In an announcement today, GoDaddy revealed that it will be shutting down the Uniregistry Market and parking service on April 18. This move will result in the loss of two significant features: category targeting for parking pages and self-brokering.



One of the major concerns for domain owners is the loss of their historical lead information. Although GoDaddy has provided a tool to download lead data, it only covers the past year and does not include details about the individuals who inquired about the domain names.

Uniregistry used to send emails containing lead or communication information, but some domain investors might not have retained these emails, assuming the data was stored with Uniregistry itself.

This could potentially become problematic if a domain investor faces a UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy) in the future. In many UDRP defenses, the ability to find past inquiries from the complainant is crucial, and this data will be erased. Moreover, negotiating with someone who previously inquired about a domain and decides to re-inquire may become more challenging.

To mitigate these issues, it would be beneficial if GoDaddy developed a tool to allow users to download all their data before the service shuts down next month.

As a solution, GoDaddy has created a migration tool to aid customers in transferring their domains to Afternic for both sales and parking purposes. Customers will receive alerts prompting them to migrate when they access their accounts.

However, I must warn you that it is unclear how much data is transferred along with the domains during the migration process from Uni to Afternic. Are prices carried over? Which ones take priority?

Personally, I initiated the migration today with the expectation of receiving information about what exactly would be migrated and having the opportunity to confirm it. Unfortunately, upon clicking the link, I encountered a 502 error. Upon refreshing the page, it notified me that the migration was already in progress.

It is essential to approach this migration with caution and consider the potential implications before proceeding.