This might sound like a silly question. I am just concern. I currently have about 20 domains service through 1and1.com If the service goes out of business can I lose the ownership of the domains? Who really owns the domains? Is there one company that owns them all? Thanks for your help!

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=438274

This pretty much sums up your question.

The person who rents a domain is the one listed in the WHOIS--as long as you're listed, you are safe.

Since domains are rented, you are right in thinking that someone else owns your domain. .com/.net and some other extensions are controlled by Verisign, which is regulated by ICANN. They technically own your domains, though ICANN makes sure they don't do anything bad with them.

Not one company owns all domains, since while Verisign controls some TLDs, other companies control the rest. ICANN helps make this all work.

Make sense?

To be a little more specific to what DanX said, you "own" those
domains as long as you're the listed registrant. But yes, we're
only actually renting them.

I'd worry a little longer than that. I'm new here, and so this might have been covered to death: but Firevision customers, when they went bankrupt, or something, got all their domains handed to SiteWizard, another TUCOWS reseller. You can see the results at the webpage redirected from firevision.net - sorry I can't post the new URL, I'm new and the board won't let me :)

I wasn't contacted by SiteWizard even though full contact details were in Firevision's database (I checked recently), and my email address is *still* in the whois record. The result: SiteWizard locking my domains, replacing all whois contact addresses with their own, tripling my yearly fee, or asking for the equivalent 3x Firevision's fees to transfer away. Tucows don't seem concerned and just send canned replies.

After some struggle I've received at least an email promise that they'll waive the transfer fee and list me as Admin, unlocking domains for free - we'll see if SiteWizard at least live up to that. Others don't seem to have been as lucky.

So, if it's a reseller, the accredited registrar might just hand over your domains to another reseller, allow them to be locked and an exorbitant transfer out fee imposed, it seems. I'll be looking for a reseller not affiliated with TUCOWS for transfer for this reason. Enom a better bet?

Name Cheap (http://www.namecheap.com) is an enom reseller and have good pricing. You can try using coupon code SAVE7993 to get a discount. I've had no problems with Name Cheap at all. :)

I also use Name Cheap and find it fantstatic! It is cheap and works out your problems fast, great support team!

Originally posted by Techno05
I also use Name Cheap and find it fantstatic! It is cheap and works out your problems fast, great support team!

Namecheap sucks really large monkeyballs, go with a real registrar not a couple guys working out of their homes.


okie

Originally posted by okieboy
Namecheap sucks really large monkeyballs, go with a real registrar not a couple guys working out of their homes.Hmmm... it seems okie's prescription ran out. He's back to trash talk NameCheap again.

Every few months, okie comes back until they can get him back on his meds. :scatter:

I'm new here but I gather okieboy comes with a reputation. Okieboy, would you like to suggest a registrar with equivalent or similar pricing you prefer and why, if you're serious? I'm shopping. Not that I'm crossing Namecheap off based on thrown insults, just looking for a big shortlist. And your verdict contained too much technical language and reasoned argument for me to understand :) Please no trashing: positive comments about others, if you're actually interested in helping out.

I know that you stated that you weren't really interested in setting up a reseller account, but that is what I'm going to recommend anyway. I would go with either enom or directi, since they are both relatively easy to use and give you control over all variables in the control panels. Yes, enom requires hefty deposits (not fees, but deposits from which domains are registered) to get the lowest rates. Directi requires a small deposit (less than 100.00) and gives you a 6.99 reseller account right off the bat. I have had an account with them since 2002 and have been extremely satisfied. Okay, one caveat: you have to fax them some paperwork to get set up (cost for me: less than 3.00). The primary reason, however, that I would recommend directi.com is that you will not be "under" anyone else like you would be if you buy a reseller account from another enom reseller (who then has control over your pricing and can access your account at will) or from any of the resellers using other systems. An example of the latter problem would be difficulties getting nameservers changed or with their pricing going up, when using an opensrs/Tucows reseller.

