Ask HN: Domain reg. expired, domain taken. Can I recover my domain? My autopay failed and I lost a web address I really like. Now it's for sale for over $4k. It seems like it was auto-purchased by a bot. Is there any way I can get it back? I mean, besides buying it again. Is there a service that assists with this issue? |
Without knowing if his was for a business, or a service mark or trademark, or even some just-well-known name, AND without knowing your location, it’s hard to say more. In the US you could (IaNaL) pursue small claims court, at the cheapest, and try to make an argument that they registered it in bad faith; if they fail to show up I’d guess an order from the court to transfer the domain back to you in exchange for compensating the purchaser for a year of registration would be your best possible (but who-knows how likely; courts are fickle things) outcome.
Outside the US, your local laws might be nicer to you legally.
See section 4 of this article: https://www.godaddy.com/legal/agreements/domain-name-dispute...
You can also see this: https://www.godaddy.com/resources/skills/what-is-domain-squa...
I have no affiliation with GoDaddy - they just came up in some Google searches.