10 things to know when you register a domain name
I saw this the other day, and decided to comment on it.
The article starts…
A domain name insider blows the lid off the hidden “gotchas” domain registrars use on your domains, your traffic and your money for their benefit.
Okay, I’m all for getting the inside scoop on the registrars.
The basic tricks
These are basic things you have to specifically look for when choosing a registrar. They won’t tell you and will make it difficult to discover. The first is,
“transfer-out” fees
Deep in the fine print of a registrars’ “Terms of Service” there is a hidden fee authorizing them to charge your credit/debtit card/paypal account a “transfer-out” fee when moving your domain to another registrar. Often, this fee is 2 or 3 times the cost of the original registration.
This practice violates ICANN policy for domain transfers. Many times, if this happens, a simple call to your credit card company will reverse the charge, if you notice. Registrars who do this play the numbers game because many will not.
I love this sleazy tactic. Make the customer work to get back what should never have been taken in the first place. In my opinion, any registrar who does this needs to be avoided at all costs. The registrars I’ve used, namecheap.com, GoDaddy.com, and domaindirect.com don’t do this. This is by no means an endorsement of any of them, it just means they don’t do the above.
the fine print from hell
Almost no one (read: nobody) reads the long, odious, convoluted Terms of Service for anything they buy online. Knowing this, some registrars bury truly chilling things in these agreements like the aforementioned “transfer-out” fees or, in one mind-boggling case “power-of-attorney”.
It seems all registrars are guilty of this to one degree or another. Otherwise, why in the world would they make these things so ridiculously hard to read. They don’t layout their websites the way they do these online agreements, so you know they are trying to cheat you in some way or hide something.
“Pay-as-you-go”:
Multi-year domain purchases are like making a multi-year interest-free loan to the registrar. It works as follows: Let’s say you buy a domain with the registrar for 5 years (perhaps to get a discounted rate). You do this thinking your domain name is registered for 5 years. Think again. Some registrars only pay the registry fee 1 year at a time and pocket the rest of your money.
As the domain comes up for renewal, they simply renew it for one year at a time. Usually, this is combined with a strict “no refund” policy. What does this mean? They actually make more money from your original registration if you stop being a customer before the full 5 years. In this case, poor service actually adds to their bottom line.
Use any free whois lookup tool to verify the real expiration date for your domain. The expiration date should match the number of years you paid for.
This is really despicable. Who would risk doing this? It sounds like something the MAFIA would do. If I find a registrar using this tactic, I am going to write about it.
Just to be sure, I checked all my domains with WHOIS to see if any of my registrars were doing this. None were and they are namecheap.com, domaindirect.com, and GoDaddy.com. Once again, I am not saying use any of them, they just aren’t trying to short you on the length of your registration.
Whois database scams
whois edit fees and locks
Each time you register a domain name, the details that registration are published in a publicly accessible database, which is called WHOIS. One function a registrar provides is the ability to change your WHOIS records.
Some registrars (especially bargain basement outfits) register your domain for a dirt-cheap price, then hit you with an “administration fee” to edit your WHOIS record. Others may “lockdown” your domain for 60 days each time you edit your record. Thus, you are prevented from moving the name to another registrar.
This is a shady tactic. Who could afford the bad reputation this is going to create in the webmaster community? Well, my registrars seem to pass this test. I have had no problems changing or updating the WHOIS record and no problems with domain transfers.
whois privacy services
Since your domain record is available to everyone, some registrars try to upsell you to “privacy services” or a “private registration.” They replace your info in the whois record with their info. The important thing to know is in the eyes of the domain Registry, for which all Registrars interact, and the Registry’s oversight body (like ICANN, or in Canada, CIRA), whoever is listed in the WHOIS record as the domain Registrant is legal owner of the domain name.
Keep in mind, when you use a service like this. They own the domain, not you, notwithstanding whatever contract or Terms of Service you enter with them to “own” this name on your behalf. If it lands in a dispute proceeding, it will be an open and shut case: they own the name.Going one step further, some “privacy” services get you to sign up for the whois privacy service and then they offer to sell your true data to anybody else who cares to pay for it.
I can’t speak to the legitimacy of the above, with my registrars. It just seems like the large registrars would be in for a world of hurt if they pulled a stunt like this on a domain owner. For me, domaindirect.com doesn’t offer privacy services. GoDaddy.com is outrageously expensive (it costs as much as registering the domain). Now, namecheap.com is better, but to me, this service should be free.
mining whois and domain slamming
Because WHOIS data is there for the taking, spammers and marketers “mine” the registrant database and harvest data including addresses, fax numbers, and email addresses. It’s a real problem, and there are very slow moving reform processes creeping through ICANN as well as CIRA in Canada.
Meanwhile, people may wonder why shortly after they register a domain, they start getting all kinds of marketing spam in their mailbox. This is because their email is harvested by robots from WHOIS. There is a free service to protect your email address called MyPrivacy.ca.
A variation on this is registrars who mine the whois database for registrant information, then mail what look like renewal invoices for the domain names or variations of them.Unsuspecting recipients think they are receiving a renewal invoice and send payment, initiating a domain transfer without realizing it. Surprise, you’ve been slammed. Worst case, your website and email comes crashing down as your DNS services terminate with your old provider.
Domain lock-in
the registrar-lock
Historically, “domain slamming” (see above) and unauthorized domain transfers are real problems.,The “registrar-lock” was created to protect domains from this. If the registrar lock is set, nobody can transfer a domain without a special code.