Anyway, I'm not going to tell you that this company is "perfect." No company is. They are based in India and the customer support can sometimes be a bit confusing (although they always respond quickly and DO get the minor problems I've had resolved relatively quickly).

Best wishes.

The person who rents a domain is the one listed in the WHOIS--as long as you're listed, you are safe.

What about Whois Guard (Name Cheap)/Private Registration (GoDaddy) type of cases, where your name is not listed there...

Originally posted by dcabbar
What about Whois Guard (Name Cheap)/Private Registration (GoDaddy) type of cases, where your name is not listed there...

Registrars keep records of the registrant and contacts internally.
The WHOIS privacy is "just for show".

One registrar, though, goofed up on this one and got sued for it.
I don't know the outcome, though.

desiredname: thanks for your thoughts. I guess I'm just reluctant because there are imaginable cases, I guess, where you could lose that deposit, so I'm unsure it's worth the trouble for a handful of domains. Definitely not with enom, I saw how big the deposits were :) With Directi, well, they're offering USD 12.99 and transfers/renewal is USD 8.49 (to me anyway) as a reseller, which are significantly more than other resellers themselves are offering. And it's as true surely, that under a directly accredited registrar, they'd have the same ability to change rates, and access my account at will. I guess you're saying they need to be a bit more accountable, being accredited.

Certainly, I can more than identify with your statement about being with a Tucows reseller! That's why I come to be here - the demise of Firevision and the scandal of what Tucows did in passing their customers over to SiteWizard, who locked domains, jacked up prices by a factor of 3 and imposed an equivalent transfer-out fee. So your advice is appreciated and I certainly want stability...

Originally posted by gneeki
desiredname: thanks for your thoughts. I guess I'm just reluctant because there are imaginable cases, I guess, where you could lose that deposit, so I'm unsure it's worth the trouble for a handful of domains. Definitely not with enom, I saw how big the deposits were :) With Directi, well, they're offering USD 12.99 and transfers/renewal is USD 8.49 (to me anyway) as a reseller, which are significantly more than other resellers themselves are offering. And it's as true surely, that under a directly accredited registrar, they'd have the same ability to change rates, and access my account at will. I guess you're saying they need to be a bit more accountable, being accredited.

Certainly, I can more than identify with your statement about being with a Tucows reseller! That's why I come to be here - the demise of Firevision and the scandal of what Tucows did in passing their customers over to SiteWizard, who locked domains, jacked up prices by a factor of 3 and imposed an equivalent transfer-out fee. So your advice is appreciated and I certainly want stability...

I'm not sure where you got those rates... try this link:

http://www.directi.com/resellers/introduction/

The rates for .com/.net/.org are 6.99 to start with... the rates are not the best for some other tlds, I know though. As far as having someone above you... well, you have to have SOMEONE above you... My point is that I would rather it be an ICANN registrar and not a reseller for an ICANN registrar. If you go with a third party source (any of them), you are just adding to the number of people who have access. Sure, they CAN change their rates, but they've been the same for years and their business model is based on the low price... very few of their registrations are made direct --- they are going after resellers. You are only required to put up a 75.00 deposit (it will actually cost you about 78.80 if you use a credit card to fill the account). This will give you 11 years of registrations and a bit of change in your account and is quite suitable for relatively low level users. You have complete access to the control panel and the ONLY other people that have access to your account is the registrar themselves.

As to stability... well, I hesitate to make any claims about ANYONE when dealing with the net, lol, but Directi has always done right by me and I haven't seen any major complaints about them floating around. That said, I'm not by any means telling you to go with them. I'm only making a recommendation. There are a ton of registrars out there, but most of them are resellers without a system that is as developed as this one.

Anyway, Best wishes.

I goofed on my numbers above... 10 years of registrations and a few bucks left over... Sorry about that.

Thanks desiredname - weird. I got my costs from an email sent to me by Directi support:

"I would still suggest you to go for a reseller account,
and register the domain by making yourself as a customer
too.

