Many webmasters, after buying a domain at GoDaddy, see four “prohibited” statuses in their Whois information and worry that their domain has been locked or that they’ve been scammed. There’s no need to worry — this is normal. The four prohibitions are:
Registrar set client delete prohibited (clientDeleteProhibited) Registrar set client renew prohibited (clientRenewProhibited) Registrar set client transfer prohibited (clientTransferProhibited) Registrar set client update prohibited (clientUpdateProhibited)
First, please don’t worry. These four statuses are normal and don’t affect the domain’s normal use, renewal, or holding. I’ve registered many domains at GoDaddy (com/net) that all carry these four statuses, and they all work fine — resolution, renewal, transfer, and push all work without a problem. You haven’t been scammed.
Registrar set client delete prohibited (clientDeleteProhibited) Under normal circumstances the registrar adds this status on top of “ok”; it means deletion is prohibited, which is safer than “ok”. While in this status the domain can be used, managed, and renewed normally, and the status can be cleared by the registrar. You must clear this status before the domain can be deleted.
Registrar set client renew prohibited (clientRenewProhibited) Most people worry about this status — will it stop me from renewing? Actually this status means automatic renewal is prohibited; manual renewal is allowed and unrestricted. Because with automatic renewal the registrar renews on your behalf, and if you then don’t want the domain, the registrar takes the loss. So the registrar won’t auto-renew for you, but you can renew manually — only after the registrar has your money does it renew the domain.
Registrar set client transfer prohibited (clientTransferProhibited) A transfer restriction you set yourself, which you can clear yourself. While in this status the domain cannot be transferred, but can be used, managed, and renewed normally; the registrar can also clear it. For the domain’s safety, registrars normally add this automatically. You can unlock it on the management panel — just click unlock before a transfer. Domains at GoDaddy transfer out freely.
Registrar set client update prohibited (clientUpdateProhibited) Concerns the ownership information of the domain itself. For example, if the registrant is Zhang San with phone 5678, without the agent’s permission you can’t arbitrarily change the phone to 1234. When you modify the information it auto-unlocks, then re-locks, so you can ignore this one — it doesn’t affect Whois information changes.