Domain owner help

[ForagedFields]

Hi there! My domain name was unlocked and sold out from under me without my permission. I was hosting with weebly and when square bought it my site was fine and connected but somewhere along the line I couldn’t go in and manage my domain name anymore. The site said unknown provider and wouldn’t let me click on anything in the hosting domain managing page. I had several threads with live chat and email but to no avail. My site was locked and on automatic renewal so why it was sold is beyond me. I’ve owned this domain name since 2012 so I believe square scammed me out of it and now want me to pay $3500 for it back. Any help would be appreciated before I have my lawyers contact Square. Thanks so much!

 April Holman at www.foragedfields.com

[TheRealChipA]

Hey @ForagedFields.  First, Square is not trying to scam you.  If a company as big as Square was involved in this sort of conspiracy that you allege someone would take notice quickly.  Also, when I click on your website link, it displays a GoDaddy screen saying GoDaddy wants $3,500 for it.  That has absolutely nothing to do with Square, but rather with the fact that GoDaddy sees the site used to have lots of traffic, is not owned now, and is probably valuable as a URL so they want more money for it.  

Now…. To your other issue.  The facts as you tell them are that you’ve had this domain name on automatic renewal since 2012 and for some reason it did not renew this last time.  That could be for various reasons — your card on file changed (new expiration date or CCV code), the card expired, or the card couldn’t be processed.  For any of these you should have received a few emails saying the card couldn’t be processed and that a new card number was needed.  After 30 days, then the domain would have been released.

If you are saying that you did not get any notices, that the card on file hadn’t changed at all, etc, then you need to get on the phone with customer support.  Don’t chat.  Don’t email.  Take the time to clear this obviously important matter up by talking to a real, live person.  They might be able to help you clear this us.  Also, I’m going to tag a few Square moderators here who might be able to help.  @_Violet @MayaP @RobynR @JJ_ 

[frances_a]

Hello @ForagedFields 👋

I understand the domain registration was set to auto-renew, but issues can occur during renewal, which is why domains are renewed a month in advance, and we send several emails alerting of any issues. If they are not corrected before the domain expires, it then goes into a Redemption Grace Period, during which you can repurchase the domain at a higher price (usually around $80, which is an industry standard and not a price established by Square). 

If the domain is not repurchased during this period, it becomes available for anyone to purchase it, which is what happened in this case, from what I can see in the ICANN lookup tool. 

The price you are now seeing is what the new owner is asking for, not Square. 

I searched our system for this domain but couldn't find any billing information for it. Was it purchased using a different account than the one linked to your Community profile? And did you purchase the domain through us back in 2012? 

Let me know and I'll take another look. 

Thank you.