Godaddy has signed up 21 tags ?

[RobM]

No but someone said they have recordings of separate employees at <registrar> saying the <registry> has decided on certain names that are 'premium' and will be making sure they go to <registrar> to be auctioned.
Note I have *no* proof of this (I asked them to get names etc at both <registrar> and <registry> - I was told this will be coming in amongst other evidence of dodgy dealings) and we don't know if <registrar> is just talking rubbish or the person telling me is speaking the truth but will definitely be interesting to see the results next week and follow any repercussions in the next few months. It's probably just hearsay and I'm just conveying the gist. Have I covered my backside legally enough do you think?

 

[Whois-Search]

I was wondering this, I've seen a couple of your posts like this. Is it possible that Nominet may have set up some sort of separate EPP for larger registrars, in secret?

I doubt there is a secret EPP connection etc Godaddy (having over 50% of the registry) will just have had better briefing and coordination by account managers.

Nominet might ensure they can get all their pre-orders in etc

Even a guest blog by Eleanor:
https://uk.godaddy.com/blog/countdown-to-register-reserved-uk-domains/

Also they most likely were asked about the credit limits in the first place at the Key Partners event (a week before the Registrar Conference). And they have a member of staff on the board of Nominet itself (although the board didn’t come up with this release mechanism).

As for not testing it...

I thought the same with the .wales .cymru release (Nominet again) however then out of no where came all these Godaddy registrars when it went live:

40. Go China Domains, LLC (GoDaddy Group) 5 0 0.04%

41. Go Australia Domains, LLC (GoDaddy Group) 4 0 0.03%

42. Go Montenegro Domains, LLC (GoDaddy Group) 3 0 0.02%

44. Blue Razor Domains, LLC (GoDaddy Group) 3 0 0.02%

45. Go Canada Domains, LLC (GoDaddy Group) 2 0 0.02%

46. Go France Domains, LLC (GoDaddy Group) 2 0 0.02%

See https://www.ntldstats.com/tld/wales

Each one had the EPP setup to catch.

 

[philiporchard]

I won't get too excited about my £50 booking with CatchTiger for Margate just yet then!

 

[ian]

Never saw godaddy or 123reg on test - watch how many they 'catch' though

For once (and only once) I hope 123reg do very well

 

[RobM]

I'm sure they will

 

[philiporchard]

Were 123reg on a first come basis?

I didn't have much luck with them - only managed to book 14.

 

[developer1]

I was told by them that it was on a first come basis, but the script they implemented to prevent multiple pre-orders for the same domain only worked for all new pre-orders after the new campaign started (i.e. domain may still have shown as available to pre-order if one had been placed at an earlier date before the ROR campaign). Any caught up in this scenario then aren't shown as pending with the control panel

 

[Paullas]

Where can you backorder .uk at 123-reg?

 

[developer1]

Where can you backorder .uk at 123-reg?

https://www.123-reg.co.uk/domain-names/register-uk-domains/

It sounds like either it went live without a script checker to prevent multiple pre-orders for each domain, or that they were already taking backorders for .uk:

123 reg: When the whole ROR campaign started, we checked our database logs and it was noticeable that multiple people preordered the same domains. Being the same reseller, it was decided that it is redundant to ask for the same domain from multiple accounts. So there was a quick script which resolved this.

Me: so essentially some domains (like XX.uk) were pre-ordered prior to the campaign but no-one had attempted to pre-order after the campaign. I was allowed to pre-order it as it had no new pre-orders since the campaign starting. Then other domains like YY.uk weren't pre-ordered prior to the campaign so when I was the first pre-order, the system picked it up and blocked further pre-orders being made?

123 reg: Yes, precisely.

 

[Siusaidh]

Yes, I admit I carpet-bombed 123-reg last week (sorry!) even though it went against my own personal feelings for the company. The offer was reasonable (first-come first-served, and no auctions) and at that point a lot of good names were still not taken. Given the scale and industry position, I thought (rightly or wrongly) they would get a reasonably generous share. Time will tell. Then again, I never put all my eggs in one basket in these roll outs. I'm approaching from multiple directions. About 80% of the names on my list were still available with them last week. Testing it this afternoon, on a new list of names, the choice is reduced but there must still be loads of reasonable .uk's not pre-ordered.

My concern would be this: even if the offer sounds good, what is to stop the collective registrars of the same parent company switching the valuable domains they catch away from 123 to an alternative, auction-based outlet of their group? I don't think that can happen, but I've seen too much in the past 20 years to assume anything.

As the first few minutes each day are fundamental, 123-reg seemed potentially useful. But if they fail, as I say, I've covered my bases with 4 other approaches. I'm a nurse, not an industry insider, so what do I know? But we shall see. Best of luck to everyone. No-one will get more than a proportion of what they hoped for. There's even the possibility of a wipe-out if unexpected players blitz the system.

 

[3gmedia]

I was able to order 6 .uks not quite tier 1 but close enough, have ordered quite a few with other registrars and private catchers

Fingers crossed !

 

[ian]

I must have been early doors with them, as it accepted my backorders on almost every domain I added, including bingo and bet (sadly now registered). How many of them had previous backorders though, I don't know, but they are all showing in my backorder control panel.

 

[ukdomains]

i have just tried that link i can't back order anything..

has it closed ?

 

[Murray]

Of the top 130 domains I went for, Godaddy on it's collective tags got

bunny.uk GODADDY
affiliates.uk MONSTER
bangor.uk MONSTER
442.uk EVOHOSTING
beaumont.uk WILDWEST
betsport.uk BLUERAZOR

 

[3gmedia]

Of the top 130 domains I went for, Godaddy on it's collective tags got

bunny.uk GODADDY
affiliates.uk MONSTER
bangor.uk MONSTER
442.uk EVOHOSTING
beaumont.uk WILDWEST
betsport.uk BLUERAZOR

If you wanted another go at bunny its available at godaddy. At this moment it looks as though you could join their auction.

 

[3gmedia]

If you wanted another go at bunny its available at godaddy. At this moment it looks as though you could join their auction.

There are all available at godaddy!

 

[Murray]

There are all available at godaddy!

I just checked one I caught today, says it's available, I guess just a failing of their system atm.

 

[3gmedia]

I just checked one I caught today, says it's available, I guess just a failing of their system atm.

Hopefully they will close the loophole soon

 

[Whois-Search]

There are all available at godaddy!

Like most big registrars (with a lot of traffic) Godaddy are doing availability checking based on the zone file though. So if the .uk name has no nameservers it will show as available.

Note: there is actually a list of all .uk names in the zone file zip which they could use.

Only when the name gets in the cart do they do an EPP check etc before you buy it.

 

[Whois-Search]

Looks like Godaddy came out to play today ?

250 of my names checked - score:

1 - [Tag = 123-REG]
5 - [Tag = BLUERAZOR]
3 - [Tag = GODADDY]
1 - [Tag = HEARTINTERNET]
3 - [Tag = EVOHOSTING]
5 - [Tag = WILDWEST]
1 - [Tag = MONSTER]

Total 19 out of 250

However Snapnames still winning the most...