What Registrar is best?

[Raider]

I wish to move over 500 domains I have from Enom and others to a new Registrar.

I'm looking for a Registrar that has ZERO interest in the domain Aftermarket, another words; one that wont legally rob me of my domain names. If one were to expire, it would expire at the registry level.

Security against hijackings is also very important, as well as a good Customer support system...Portfolio management is also a must. I'm willing to pay extra for the better service, I learned that you "pay for you what get" in this business.

Stephan from DRT suggested that Rebel.com is a Register worth looking into, do any of you have accounts with them?....Any advice would be appreciated.

RG

[DomainMagnate]

RG, what happened with enom?

I'd recommend you choose either moniker or fabulous

~MG

[petrosc]

why dont you use moniker Eva? Drop them a line telling them that you will transfer 500 names, you will get an account rep who will help you with any support issues. They are slow with support in general, but when you have an account rep everything gets resolved within 24 hours

[Raider]

I like Moniker and do have an account with them, but I dont use it much....Maybe I'm becoming paranoid here, but I no longer want my domains at a Registrar who trades in the Aftermarket, Auctions them off or would grab or profit if my domains were to expire.

Stephan Douglas of DRT, made a comment in a Network Solutions thread, this is what really got me thinking about it.

For those of you who aren't aware, ALL expiring and dropping domains come from Registrars, so whether they use pool, or snap, or GoDaddy or clubdrop, all of it originates from the registrar who gets a piece of the action.

It is in the registrars BEST INTEREST FOR PROFIT MARGIN to get that domain to drop, and I know that some registrars (i won't name them here, i need to keep my consulting jobs LOL) will actually have people MANUALLY review the domains in your expiration log, and pull those domains out to the ERGP position of the "save it by paying $160" way before any other domains that are of lesser value and that are expiring as much as 10 days prior to the ERGP status. In other words, registrars are actively pursuing YOUR domains if you let them slip past their expiration date while trying to decide to renew them or not. They are looking actively for domains that they think they can resell in auction to gain a significant profit from your loss. Their second "profit margin" if you decide to renew, is the $160 ERGP payment, even though the domain hasn't gone more than 32 days.

I had the unfortunate experience while producing the Domain Roundtable Conference of having about 10 valuable domains expire, and my experience with my registrar was that they usually gave me about 5 to 6 weeks to renew... so all I did was follow the last domain in the expiration list by date to make sure I knew which domains I had reviewed and was "thinking" about. Unknown to me, the registrar had pulled the premium domains immediately at the 28 day mark and ran them into ERGP, which put all the domains at the bottom of the list if the list was ordered alphabetically. Since I figured I had already reviewed the domains BEFORE they went into RGP, i never looked at them again because I saw domains with expiration dates a week prior to those domains still available for $7.

Then one day, I tried to renew a domain that had expired, with at least 15 other domains that had expired a week earlier but still were available for $7, but this domain somehow got pushed to the $160 pricing. How could that be? After some back and forth communication with the registrar, they admitted they pulled certain domains after 28 days and left other domains to sit at $7 for six weeks -- and the premium domains were pulled after only four weeks, and priced at $160.

It's all about profits, people. I don't trust any registrar, although I'd like to get to know more about Rebel.com, which professes not to have any interest in you other than you registering your domains.

All the other major registrars are making huge profits from you forgetting to renew, or somehow letting domains slip through, and then sending them off to their own auction houses or contracted auction houses such as Snap or Pool. There's nothing illegal or immoral or unethical about this system. It's just the law of the Domain Industry wild west land rush. This may change in the future, but in the meantime, keep an eye out for your premium domains, set them to autorenew if you have the time to search them out.

Domain management is a serious job for domainers who own more than 2000 domains. heck, its serious for anyone with over 100 domains. For those of you who aren't aware, ALL expiring and dropping domains come from Registrars, so whether they use pool, or snap, or godaddy or clubdrop, all of it originates from the registrar who gets a piece of the action.

[Johnn]

Send Don an email.

Check your pm for the email address.

Thanks,

[StockDoctor]

RG I'd suggest Fabulous. Great support, good pricing, (lower and without hitting you with the cc charge) and if you ever decide to sell a name they have great exposure to the "real" secondary market via GoDaddy etc. They don't "cherry pick" your names like Enom does as mentioned above in your quote. A good parking program, and they don't do front-running on whois checks by their clients like some registrars with connections to the most popular parking progs. Just wish Fab would handle .US names too though.

[Raider]

Thanks Stock....Seems I do have a Fab account and the pricing is pretty good actually, does the pricing below reflect the recent .50 increase?

.COM Wholesale $7.15
.INFO Wholesale $6.95
.NET Wholesale $5.15
.ORG Wholesale $6.95

I dont know why, but I never considered them as a primary registrar...I looked in my account and saw that you can create name server profiles, as opposed to portfolio folders.....I like it

What's the deal with URL forwarding? is this a paid option?

