The most Overpriced .CA Domains on GoDaddy Auction (3.Viewing)

DomainRecap said:

If it's remotely any good it will be prominently featured on the WHC Hot Bid List, so just check that every Wednesday morning. Takes less than a minute.

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Ehm... I hate to interject here but whc sometimes misses some nice ones for their hot list.

MapleDots said:

Ehm... I hate to interject here but whc sometimes misses some nice ones for their hot list.

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Ehm... Not their Hot List, their Hot BID List - no one ever misses a premium on that.

So let's get back to the outstanding questions here.

There are two questions, although the first is a bit less relevant/important now:

1) How did Andrew.ca get listed on GoDaddy when it was restricted, and GoDaddy requires everyone to verify listings?

2) How the hell did someone manage to buy Andrew.ca only a matter of hours after this topic started?

I don't really care about question #1 anymore since I asked that question before Andrew.ca actually got registered, but it's still weird.

It's question #2 that's the real head scratcher. It's almost as if someone maybe hacked cira to register it... lol

I'm 100% certain that Andrew.ca was restricted before my post (and maple's), and even took a screenshot of it. It makes absolutely no sense to me how someone was able to register it just hours later. What are the chances CIRA just magically decided to release it hours later? Seems impossible, and even more possible that someone hacked cira or had some special kind of access that average people don't have.

CIRA probably didn't get hacked and it's likely a similar incident like the last where domains got released by mistake, but i personally haven't found any other domains that were released by mistake. I haven't done too much digging but domains like badger.ca fall in the same category and were never released, so it's even more odd for me because i don't see a pattern.

Anybody know what's going on here yet? Or willing to share other domains they spotted that might show us a pattern?

I need to clarify something for everyone...

I simply went to godaddy and sorted all .ca domains by BUY NOW and from highest price to lowest price.

I did not manipulate the list and had no idea Andrew.ca was a restricted name, nor do I own it thereof.

I am as puzzled as the rest of you by this event but wanted to put it out there publicly that I am not the owner of the domain nor did I make any attempt to register it. That said, had I had an opportunity to do so I would most certainly have jumped at it like the rest of you.

2 domains I registered at GoDaddy didn't go through. I am waiting for refund from GoDaddy.

I just listed 1 of the domain for sale on GoDaddy even though it's not even registered and shows up as pending registration.

silentg said:

2 domains I registered at GoDaddy didn't go through. I am waiting for refund from GoDaddy.

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Did you get any email explaining you had to be refunded. And the reason why?

I can only assume yours were restricted too but do you see any pattern among the domains?

silentg said:

I just listed 1 of the domain for sale on GoDaddy even though it's not even registered and shows up as pending registration.

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This probably answers question #1. Even if it was listed a long time ago it must have been under similar circumstances. Thanks for sharing.

I was told the registration shouldn't have gone through since it was blocked and Godaddy should've blocked it. Don't see any pattern.

The issue has now been resolved.

Thanks for swift action CIRA.

Esdiel said:

So let's get back to the outstanding questions here.

There are two questions, although the first is a bit less relevant/important now:

1) How did Andrew.ca get listed on GoDaddy when it was restricted, and GoDaddy requires everyone to verify listings?

2) How the hell did someone manage to buy Andrew.ca only a matter of hours after this topic started?

I don't really care about question #1 anymore since I asked that question before Andrew.ca actually got registered, but it's still weird.

It's question #2 that's the real head scratcher. It's almost as if someone maybe hacked cira to register it... lol

I'm 100% certain that Andrew.ca was restricted before my post (and maple's), and even took a screenshot of it. It makes absolutely no sense to me how someone was able to register it just hours later. What are the chances CIRA just magically decided to release it hours later? Seems impossible, and even more possible that someone hacked cira or had some special kind of access that average people don't have.

CIRA probably didn't get hacked and it's likely a similar incident like the last where domains got released by mistake, but i personally haven't found any other domains that were released by mistake. I haven't done too much digging but domains like badger.ca fall in the same category and were never released, so it's even more odd for me because i don't see a pattern.

Anybody know what's going on here yet? Or willing to share other domains they spotted that might show us a pattern?

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I am still surprised that Richard has not responded yet on this. He is normally very prompt in attending to these issues. Seems like he was here recently. I can only hope that he responds to our question before the 14 day period ends.

@richard.schreier Could you please let us all know, what happened with <Andrew.ca> and how it happened.

Lurker said:

The issue has now been resolved.

Thanks for swift action CIRA.