Actually, this is a good thing and best practices recommend having this set for all your domains. Sharper registrars enable it by default on registration or transfer. Alas, the transfer lock can become a real problem in a couple of cases. One is if it is turned on and the registrar will not turn it off. The other is when you don’t have the ability to turn it on or off yourself.
Okay, all my registrars pass this test. Transfer lock services are solid.
the domain auth-code
Some of Top-Level-Domains (TLDs) use a protocol called “EPP” to further protect against unauthorized transfers. A domain requires an 8-character auth-code to transfer. Current examples are .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG. The existing or “losing” registrar holds this code. You need it to move your domain. Hopefully, they give it to you.
Once again, no complaints here.
Traffic monetization scams
domain parking
Did you know domain parking is big business. When you click a link somewhere or make a typo on a web address and wind up on some crapola “search page” sometimes with a million pop-up ads? That is called a parked domain and the larger players literally park thousands of domains making literally millions of dollars “monetizing” them using domain parking. Who has access to thousands of domains? Domain registrars.
Some registrars offer domain registrations at rock bottom prices just to monetize the parked names. This may not bother you, but some people are paying for something their registrar uses to generate more revenue for themselves.
(Update: since the time of writing, one registrar rolled out a “Make money from your domains’ parked pages” campaign, which surprised me since I knew them were one of the biggest parked page outfits around. They make millions per month with their customers’ parked domains. Then, I read the details. Each package started at 3.99/month. So, they are actually charging each customer for domain parking. What audacity! If you actually have a domain that’s worth something parked, use a parking service. They pay you, instead of the other way around, to park your pages.).
“free” URL Forwarding
Some may wonder why prices vary so much for domain registrations. You may wonder what the difference is between a registrar offering everything but the kicthen sink for $2.99/year while others charge 10 times that for basic DNS and URL forwarding.
Well, cheaper registrars may use other tricks to make money. They may add your domain to their parked pool (see above) or offer “free” URL forwarding. With forwarding, the low-cost registrar sells pop-up or pop-under advertisements on your domain. You know, those ads people like so much.
I’ve run into this problem often with my registrars. But, never anything as bad as pop-up/under advertising. Usually, it has never bothered me because at least it showed something until my hosting was setup.
Conclusion
There are many gotcha’s in the arcane and strange world of domain name registration. There is no free lunch. The cheapest domain registrar may cost you the most in the long run. If you are going to register a domain name start with the big guys first. Once you get an idea of what works best for you, then branch out to other registrars.
I STRONGLY RECOMMEND you use lots of different registrars. It doesn’t matter how good one may be today. You never want to have all your eggs in one basket.
Popularity: 100% [?]
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!Related posts:
- Domain Front-running If you are searching for a good domain name, be...
- Dying Domain Name Game The Good Old Days. When I first started working on...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Godaddy Discount Code ZINE3: Finally, ZINE3 is probably the best overall. If you’re purchasing one or many .COM domains it is undeniably the best deal for domain registration. This is particularly true if you’re buying exclusively .COM
One of the worst things about domain name registration is the thieves. There is a pack of horrifyingly evil companies that will offer you a domain name lookup function, but by the time the search comes back, they have bought any related domain name that is not already registered. They will then try to sell them to you for four times the amount they got them. However, for you who thought you saw a problem with this, I have some info. Big name domain name registrars can obtain domain names and then if you don’t buy the it from them (for four times it’s value) they can release it and get ALL THEIR MONEY BACK!!! This makes it a no risk “investment”. I am so sick of these guys that I have written to anyone that has given them awards or commendations to ask that they reconsider.
Now, the part you’ve all been waiting for, what names should I be avoiding to solve this problem? The answer is:
Network Solutions & possibly go-daddy.com
Please avoid those two companies at all costs.
Nivek
Nice post. Some informative points people should consider when shopping for domain names.
In regards to Nivek’s comment, “Big Horrifyingly Evil Companies” that “buy domains” and try to sell them back isn’t 100% accurate. The big boys are trying to protect again Domain Name Front Running (here is a nice post: http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/10/domain-name-front-running/). The Registrars hold the domain name for up to 4 days without penalty. After 4 days they release the name to the general pool.
There are positives and negatives to this practice. If you do a search on say Network Solutions’ website they may hold it. You can then come back in and purchase it for normal rates (they are not inflated). This prevents anyone else from sniffing out your search (explained in the above link)p purchasing the domain and THEN charging you 4X the price. This protects the searcher of the domain name.
The negative is that you have to either purchase it from the registrar that you did the search on OR contact them (usually by phone) to get the domain name released. This will allow you to then purchase it from any ICANN Registrar that you desire.
It’s all explained here: http://about-networksolutions.com/customer-protection-measure.php
[...] addition to this “service” for webmasters, Snap.com has a web browser plug-in. So, if you don’t use the service on your website, users [...]
Very good advice. I’m just in the process of getting my first domaine name. Now I do so with more confidence. Thanks.
I recently was bitten myself by Hostway. Register a name with them, cancel your account and you lose all control of your domain name. What’s up with that?
These are great tips and good things to keep in mind. It would’ve been better if the person writing it would have proof-read it, though.
Great collection of hints and tips! This info will prove really useful when registering domain names in the future! Thanks for sharing!
Very interesting page, i Stumbled here and will give you a thumbs up so others can read about the intricacies of URL management.
I would like to tell you that at the advice of a friend who does IT/Tech support at Deloitte (formerly Deloitte & Touche) he recommended dyndns.org, which have been exceptional at hosting my domain; whenever comcast changes my IP they automatically correct it so my domain still connects to my website. They charge about $35/year and i have no intention of other switching away from them. They seem truly professional, especially with their near-instant tech support for any questions that come up.