This would be beneficial to you cost wise, because as
a direct customer, the charge for new registration is
USD 12.99 and transfers/renewal is USD 8.49"

Hmm. Anyway, the real hitch for me is no whois proxy/privacy services. Are there any accredited companies of comparable deposit cost (and I assume quality) who do?

I'm not sure on the privacy services. To be honest with you, I've never liked the idea of privacte whois information; I openly register all of my names with the correct information and would, indeed, be worried if my information wasn't there, lol. Besides, I've been contacted by buyers who looked up the whois information and made some great sales that way (I am guessing that you aren't looking to sell your names, though).

Hope you find something that will do everything you need; I doubt that it will be at this price level, though.

Best wishes.

Umm: found *lots* who tick all 12 boxes at this price level. Question is, are they actually responsive :)

With respect to whois privacy - most companies providing whois provide you with a proxy email address that automatically forwards to you. The better ones rotate or allow you to change this whois email address to elude spam. So you'd still get those contacts from buyers.

My domains must be rubbish, I've never been hunted!

Yes, you might still get the offers, but I'm not sure.... For instance, I have had a few deals through Register.Com's certified offers (like PCESCROW.COM, which I recently sold). These types of services generally only send payment to the listed whois contacts.

As to the price level... what service have you found that includes a privacy manager for 7.00/domainxyear?

And, finally, as to the value of your domains: Domains are incredibly hard to value... some of the names that I consider to be my best never have an offer(even though they are actively marketed with relatively low asking prices) and, yet, I've had several that I considered to be only "so-so" go for 300-1500/ea. It's an old saying, but no less true for it... "They are worth what someone will pay for them." Of course, they may still be worth more to you, lol. Volume may have something to do with it as well... I've bought and sold several thousand domains (and, really, I'm one of the low volume guys.).

Anyway, Spam is a part of life.... even if they don't harvest it from your whois, your registration will still show up in the various "registered today" lists and they'll hit the domain with random spams. I don't know about you, but I always use collect alls.... The way I've come to handle SPAM is by using gmail... I set my servers to forward all my emails to my gmail account. This way, I not only get a free spam filtering system that works pretty doggone well, but I can search for things that I think I might need... and even the 30-40k emails a day that I get haven't managed to fill up my gmail account yet.

Spammers target any domain name regardless if good/bad. You must be quite fortunate

Originally posted by gneeki
Umm: found *lots* who tick all 12 boxes at this price level. Question is, are they actually responsive :)

With respect to whois privacy - most companies providing whois provide you with a proxy email address that automatically forwards to you. The better ones rotate or allow you to change this whois email address to elude spam. So you'd still get those contacts from buyers.

My domains must be rubbish, I've never been hunted!

Originally posted by desiredname

As to the price level... what service have you found that includes a privacy manager for 7.00/domainxyear?

Anyway, Spam is a part of life.... even if they don't harvest it from your whois, your registration will still show up in the various "registered today" lists and they'll hit the domain with random spams. I don't know about you, but I always use collect alls.... The way I've come to handle SPAM is by using gmail... I set my servers to forward all my emails to my gmail account. This way, I not only get a free spam filtering system that works pretty doggone well, but I can search for things that I think I might need... and even the 30-40k emails a day that I get haven't managed to fill up my gmail account yet.

Hi desiredname - well, 1and1.com seem to be doing TLD's with privacy for $5.99/year - although I didn't include them on my shortlist questionnaire, due to some bad feedback on their web controls. Namecheap, a bit more, but only a few dollars in it: $8.88 including privacy for the first year, add on $1.57 (or double it if only buying one domain) for subsequent years. I'm hoping gandi.net, who I hear of little here, but elsewhere have a good reputation (I think) will get back to me soon on whether they will offer privacy too - I really love their no-flash simple approach. I'm sure I had more on my list but have lost them :)

With spam protection - yes, it's not a real problem for me either (I use SpamAssassin+DCC+Razor+SPF, which really deals with the 50 or so I get a day!), but may be for some. It's not so much a requirement for me - just some privacy in whois. Godaddy seem to offer the most comprehensive spam protection if needed, but it does double the price per year.