I just got a call from Earthlink web hosting regarding a new domain I just registered, seeing if I wanted to host with them. Obviously I run my own hosting company and did not care to do this. I also get snail mail letters all the time regarding transfering my domain(s) to Verisign. This kind of business practice seems to me like it's going to start squeezing us small guys out of business, or at least making it a lot harder. Any comments?

Haa haa. Well, if they ever approach you again, see if they can make an offer for your company which you cannot refuse. Say $25 million ?? ;)

Ohh wait to you get one from verisign that LOOKS just like a invoiced bill for an amount, then one little sentence says "This is not an invoice" really small, but to the average joe, this looks like they owe Verisign something..

the scum of the earth is lurking over at vs hq...

if they cant keep the customer, they pretend you are their customer..

Send an email to all your users and make sure they are aware of this. Some bulk domains reseller (exp: OpenSRS) also offering "domain locking" feature as well which will help in minimize this type of problem.



Chan

I get those from Register.com ALL the time.

It looks just like a domain renewal bill, to someone who was at ALL distracted they'd just slide a check in the envelope or write in their CC info and they would transfer their domain and never know the difference.

It pisses me off so bad that they do this. Imagine if someone sent that same tactic to register.com customers, you'd be under a pile of lawyers before you could say "register.com sucks"

Verisign has called me on a few occasions when I registered new domains, and they were VERY interested in it. They asked what my plans were for the site, how much I planned on paying for hosting, etc... I was like "Listen, I am a web host, I am perfectly capable of hosting this myself". Yet they continued to go on about their services... blah

Yep, the guy from Earthlink wouldn't take no for an answer even after hearing I'm a web host. Kept asking if I wanted him to send me information through the mail.