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That does not end the issue. We need to know that if CIRA system was hacked again for that domain to be registered and how many domains got registered this time.

As a avid .CA fan, I would like to have the answer and the numbers please.

Eby said:

I am still surprised that Richard has not responded yet on this. He is normally very prompt in attending to these issues. Seems like he was here recently. I can only hope that he responds to our question before the 14 day period ends.

@richard.schreier Could you please let us all know, what happened with <Andrew.ca> and how it happened.

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I’d like his input too, but to be fair to Richard, I think this is the first time anyone tags him in the convo.

All, I'm not sure what I can add on this topic because indeed "andrew.ca" is blocked and has been for some time.

The problem stems from the nature of the block and how any registrar may or may not be set up to process it. Names that are already registered at the third level (for example richard.on.ca) would be blocked for registration at the second level (richard.ca) EXCEPT FOR the registrant of the third level. It gets a little more complicated when there are multiple registrations at the third level (richard.ab.ca, richard.bc.ca, richard.on.ca etc) which could all be registered to different registrants. But in essence, the 2nd level is eligible for registration under specific conditions.

So, as you see when you do a query on our website, the messaging says there are usage restrictions. But a domain registration request would be accepted by our system and will go into a pending status to assess against those restrictions. The request will then be reviewed to make sure the requesting registrant matches the existing 3rd level registrant,. if not, the request is denied. The same process for example can be used to reserve a domain for a specific individual.

I don't have the details on what exactly happened with andrew.ca but my guess is... the registrar submitted a "create" request and would have gotten a response back that indicated "Command completed successfully; action pending". The key in this response is that there is "action pending". In this case, the "action", as described earlier, would be a review of the registrant information for a match to the third level registrant. And that review is manual so may take time.

When determined there is no match, the registration would be rejected and the domain would return to an available status, still showing restricted usage. The registrar is refunded. How the registrar operates after that is up to the registrar.

The key here for anyone interested in these kinds of names is to look at the CIRA site first. If there is a restricted usage message, in all likelihood it is because a 3rd or 4th level registration of the same string already exists.

richard.schreier said:

In this case, the "action", as described earlier, would be a review of the registrant information for a match to the third level registrant. And that review is manual so may take time.

When determined there is no match, the registration would be rejected and the domain would return to an available status, still showing restricted usage. The registrar is refunded. How the registrar operates after that is up to the registrar.

The key here for anyone interested in these kinds of names is to look at the CIRA site first. If there is a restricted usage message, in all likelihood it is because a 3rd or 4th level registration of the same string already exists.

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Thanks for the quick response.

I understand what you're saying, and I'm certain you know a lot more than any of us, but I'm wondering if you missed the fact that this domain was restricted because of the Municipality of Andrew in Alberta, and not because Andrew was registered at a 3rd level. Does that change anything?

Esdiel said:

Thanks for the quick response.

I understand what you're saying, and I'm certain you know a lot more than any of us, but I'm wondering if you missed the fact that this domain was restricted because of the Municipality of Andrew in Alberta, and not because Andrew was registered at a 3rd level. Does that change anything?

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I can confirm that in this particular case the block is related to a previous third level registration and not the municipality. I don't believe "andrew" is on the municipality list (it was created quite some time ago) and any attempt to register a name on the municipality list would be blocked outright. There is a different out-of-band process to claim municipal names. Does it change anything? If it had been on the municipal list, the "create" request would have been immediately rejected.

richard.schreier said:

I can confirm that in this particular case the block is related to a previous third level registration and not the municipality. I don't believe "andrew" is on the municipality list (it was created quite some time ago) and any attempt to register a name on the municipality list would be blocked outright. There is a different out-of-band process to claim municipal names. Does it change anything? If it had been on the municipal list, the "create" request would have been immediately rejected.

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I checked all the third level registrations and none are currently registered but one must have existed at at some point in the past if you're certain that's the reason.

I had previously looked into Andrew in Alberta too. They're using AndrewAB.ca. They call themselves "Village of Andrew" but I was sure they had municipal status too. They do have a "municipal services" page on their website. I just doubled checked and everything seems to suggests they're a municipality. I pulled this below from their website too, but like you said, there is that official list of municipalities and I haven't dug that up yet.

Just when it couldn't get more weird.

What is going on lol.

Someone is watching and pranking us lol.

theinvestor said:

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My goodness! An entity is keen on registering it over and over again in hopes of being successful. I just hope it’s the 3rd level registrant this time.