Epik provided an update on their termination from Afternic Fast Transfer. In the blog post Epik gives some insight into what factors played a part in the decision from their view.
From the post
We believe there were several factors involved, including our reports of repeated Afternic security issues with their platform harming both registrars and domain investors who trusted them. Instead of handling it graciously and truthfully, they issued a letter to Epik stating they would simply terminate services to hide their own liabilities, with the mandate that we were to tell no one.
They then proceeded to email our customers to state they were shutting off fast transfer with no mention of the reasons why, or the conversations we were already having with their technical team.
We believe that other registrars may also be similarly affected in the coming months. This level of arrogance and technical negligence from GoDaddy is becoming a pattern.
GoDaddy’s “win at any cost” policies in pursuit of monopoly status may be the single greatest threat our industry faces.
At the same time, their actions help draw attention to the care and processes that Epik uses to protect its own valued customers. There are few major domain investors that utilize Afternic for their fast transfer service.
They may list their names to receive offers to take advantage of search results across GoDaddy’s partnership network, but empowering Afternic with the authority to instantly take names is not seen as an advantage for those holding high value names.
In fact, it has been leading to regular instances where false approvals put investors at risk to lose valuable domains.
In our experience, even with reasonable question or reports of non-approval, GoDaddy outright refuses to take any corrective action. In which case, the actual owner is left at a loss with zero options for recovery.
Read the full letter on the Epik blog.