* 10-6-05 Update- This issue has been resolved. See this post
Original post:
You may recall my post from last week where I thought I had purchased SEM.jobs at Godaddy.
Well a few days ago I was given a refund for $120 (the cost of the domain, but not the $39.95 application fee). My refund email didn’t give any reason for the refund, just a simple, "here’s your $120 back", so I wrote to them asking why I was getting the refund when I thought I has purchased the domain.
After a few exchanges I was told:
"…It appears that your application for the SEM.JOBS domain name was not approved….If you have questions regarding why your application was not approved you will want to contact the .jobs Registry at www.goto.jobs regarding this application…"
So off I went to goto.jobs to see if I could find why I was denied my sem.jobs domain….burried in the FAQ at #7 I found:
"7. ….Registrations in .jobs can only be for your "company name", which means your legal or commonly known business name, or at least must include that name. For example, if you are American Family Life Assurance Company, you may register AmericanFamilyLife.jobs, AmericanFamilyLifeAssurance.jobs, AmericanFamilyLifeAssuranceCompany.jobs, AFLAC.jobs, AFLAC-California.jobs, AFLAC-Agents.jobs, etc."
So upon learning that, I went back to Godaddy.com to see if they gave this key piece of information….
Right off the homepage is the place to enter in your domain name you’re seeking, and in the drop down is .jobs….so let’s see…sem.jobs
on to page 2,
Nice, it’s avaliable.
and off I can go and spend my $120 for the domain, along with the $40 for the "application fee"….no statements anywhere about "Only using your company name"….none!
So I know that most people are going to go to homepage of godaddy, see a domain is available, and purchase it, without ever seeing any "rules" on purchasing.
So I bounce around the godaddy site some more…seeking the "rules" of purchasing a .jobs domain…I then find a page about the .jobs domains, where on that page is this…
"Best of all, .jobs is a restricted domain, meaning applicants will be subject to a verification process to confirm they qualify for a .jobs domain name—no cyber-squatting, no name hoarding, no hassle."
if you click on the link for "verification process" you get a little pop up window stating
"….Some form of proof that the applicant has rights (not a legal term in this context) to the requested name must be submitted with the application. In most cases the applicants existing URL will be sufficient, and that’s what we will be using…."
Oh, you were going to ask for "proof"? If you had done that, I could have saved myself the time and the $40 "application" fee.
It’s a Godaddy Problem in that they know that most people who think they’re purchasing a .jobs domain name will be turned down, but Godaddy is still making the $40 "application fee".
It’d be nice to have my "application" fee back from Godaddy since they didn’t state the "rules" in my purchase path, and I’d be nice if they’d CLEARLY state on their site about having to use your company name to purchase a .jobs domain.
What they’re doing must be against the law. Any lawyers out there?
* 10-6-05 Update- This issue has been resolved. See this post
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