I don't understand the user accounts here

[Domstar]

When I signed up, it said "free gold" account. But then after I "registered" it said "free for 5 days." I don't consider that very professional.

I also, at the bottom of the pages, see those logged in, and they have many different levels (based on the colors, if I am not mistaken). But if I click on "upgrade" I'm presented with 2 options. Neither free, neither explained before I "registered." And really neither that attractive to someone like myself that comes to buy once in awhile.

There are no less than 4 other similiar forums on the net that I can search for domains to buy, all free. I see some of the same names here as I do there, so I don't see what benefit someone like myself gets for paying $50 to "join" this site. (especially since I mostly buy domains.) But in another 3 or 4 days, I'm going to be giving the boot here... Maybe that's the point.

[Honan]

Fair enough and welcome to the dnf, from me, a user who buys and sells here.
One nice thing about this forum is that they tolerate criticism here , unlike another well known forum
Are you sure you have your facts right though?
It appears that maybe you signed up as a free bronze member, and got a trial 5 day gold membership thrown in
See http://dnforum.com/register_chart.php
IMHO the platinum fee is well worth it, if only for the extra protection that you get by dealing only with people who have paid a fee
Whatever you decide be careful because it is very easy to get scammed in the free forums
There are many names sold here quickly that are not on other forums
The sellers often edit their posts so that you will not be able to see the great deals that took place
Hope you decide to stay!
Good luck with your buying

[Domstar]

Thanks for the url for the chart. Yes, that's what I was looking for. But when I login, and click on "upgrade" I'm only presented with the $50 and $400 options. There appears to be no way for me to go from a "bronze (free gold for 5 days) " account to silver or regular gold account. Of course the $6 or $15 is a none issue, it's just there is no way to do it.

Second, I see now that "bronze" has no private msgs allowd and that I can only use this system as "free gold for 5 days" and that I'm allowed 100 PM. but as soon as those 5 days are gone, so will be all those PM, I suspect.

[Honan]

The system thinks you are already gold so only offers platinum or more at the moment
Just wait until the 5 days are up and then you can go silver or gold
Or log out and come back as a different new user
Yep, I reckon you are right re PM box
You can fill it up, without deleting any, up to 100 msgs, while you are gold.
As soon as the gold goes, and you are bronze , then you won't be able to get to your PM box.
Dunno if the PMs would still be there if you went from free trial gold to free bronze to paid silver , gold or platinum
Probably not, You could ask a mod in a PM to find out
Surely da boss would know
Once again, hope you stay and have fun as well as make some good buys

[GiantDomains]

Anyweb is correct. Your free gold will expire in 4 days, then you can upgrade to silver , gold, and up. I don't see why giving you 5 free days as gold is "unprofessional". Nobody is forcing you to pay anything. Welcome to dnf!

[Domstar]

Anyweb is correct. Your free gold will expire in 4 days, then you can upgrade to silver , gold, and up. I don't see why giving you 5 free days as gold is "unprofessional". Nobody is forcing you to pay anything. Welcome to dnf!

Anytime you offer a service, product, advertisment, etc that has strings attached and do not disclose those strings before the acceptance, that's unprofessional in my world.

You will note: my complaint was not about payment. My complaint was about not disclosing the information, and there is no way to "upgrade" to a silver or gold account. When a person clicks on member ship upgrade, they are shown only two options, $50 and $400. If it had not been for me noting the different colors for members, and another member giving me the url to the chart, I would have not know that I could "upgrade" for the lower prices of $6 or $15. By withholding that information, that is deceptive in my book, and thus also unprofessional.

[GiantDomains]

The registration page seems to be bypassing the chart. Hmm, that's funny, I just saw the chart yersterday. Thanks for pointing that out.

[GiantDomains]

fixed.

[Domstar]

Can you also make it possible to "upgrade" to silver or gold accounts? Otherwise I'm afraid that in a day or two, my "free" gold will expire, i'll drop back to bronze and then lose my PM. ..

really, why not just state everyone at bronze anyway?

[GiantDomains]

yes, i will fix it so trial members can upgrade to any level during trial period. thanks

[GiantDomains]

done.

[Domstar]

and done.

[diederik]

Welcome as a full gold member

[GiantDomains]

Yes, welcome as Gold Lifetime, and thanks for your patience/help.

[labrocca]

Yes, welcome as Gold Lifetime, and thanks for your patience/help.

Actually I am confused too. I guess I had a 5 day trial as well and thought to just go for the bronze at $6. Now I lost my trial membership and I have LESS priviledges.

Not sure what is fair but if I had known then I would have stayed as a trial for at least 4 days. I paid within an hour of visiting the site.

[GiantDomains]

You mean silver, not bronze. I will look into getting a message on the signup page, and getting your 5 days as gold.

[labrocca]

Neato but not that big a deal...I figure some light posting and responses and I can be Gold soon anyways...I just wanted to point out that its not totally clear about how the Membeship works. Maybe a javascript popup about the Trial would be cool. I had no idea I had a trial membership. But you know how it is when you sign up for these things...just quick fill-ins for the forms and just ok the conditions...no one really reads anymore. Not that I wont glance :-0

[hotdog_pk]

There are no less than 4 other similiar forums on the net that I can search for domains to buy, all free

Most of the members of those forums are members of this site.
The price filters out people who are not serious about buying and selling domains.

I was also skeptical about 5 days ago when i ignored the bronze plan and went straight in for the gold. at this point i had heard a lot about this forum and i only had to look at the site to know it was a winner.

at this point my only mistake is taking the gold plan... i want platinum plan but that means that i have just wasted my money on the gold plan. the higher the plan, the better in the longrun.

also, unlike other forums, it encourages people to respond to your threads with this addiction dn$ system. People respond to your threads within minutes. amazing.

[Honan]

How much is the upgrade from Gold to Platinum?

[hotdog_pk]

the same as free to platinum... $35.