Today I woke up to an email from Uniregistry, informing me that my portfolio of domain names was successfully migrated to GoDaddy.
To complete the transition and take control of it, I had to take control of a new account number and set up a password. In the process, I had to verify my email address via GoDaddy.
This is where glitches kicked in: the email would not arrive. I checked my server’s settings and due to an existing grey-listing setting, emails without SPF records would be held in a sandbox for 90 minutes at a time. That rendered the process of resetting one’s password or verifying emails useless.
Because GoDaddy’s email of choice wasn’t set up properly, I had to white-list that IP range, specifically 198.71.246.0-198.71.246.255. Then I ran into a “too many attempts” error. Luckily, after white-listing the GoDaddy IP range the grey-listed emails arrived and was able to verify my identity and log into my account.
The new GoDaddy domain manager looks cool. It’s like Uniregistry’s but different. Although still in perpetual beta, it’s light years ahead of the old GoDaddy user interface I used on and off for years. I must say that was a pleasant surprise.
My domains were all there and GoDaddy included some that had already moved out to Sav.com, in a separate group. Getting used to the new interface is easy, and I even attempted to renew a few that had expired. First shock: $19.99 dollar .com renewals.
Gone are the discounted Uniregistry rates and although I was assigned a corporate account manager I hadn’t reached out to them yet.
I decided to move a couple of dozen domains to Sav, my current domain registrar of choice. Unlocked the domains, exported the information and the auth codes and initiated a new transfer from Sav. Second glitch: all were declined, as WHOIS privacy was on. GoDaddy doesn’t like that, apparently. After I turned WHOIS privacy off, I restarted the transfers.
They were declined again. Apparently, each time a transfer fails, the auth code is reset to something new. I had to get the new codes and input them manually at Sav, in order for the transfer to begin.
After receiving the notification emails, I was able to go into Transfers at GoDaddy and accept them in bulk. Nice.
Glitch #3: One .org domain was denied and I received an email notifying me of a “manual review” flagging the transfer. I had to respond with a confirmation to transfer the domain and that transfer has yet to complete.
Overall, I don’t plan to keep my domains at GoDaddy and I will be transferring them away as they approach expiration. If I choose to let some drop I might send them to GoDaddy auctions instead.
GoDaddy should have provided domainer-friendly pricing from the get-go, as any accounts transitioning from Uniregistry now are most definitely those of domain investors. The transition of retail accounts with a handful of domains took place a year ago. For us investors with hundreds or thousands of domain names, every nickel and dime counts.
Another note: GoDaddy sends individual emails for every successful transfer away, along with “Sorry to see you go” emails. Even when transfers were part of a bulk request, unlike how Uniregistry would respond. That’s a lot of emails!
I would not discourage others from using GoDaddy, however. The UX is considerably better, thanks to the work of Uniregistry engineers, most likely. Great work, guys! 👍
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