Sold a Domain Name!

but it is not mine!

[microcars]

I just got an email last Friday that a domain name I had deliberately let expire more than a year ago had "sold".

I look in my Registrar account and sure enough, it is listed there in the "sold" section of the auctions. I seem to recall placing it there when I decided I was not going to use it and then eventually just let it expire.

whois says someone else has it now and it appears to have been snapped up soon after I let it drop last year.
the dns re-directs to some other site.

so why am I getting these emails that I have just made $150?
is this a scam? If so, why is it in my domain registrar account? The emails have my Registrar account # in them!

I have not yet heard back from my Registrar. Its the "GD" one.

[draggar]

Could be a coincidence that you also got a referral credit (if you had something like that set up?) or they didn't let it expire and think you still owe it.

Best is to wait for the registrar for the definite word, hopefully they made a mistake and thought you were still the owner and give you the $150. :)

[ccDan]

Are you sure you didn't have the domain set to auto-renew? Maybe you didn't actually let it expire like you thought you did?

[netmeg]

No, I get these too, all the time. I have a DNS Administrator email address that we use as a technical and/or administrative contact on customer's domains when they host with us, and sometimes if they let the domain lapse (like if they go out of business or get bought or just disappear) I'll get an email because I'll be the only valid email address left on the domain, telling me I am entitled to a check for $4 or $8 or whatever because the domain was sold - and it'll be months if not years after it expired. Never had one for THAT much, though.

[microcars]

I still have all the email notifications from last year that told me the domain was expiring and finally CANCELLED because I chose not to renew it.
Nothing is set to auto-renew. If it was, then I would not be posting this.

It eventually disappeared from my list of domains at the Registrar.

right now I am trying to figure out if this is just some screwup or if it is a scam of some sort.

What concerns me most is that I have received emails that refer to my actual account number about this!

[microcars]

I'll get an email because I'll be the only valid email address left on the domain...

The current WHOIS for this domain clearly lists another Registrar and contact info.

It has all the usual "this domain for sale" stuff and contact info.

[microcars]

Best is to wait for the registrar for the definite word, hopefully they made a mistake and thought you were still the owner and give you the $150. :)

agreed

hopefully they give back the money to the person that paid them for a domain they did not have the rights to sell!

[microcars]

update: It appears to have been a matter of my Registrar's left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

GD has a separate company/site/section for dealing with domains that you have registered with them that you want to put up for sale/auction.

So back when I had the domain, I decided why not put it up for sale and see what happens? 6 months later, nothing, so I ignored it and let the domain expire and moved on.

However, what I did not notice was that when I put the domain in the "sale/auction" area, it was automatically set to "autorenew".
This does not renew the domain name, only that you want to keep listing the domain for sale/auction.

So despite the fact that I let the domain expire and GD released it and someone else has it now, they still list it "for sale/for auction".

I really had no idea that the sale part was set to "autorenew", but that makes sense as it is the default setting for everything else at GD. It was interesting that they don't appear to share database info. I assumed that when the domain expired, it would have just disappeared from the "sale/auction" section of my account.

I assumed wrong. and there you go.