In some earlier threads, I see that buying from OpenSRS resellers is often considered more reliable insofar because they belong to an umbrella organization, which can assume stewardship of the domains if the reseller goes under.

Have there in fact been any domain resellers go out of or change business (OpenSRS or others)?

I'm sure resellers come and go daily. The way that the OpenSRS management system is good for that reason, but I don't really see any problem with a reseller from any other registrar, since you do control your domain regardless of the reseller. And the registrar is still responsible for all domains registered through a reseller.

-Dan

The problem you could potentially get into if your reseller goes away is easy access to your domain information.

This can occur with OpenSRS resellers as well if they front-end the OpenSRS API with their own user management system and you are not allowed to go directly to the manage interface at opensrs.net. There are resellers who do this.

If your reseller - any reseller - is the only way for your to manage your domains or your DNS information, you are subject to interruption of services, or if you wait too long to renew your domain - the potential expiration of your domain. You need to have a way to manage your domains at the registrar.

I don't know how many registrars have gone under, but I suspect that some of these have as well. If you lose access to your domain because your registrar has gone away, your recourse is then to go back to the registry and get your domain transfered to another registrar. This is definately possible, however if you find out about it in the 11th month, you are at risk of having your domain expire, simply due to the complexity of getting through the red tape before your domain expires.

As a consumer, you have to judge the risk involved.

-t

Originally posted by serve-you
And the registrar is still responsible for all domains registered through a reseller.


So, what registrar is responsible for GoDaddy orNameCheap, or are they their own? If they go belly up, who's deals with the domains registered under them?

I don't know anything about namecheap, but godaddy is an icann accredited registrar.

-Dan

Originally posted by thewitt
The problem you could potentially get into if your reseller goes away is easy access to your domain information.



Thanks for the info thewitt and Dan. While I can think of email providers that have ceased operations like AltaVista and Visto.com, I'm hard-pressed to think of any registrars or resellers who've disappeared.

Originally posted by serve-you

I don't know anything about namecheap, but godaddy is an icann accredited registrar.


So:

1) Does that mean GoDaddy is on par with opensrs or core? In effect, are they their own umbrella organization? I'm trying to visualize them in the hierarchy of domain "activities." Obviously, ICAAN is at the top, then the accredited registrars, and then their resellers.

2) What does "accredited registrar" mean exactly?
3) Is it possible to be an unaccredited registrar and what does that mean?

Not all registries are affiliated with ICANN, so yes it's possible to register a domainwith a non-accredited registrar - but not a .com domain.

The gTLD includes .com, .net and .org domains. It's managed by the Verisign Registry, under the rules and regulations laid down by ICANN.

ICANN accredited registrars pay a large fee to be accredited, and then another large annual fee to be able to buy gTLD domains directly from the registry for $6 a domain year.

Registrars then have the freedom to empower agents, or resellers, to sell for them - assuming that the resellers follow all the rules of the registrar and accordingly the registry. The reseller is an agent for the registrar. The registrar is responsible for the behavior of the reseller, and any domains purchased through the reseller are registered under the name of the registrar - with the registrar then responsible for tracking anything like sponsoring reseller. Some do not bother to track this information at all.

As for GoDaddy being on a par with OpenSRS or NetSol, that depends on what you mean by par. Are they able to purchase domains for $6 a domain year from Verisign? Yes, they are.

NetSol has an advantage over everyone else though. As a division of Verisign, they essentially have to pay themselves $6 a domain year to sell a domain. Now both Verisign and NetSol claim that nothing of the sort happens, but you be the judge...

-t

Originally posted by thewitt
As for GoDaddy being on a par with OpenSRS or NetSol, that depends on what you mean by par.


Thanks for the info thewitt.
By "on par", I was questioning if godaddy, namecheap are of the same reliability as opensrs or netsol? "Reliability" meaning, if they go belly up, are their stewarded domains still accessible and under the control of their owners.

Well, like you said. I can't really think of any registrars that have gone under. So it's kind of hard to speculate what would happen. My guess would be that they would be tossed over to verisign since they are the registry owner for cno's. But this is totally a guess.

-Dan

There have certainly been plenty of resellers who have gone under, but I don't know of any registrars. Not that it hasn't happened, just that I have no knowledge of it.

The problem if a registrar goes under is not straight forward. There have been some that have been shut down, or have merged with others in a clean transfer of assets, but just going away would be a problem.

The Registry does not have any information about the individual domain registrants. This information is maintained at the individual Registrars today. There are apparently discussions underway about escrowing this data at the Registry, but nothing has been done as of yet - at least that's what I'm told by people actively involved in the process.

By the way, you can be ICANN accredited and still be a reseller. It's only one step in the process of selling domains directly from the registry.

-t

Their business plan is so simple.

1-Buy names at $6
2-Sell names at profit
3-Sell advertising or other web services.

Low overhead...no need for much in the way of structure...whole business is virtual. Only negative is cost to start and they have that already out of the way.

Not likely you say? I'll take that bet.

I'll wager that by this time next year, at least one of the currently ICANN accredited registrars has closed their doors or is no longer offering domain names as part of their business plan.

80% of all small business eventually fail. Low overhead, virtual businesses are certainly in the same boat.

Verisign is even losing money every year. Eventually they will run out or figure out how to turn a profit by significantly changing their business model (can you say WLS? $70M a year or more in pure profit).

-t

I'd have to agree with thewitt here. It's bound to happen sooner or later. Especially considering the number of registrars that have popped up in the past year. It may be a very profitable business, but with the competition around, people are being a lot pickier about who they go with.

Take dotregistrar for example... They offer arguably the cheapest registration around if you buy in massive quantities. However, since they have grown incredibly in the past year or so, their service has become aweful. Support is almost non-existant, and their management system is crap. I only use them as an example as I have personal experience with them since late 2000, and watched the downfall happen.

I'm not saying that they will be one to go under, but they lost my business, and I'm sure many others over time. It's not an all profit business, in fact I'd bet many of these registrars are way in the red. It's not a question of if, it;'s a question of when.

-Dan

Originally posted by thewitt
By the way, you can be ICANN accredited and still be a reseller. It's only one step in the process of selling domains directly from the registry.


Thanks, that's what I was wondering: that's what GoDaddy is correct?

Originally posted by serve-you
It may be a very profitable business, but with the competition around, people are being a lot pickier about who they go with.


I'm definitely looking carefully though I just want one or two, so I can imagine those who buy in bulk might be particularly picky...

Originally posted by thewitt
I'll wager that by this time next year, at least one of the currently ICANN accredited registrars has closed their doors or is no longer offering domain names as part of their business plan.

Thus the reason to go with a reseller that's part of a reliable network... any bets on the fatalities/survivors?!:eek:

Thanks, that's what I was wondering: that's what GoDaddy is correct?

godaddy is an ICANN accredited registrar, and not a reseller in terms of domain name registrars.

Okey, dokey. Thanks, it's finally making sense to me:)