My experience with registrars

[FineE]

I started registering domains over 2 years ago so I have had dealings with a few registrars.

1) Network Solutions (now Verisign)

I only registered one name with them a .net for $70 for two years. I basically had no problems with them, other than their change forms are well a real waste of time. I mean going down an email to put a "y" in a certain place in order to make a change really! I have heard many "horror stories" transfering names out of Verisign but I had no problems when I transfered my domain to GKG.net.

2) Register.com. This was my primary registrar two years ago. They charged the same price as network solutions but provided much better service. I left them because of price I mean $35/name at the time was just to much. My experience very good service and expensive. By the way this was my experience 2 years ago when thier stock was trading over $100 a share. It has subsequently dropped to well under $10 so this might have impacted thier service. No problems with transfer out.

3) EasyHosting.com (a TUCOWS reseller). They were very affordable at the time about $15 Canadian a registration (they have now raised prices), but with some iffy service. EasyHosting did the billing and they would send expiriy notices in error. For example registering a domain in June for a year and getting a notice in July saying the domain will expire in 30 days. You would call them and they would fix it so I can't really complain. No problems with transfer out. This is my second choice after GKG.net.

4) GKG.net. I have dealt with them for over a year and had nothing but excellent customer service combined with very good pricing under $10 (more on this later). They have been in business since 1993, but chances are you may have not heard of them, because they do very little if any advertising. So I have all my .com, .net and .org domains with them and I am also a reseller of thier domain registrations on my site www.FineE.com (I charge $8.75 for a domain registration). I realize this may not entirely objective since I am both a satisfied customer and a reseller, but all I can say is that I spent a lot of time researching them and I have been very pleased with them.
This is my first choice for .com, .net and .org.

I have dealt with some other registrars and generally have not had any problems. I would note GANDI and BulkRegister here.

One final comment on domain registrars. I did a search for domain registration keyword on overture www.overture.com. When you pay say $2.00 - $3.00 a click to get some one to visit a domain registration website you may have to charge $35 a registration or you are not going to be able to provide good customer service at say $10. Something has to give here. The price has to go up, the service has to drop, or the expensive $2.00 - $3.00 clicks have to stop.

Francisco Cabañas
www.FineE.com

 

[DNForum]

Thanks for that

I never really got a domain from those older registrars who charged $35 a year (netsol, register.com), and I've used a couple registrars:

• 000domains.com
• RegisterFly.com
• GKG.net
• GoDaddy.com
• RegisterClub.com

000domains.com is the place to go for support; basically you email them and you'll get a detailed reply within like 45 min. I love RegisterClub because it accepts paypal, but has no support at all . RegisterFly is another good one I love, specially if you plan on sellign a domain, instant, free domain transfers from one account to another.

 

[FineE]

Thanks Dan,

I am curious as to your experience with Godaddy especially how is thier technical support? Godaddy spends a lot on advertising and has prices under $9 (Thier latest overture.com keyword price is $2.58) so I wonder if there is anything left there for technical support.

One thing about domain registration is that for .com, .net and .org the registry (verisign) allways gets $6 a domain. The balance is split between the the registrar and the reseller. So as far as I can see it there is a choice if you sell under $9. Virtually eliminate your advertising expenses, my choice, or cut back on customer support.

By the way GKG changed last year to allow free instant online change of registrant (domain transfer from one account to another).

The domain registration business is starting to actually get competitive.

Francisco Cabañas
www.FineE.com

 

[DNForum]

Yea, good point, GoDaddy sells names as cheap as they do, and it seems liek they do advertise a lot. I never really had experience with thier support, actually. I just had a domain reg'ed there for about 2 months then I transfered it to someone else when I sold it. And I don't even really remember how good thier service was, but good enough I guess.

The domain registration business is starting to actually get competitive.

^^^ Agrees with that, heh. So many registrars coming up for prices around $10.

 

Following up on the overture point ...

The top place for the search "premium domain names" is currently going for $6.25 on google adwords. Which means that namescout is paying about 5 bucks per click for .us domain names that it will sell for $9.99.

I can only assume that they're hoping to capture the bulk registrations market. That certainly can't be a sustainable burn rate.

 

[uncle]

I just had a domain reg'ed there for about 2 months then I transfered it to someone else when I sold it. And I don't even really remember how good thier service was, but good enough I guess.

well, you have to get the transfer agreement notarized and send it to godaddy via regular mail (they say they don't accept faxes) plus pay $19.95 for the transfer instead of just moving it to a different account (like with stargate, registerfly, 000domains and others).

the process that takes a lot of time, effort and money with godaddy, takes 30 seconds with other registrars and is free.

they couldn't make it up to me with the highest level of service

btw, hello everybody

 

[DNForum]

Hey uncle,

This is what actually happened. After doing some research back in eudora, I now remember I registered the domain with godaddy, then I transfered the domain over to www.bottomdollardomains.com, then hande dit over to the tooling200 company so that I wouldn't have to pay the $50 ownership transfer fee. It did take some time I remember, before I actually got the domain over to tooling2000, but I do remember now I didn't want to cough up the $50 and that's what I did. Hehe

 

[uncle]

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying, you were able to transfer the domain away from godaddy without the paperwork and the transfer fee?

 

[DNForum]

Yea, I transferred out of GoDaddy when I knew I was gogin to sell it, then with the new registrar I transfered ownership. It took a week or two to get done (with the 60-day no transfer rule) but probably worth it.

