“on hold” domains disappear from your GoDaddy account — Why your

You’ll need to ask for your domain back ahead of you can fulfill the sale.

I had a sleepless night the first time it happened.

I got a notice of a nice sale at Afternic late at night. The email asked me to unlock the domain and provide the authorization code.

So I logged into my GoDaddy account and searched for the domain, only to find it wasn’t there.

I frantically searched my email. Had I let this domain expire? Did I previously sell it and didn’t delete the Afternic listing? I didn’t see any GoDaddy expiration notices, and the latest email I found with the domain in it was a renewal receipt.

I emailed my account rep first thing in the morning. He moved the domain back into my account.

Here’s what happened. When a domain goes “on hold” at Afternic and the domain is at GoDaddy, it is moved out of your GoDaddy account into a special account. You usually don’t notice this since Fast Transfer domains don’t require you to do anything. You get the sale notice, and the transfer is in process.

But when the domain requires a manual transfer, the domain is no longer in your account. You have to ask for it to be pushed back into your account.

It seems like an odd way of doing things. I understand putting a hold on the domain or even moving it to a temporary account. But if it requires a manual transfer, there ought to be an automated mechanism for moving it back to your account so you can activate it.