Thanks!.......RG


Johnn,

Don Lyons at Moniker is our rep, he's a great guy.....Thanks for the PM, I appreciate it.

RG, what happened with enom?

I'd recommend you choose either moniker or fabulous

~MG

Long story, I had a pricing issue with my Enom reseller URL Collection...never again.

Thanks for the tip Michael!

RG

[StockDoctor]

does the pricing below reflect the recent .50 increase?

.COM Wholesale $7.15
.INFO Wholesale $6.95
.NET Wholesale $5.15
.ORG Wholesale $6.95

Yes it does include the markup already. Even better, there is no credit card charge. That makes the net cost on .coms over 50 cents a name cheaper than Enom. Pushes are just as easy as Enom, and all the stats of a great parking service on all names. You can point the name servers to any other parking service or whatever as well.

What don't they have? I wish they covered .us and .biz as well. Would like a better rate on their infos.

[Dave Zan]

I'm looking for a Registrar that has ZERO interest in the domain Aftermarket, another words; one that wont legally rob me of my domain names. If one were to expire, it would expire at the registry level.

Stephan from DRT suggested that Rebel.com is a Register worth looking into

Unfortunately you might be...disappointed:

http://www.rebel.com/TermsAndConditions.aspx

Should you choose not to renew your domain name during any applicable grace period, you agree that we may, in our sole discretion, renew and transfer the domain name to a third party on your behalf (the "Transfer"). In the event we are able to identify such a third party ("Third Party") and effectuate such a Transfer, we will notify you via email after the transaction is completed ("Transfer Notification").

At the top of my head, one registrar I know (but haven't used yet) that so
far doesn't appear to try to auction expired domain names is Misk.com. Of
course, that can change anytime as more registrars jump in the bandwagon
and see if the benefits outweigh the costs.

[Raider]

Unfortunately you might be...disappointed:

Should you choose not to renew your domain name during any applicable grace period, you agree that we may, in our sole discretion, renew and transfer the domain name to a third party on your behalf (the "Transfer"). In the event we are able to identify such a third party ("Third Party") and effectuate such a Transfer, we will notify you via email after the transaction is completed ("Transfer Notification").

Wow, thanks for taking the time to finding this Dave, I went to Fabulous TOS and cant find anything like this....

Contacted Fabulous three times today and received a response within 15-30 minutes each time.....I'm liking what I see so far

[Rebel.com]

Hi everyone

I just want to let you all know that while that text does exist in our TOS we DO NOT take any expiring domains for resale. We respect the lifecycle of a domain and delete any expiring domain that is not renewed. We are part of a parent corporation that runs multiple registrars and our current TOS are the standard TOS used by all of the registrars. We do not take customer domains for resale in the aftermarket and I will look into getting the TOS updated.

If you have any questions about our company you can reach me at jason@rebel.com or at 613 768-5153 I am the Manager of Business Development and a new member here

[Dale Hubbard]

Moniker.

[KING dot NET]

Moniker.

What's the pricing for Moniker?

[Dale Hubbard]

BonusNames.com is reasonable.

[keyser]

the top of my head, one registrar I know (but haven't used yet) that so far doesn't appear to try to auction expired domain names is Misk.com. Of course, that can change anytime as more registrars jump in the bandwagon and see if the benefits outweigh the costs.

gandi.net is nice too (french registrar with good rep, english interface)
problem : not what I call cheap

[denny007]

Nameking.com but its difficult to get an account there

[peekaboo]

another vote for fabulous.

great prices (7.15 for .com) & great support (without fail emails answered within an hour or two, and answered in qualitative manner, unlike the clueless, unpersonal, canned respones you get from those other "buying time" supports).

also, expired names actually treated as they are supposed to, so you get plenty of chances to renew. and nice web interface with many different options.

so unless they change and become shitty like sedo, enom or moniker (which usually happens when all principals sell out) ... with my mouth and my money i will always stick out for and with fabulous.

only wish they would do .co.uk so that i can forever move away from that crap place called enom.

[Dave Zan]

Hi everyone

I just want to let you all know that while that text does exist in our TOS we DO NOT take any expiring domains for resale. We respect the lifecycle of a domain and delete any expiring domain that is not renewed. We are part of a parent corporation that runs multiple registrars and our current TOS are the standard TOS used by all of the registrars. We do not take customer domains for resale in the aftermarket and I will look into getting the TOS updated.

If you have any questions about our company you can reach me at jason@rebel.com or at 613 768-5153 I am the Manager of Business Development and a new member here

Thanks for clarifying that, Jason. Welcome aboard.

[PRED]

I would say Moniker every time, but actually imo the reps are their worst asset at minute. Certainly on forum level.
Monte is always around though.
Don last logged in a month ago here, i pmed him a couple of times, nothing.
I emailed Chris twice, my rep, about auction....zilch.
The're letting team down imo, and i'm a diehard Moniker man.
I just hope Monte or Glenda never leave as i have too many to think about transferring out, and they are their best assets

[KING dot NET]

what is your pricing rate?