

One of Go Daddy's problems is their site doesn't always accurately report if a
domain name is actually available or not. Unfortunately this sort of thing does
happen quite often with them, especially if you search hard enough online for
similar stories like this one.

Also unfortunately, the only thing they'll do is refund your registration fee. Ask
them to do so if they haven't yet.

[zapseo]

It's not just a problem with GoDaddy.

If the registering registrar's site is not available (apparently), you can be sold an existing domain name.

It has happened to me.

Yes, I was disappointed.

If you want to double-check on your domain names, you can google the domain name,
and you can also check it on domaintools.com

However -- be cautious in using sites such as domaintools, which either use or sell what domain names that people type in, and they can get immediately registered.

I'm not sure what the state of domain tasting is, but it has been possible in the past, and maybe currently, for people to buy a domain name -- and then give it up within 5 days at no cost to them.

This actually DID happen to me -- I checked a domain name on domaintools and within minutes it was registered. (What the person who registered does is to see if the domain gets any traffic, and if not, they'll frequently just throw it back. That's what happened to me. But, for instance, if you were checking on someone who was previously unknown but became a hot guest on Oprah, and you are trying to register a domain name related to that person -- they'll see some good traffic and most likely keep it.)

The other possibility, of course, is that they could try to squat your name and sell it to you, if it's something you really want. This ALSO happens. Cybersquatting is technically "not allowed" -- but trying to get a domain name back is an expensive process. (I think ICANN wants a min of $1500 to run a case...)

In my case, knowing what I know about domain tasting, I just abandoned trying to get the name for a few days, and it subsequently showed up as available, so I registered it and have been the happy "owner" ever since. (really feels more like happy renter, though, LOL.)

Live JoyFully!

Judy Kettenhofen,
Copywriter -- WSO copy that got 15 sales in 60 minutes (that's one sale every 4 minutes) -- and it's still selling
-- doubled the sales of another WSO
Webmaster (I do script installs'n' stuff for folks. Over 20 years doing software professionally.)