Ask HN: Is GoDaddy lying to me about .tv domains?

11 pointsiameli1y ago3 comments

I'm looking at buying a .tv domain. Let's say, for example, it's smell.tv. I did a search on whois.nic.tv, and the following comes up for smell.tv:

    Reserved Domain Name
    URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: https://www.icann.org/wicf/
    >>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2024-08-29T17:48:44Z <<<

So... reserved by the registry, yeah? Like a premium domain name they want to sell at a higher price. That's fine, but it wasn't showing up with a premium price on any of the registrars I tried. So I paid GoDaddy $119 for their "Domain Broker Service." Probably a scam, whatever. I was kind of thinking it might just bounce back with "the registry is not selling it at this time" or something. Instead, I got this:

> Broker: "I heard back from the domain owner and they are willing to sell which is great news. They are looking for $10,000 USD for the name."

Okayyy.

> Me: I’m a little confused who the current owner is. The domain says it’s reserved by the registry. Does GoDaddy own it?

> Broker: No, GoDaddy is the registrar the domain is registered with. The domain is owned by a third party apart from GoDaddy.

So like. Either the WHOIS registry is lying or the broker is lying, right? It can't both be a "Reserved Domain Name" and "owned by a third party." That "ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form" emphasizes they don't have jurisdiction over ccTLDs, but I guess I hope there'd be some recourse for straight-up falsifying a WHOIS entry? Maybe not.

Here's the part that complicates things. Just who is the .tv registrar, anyway? According to Wikipedia, it's... GoDaddy!

> As Verisign opted not to renew its contract, on 14 December 2021, GoDaddy signed a contract with the government of Tuvalu to manage .tv registrations, increasing yearly payments to the government of Tuvalu to $10 million. In 2023, an agreement between the Government of Tuvalu and the GoDaddy Company outsourced the marketing, sales, promotion and branding of the .tv domain to the Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation, which established a .tv Unit.

The only charitable interpretation I can think of is that the "third party" in question is this Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation and they're the ones on the other end of the negotiation?

TLDR: Notoriously shady company is probably lying to me to make money

3 comments

authorfly1y ago

I thought you misunderstood domain privacy, but I think you are on to something here reviewing this myself.

iameliOP1y ago

Yeah, definitely different output when the domain is actually registered. But maybe the contract with Tuvalu lets them do whatever they want, who knows.

vidquickly1y ago

i think they don't, because i still reg .tv last week

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