 

Regarding other registrars - I like BulkRegister the best. Though they have a membership fee - the system is easy to use and to manage my domains. And I have always had a good response time from their support team. If you are managing a number of domains - I highly recommend them.

 

Originally posted by Dan
Yea, I transferred out of GoDaddy when I knew I was gogin to sell it, then with the new registrar I transfered ownership. It took a week or two to get done (with the 60-day no transfer rule) but probably worth it.

Dan, that's the same reason I transfer my domains with GoDaddy to Stargate, when they are about to expire - or if someone wants to buy them while they are with GD.

I was told I had to pay (and paid) $49.95 + paperword when I sold a domain while with GD.

 

[FineE]

It is allways important to look at the whole picture.

The idea of transfering to another registrar to get around high change of ownership fees can work for a while until the loosing registrar figures out what is is going on. If they want to charge a $45 + paperwork fee to change the ownership of a domain then they will find a way to change thier registration agreement to plug that loophole.

My take on GODaddy is that they have a low domain price combined with a high marketing budget. So I suspect they are looking at high domain transfer fees and pay per call telephone support , among other things, to make up for their marketing expenses.

The more I read this thread the more I like my current registrar GKG.net. You can change the domain ownership instantly online and at no cost.

Having said that I must also point out that I am also a reseller ($8.75 for .com, .net and .org registrations) for GKG.net at www.FineE.com

Francisco Cabanas
www.FineE.com

 

Actually, you can change registrars every 60 days if you like, with no fees involved, other than what the new registrar charges for 1 year. The difference, is that GoDaddy wants to charge $50 for change of OWNERSHIP. Not even Network Solutions charges for that!

With Stargate, if you register/transfer 2 or more domains at a time, you pay $8 or $8.75 per single registrations. Moving the domain to another owner is instant online, just create a new username and password and move it to them, just like Enom does.

 

Originally posted by timechange
Actually, you can change registrars every 60 days if you like, with no fees involved, other than what the new registrar charges for 1 year. [clip]

Not universally true.

There are registrars who charge transfer fees to transfer away from them. There are also registrars who charge transfer attempts to transfer domains to them, whether they are successful in making the transfer or not.

It always pays to research your registrar of choice thoroughly to see if they are hiding anything.

-t

 

Originally posted by thewitt

Not universally true.

There are registrars who charge transfer fees to transfer away from them. There are also registrars who charge transfer attempts to transfer domains to them, whether they are successful in making the transfer or not.

It always pays to research your registrar of choice thoroughly to see if they are hiding anything.

-t

Well to put it this way, there are guidelines that ICANN - accredited registrars should stick to. The ones you mentioned are extremes. Can you please identify them (so that we avoid them )

 

I'm sorry, I work very hard not to mention registrar names directly, as it always sounds like sour grapes coming from someone who also sells domain names. After all, I am in direct competition with these companies. Their business practices are their own business - I only warn people to look hard at whomever they choose so they are not surprised when they are hit by fees they did not expect, or are required to send in supporting documents by mail, or waiting weeks for support or a change in DNS servers, etc.

A little forum searching on forums like WHT and SitePoint will probably find all the hidden items that you cannot find in a registrars TOS document.

As for ICANN guidelines for registrars, there are very few, and virtually none that account for business practices. There is nothing illegal or against ICANN policy in charging for any services - whether they are editing domain data or transfering in or out.

Even if there were, ICANN is totally ineffective at enforcing any violations today anyway. In many ways they are worse than worthless, as they choose not to get involved when they should, and there is no other controlling body to go to. All we an do is to complain to the FTC or the DOC - or write to congress and hope that the upcoming hearings will uncover something that sparks a change in ICANN practices.

-t

 

Thanks thewitt. I understand, that's why I mentioned the ones I have personal experience with.

 

I appreciate all your comments on various registrars.

I would like to offer my two cents worth regarding the POOR service at VeriSign (formerly Network Solutions). I have had nothing but problems with them from the start several years ago. And time has NOT improved things. Today, they are worse than ever providing some of the poorest customer service than about anyone.

You mentioned their criptic forms for making changes... and I would totally agree. I have tried making changes in my contact email address and find myself in a sort of endless loop of answering their automated emails with no success.

So, I have been attempting to transfer domains from their data base to other more responsive registrars. In most cases, things have gone pretty well... until I come across a domain name that was registered on my behalf by Interland.com. VeriSign and Interland seem to be in collusion with one another making it nearly impossible to administer the domain or to transfer it to another registrar.

When the domain was originally registered over two years ago, my contact information was listed as Administrative contact and I did have some administrative control. At some point, Interland changed the Admin contact to their own and now I can't get anything done unless Interland responds to VeriSign's automated emails.... and that doesn't happen.

VeriSign says the problem is with Interland and refers me to them. Interland says the problem is with VeriSign and refers me back to them. Again... an endless loop of no-one taking responsibility for their ineptness and tying my domains up in their systems.

I have about explored every option I can think of, short of a lawsuit. I've even considered abandoning the domain name and simply replace it with another, but it has been included in so many search engines, etc., it does not benefit me changing it.

I certainly CANNOT recommend VeriSign as a registrar or Interland.net as a web host. In fact, I'd suggest running from them as fast as you can... and hope you keep your shirt on your back.