Is namecheap cybersquatting?

[Nvidiaguy07]

I bought a domain through namecheap a while back, and recently it expired.

I really didnt care because its not really that important to me, and also i knew i could just buy it back whenever because NO ONE would ever buy this specific domain name.

Well now i am trying to buy it back, and they are trying to tell me i need to pay a 200 dollar fee because the domain is in redemption.

I thought companies have to release domain to the public after a certain amount of time (45 days was my understanding). They tried saying its up to 120 days IF they decide to release it.

I really dont care that much about the domain, but personally it pisses me off that they can do this. Is this legal?

 

[Spikesoldier]

what if you try another registrar?

 

[rockyct]

Well, personally I doubt there are really any US laws against domain snatching (trying to get money for a domain name you grabbed for an existing business is a different thing altogether) but it may be against the ICANN registrar rules or something.

Either way, you should have assumed once you let a domain name go, you'll never get it back. There are people out there who buy up freshly expired domain names in hopes to sell them back for a large premium. If Namecheap didn't keep it, someone else would have snapped it up.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

what if you try another registrar?

If i type it in it say taken in any registrar

Well, personally I doubt there are really any US laws against domain snatching (trying to get money for a domain name you grabbed for an existing business is a different thing altogether) but it may be against the ICANN registrar rules or something.

Either way, you should have assumed once you let a domain name go, you'll never get it back. There are people out there who buy up freshly expired domain names in hopes to sell them back for a large premium. If Namecheap didn't keep it, someone else would have snapped it up.

Yea i figured I really didnt care too much if i lost it (its just my name) and im a nobody, so who would want that domain name?

Ive read that they HAVE to release the domain to the public after 45 days, if not its considered squatting.

 

[wiredspider]

Redemption is like 45 days and our company charges $80 for it. Though they are free to keep the domain afterwards if they want to.

 

[pontifex]

I had a domain name with my own first and last name. I had changed emails and it lapsed but I had never changed it on the domain registrar site.

Went to use the site one day and it was gone. looked into buying it back and they wanted like $1500 for it. I said fuck it.

I don't have anything that needs to be online anyway though.

 

[ElFenix]

I had a domain name with my own first and last name. I had changed emails and it lapsed but I had never changed it on the domain registrar site.

Went to use the site one day and it was gone. looked into buying it back and they wanted like $1500 for it. I said fuck it.

I don't have anything that needs to be online anyway though.

that happened with mine. the registrar i had been using was a pain in the ass to work with so i figured i'd let it lapse and just pick it up with someone cheaper and easier. well, the old one squatted it, and now it's used by some squatting company that claims to have bought it back in the 90s (incorrect).

 

[Leros]

I thought that was fairly standard practice. If a domain name was purchased by somebody, it clearly has some value, so you might as well buy it up if it lapses.

 

[olds]

I let a domain expire. Someone, I assume from here, snatched it up and put up a Spam "travel site". RossMAN talked me into trying to get it back and I eventually did. When it expired, I re-registered the name. It's not like I use it for much anyway.