Hi there, I'm in need of a little help. I've been looking to start a new site, nothing big, a semi-personal place where I can put some of my work and experiment with coding and design. My last site went down with last year with RegisterFly, and I never got the domain name back, so I'm going to be more careful in my registrar choice this time.

For the past couple days I've been trying, with very little success, to find good information on which one to use. Cost isn't really an issue, $10-20 a year (with WHOIS protection included) is fine. I'm much more concerned that they don't try to steal or sell the domain or block a potential transfer to another registrar if I become dissatisfied, things like that. GoDaddy, Moniker and Namecheap are some possibilities I've heard about. I was all set to use GoDaddy, but then I found a cache of complaints about how they've allegedly stolen sites, scammed people, etc. This site (http://ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?submit2=Search%21&q5=godaddy) lists a lot of grievances, and here (http://ripoffreport.com/reports/0/335/RipOff0335904.htm) are (http://ripoffreport.com/reports/0/301/RipOff0301527.htm) three (http://ripoffreport.com/reports/0/314/RipOff0314839.htm) in particular that alarm me.

Of course, GoDaddy has thousands of customers, so quite probably as an average user you wouldn't have a disaster story like these folks did. But I'm a little cautious, and I can't find any reliable registrar reviews anywhere. Even finding comments that aren't years old is a task.

Basically, what I'm asking is, what's a good, reliable registrar that won't screw me over? Any suggestions would be great.

name.com, i have been with them for a few years now and no problems what so ever.

namecheap, moniker, joker.com are all excellent.
If you want some more expensive registrar there's register.com, networksolutions.com and gandi.net, they cost around 30 usd but a lot of high profiled sites use them and you can know your investment is secure.

and I can't find any reliable registrar reviews anywhere.
You won't, at least not without your own first hand trial and error and/or some long time observation. I would definitely take every so-called review (incl. mine) here or anywhere with a grain of salt, and also a closer look especially at their forum age ("join date") and number of posts.

I could understand your worry because of RegisterFly, and I had my "fair" share (a.k.a. BIG TIME mess) with Network Solutions, Register.com, and GoDaddy over the past 10+ years. I now go with Tucows (OpenSRS) which is a publicly traded company. Mind you that quite a few ICANN-accredited registrars are actually of VERY SMALL scale of operation (as in less than a dozen staffers INCLUDING part-timers logging in remotely off-site). Just keep your eyes WIDE OPEN.

I could understand your worry because of RegisterFly, and I had my "fair" share (a.k.a. BIG TIME mess) with Network Solutions, Register.com, and GoDaddy over the past 10+ years.

I'm curious, what kind of problems have you had with GoDaddy?

I never had a problem with GoDaddy, myself. the only thing I could complain about is the horrible web site, and the way you're thrown advertisements into your face every time you go there. Not to mention all the email offers that you get from them. :rolleyes:

I've just moved to name.com from namecheap. I really like the simplicity of name.com, and their support is excellent. Plus the rest of the site is fun (comics, a good blog, name (human) popularity and info).

I never had a problem with GoDaddy, myself. the only thing I could complain about is the horrible web site, and the way you're thrown advertisements into your face every time you go there. Not to mention all the email offers that you get from them. :rolleyes:

I've just moved to name.com from namecheap. I really like the simplicity of name.com, and their support is excellent. Plus the rest of the site is fun (comics, a good blog, name (human) popularity and info).

Whaaa, I get literally 0 emails from them. I always renew ahead of time, so there is never any notices about those kind of things.

I do remember one time I was going to buy a domain but I didn't checkout and they sent me an email 12 hours later saying I could get a 10% discount if I used a special coupon code to complete the transaction. Why not give the better price upfront... But nowadays I just google for their codes, some of which are decent.

I'm curious, what kind of problems have you had with GoDaddy?
It was the infamous Summer of 2003, when they (GoDaddy) messed up their databases BIG TIME:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?p=1254288#post1254288

OpenSRS is good and this is who I use as a reseller. Their main retailer is http://www.domaindirect.com which is a Tucows Company.

Hey again, thanks for all the replies. Well, after a few days of checking things out and following your suggestions and hearing about a few other registrars that weren't mentioned, I've assembled the following list:

Name.com
Moniker
GoDaddy
1and1
Gandi.net

These are out:

OpenSRS (Tucows)
Directi
DomainDirect
SiberName
Joker.com
EuroDNS.com
Register.com
Network Solutions

Reasons:

Although I'd like to try OpenSRS since I heard some pretty high recommendations for them, both they and Directi seem to only cater to resellers. I'm not a reseller or a company, I'm just a private individual, so I can't use either of them.

Similarly, NameCheap requires you to give an Organization Name when signing up. I don't have one! Or am I supposed to just make something up?

DomainDirect only seems to allow domain parking or for you to use their own hosting; for external hosting I'd have to use something else.

SiberName seems to only to allow registrations for Canadian citizens. I'm in the US.

Joker.com doesn't have WHOIS protection.

EuroDNS, Register.com and Network Solutions are all quite expensive, and since I'm planning on getting a few domains with similar syntax to redirect to the main site, I'd rather not use them for that. Possibly I might go with one of them for the main domain. EuroDNS, however, doesn't seem to offer any form of WHOIS protection even on global domains, so they're out regardless.

Am I correct in dismissing these sites, or do I have it all wrong? As a non-reseller private individual, can I still use OpenSRS, for example? I couldn't even find a place to sign up with them.

You don't have to actually resell to use a reseller. If you have a lot of domains, or even a fair amount, a reseller account might be the best (and cheapest) way to go.

I've used NameCheap before and don't remember them requiring an Organization name.

I would add netearthone.com. I'm a reseller for them and they have some good rates and free privacy.

name.com for international

hostess.com.au for Australia

From a personal perspective, I will vouch for Go Daddy. They do throw a lot of ads/offers at you, but the registrar services are very solid.

-mike

For private registrations GoDaddy or name.com are fine and you get good prices.

You can register with resellerclub / directi even when you are not a reseller and just resell to yourself...

I had bad experience with 1and1 (they still charge me every year for domains which are transferred away).

Well, I'm only planning on registering 3-6 domains in all so maybe a reseller isn't the best for me. OpenSRS and Directi want $95 and $199 respectively right off the bat, so eh. For those that have used them, do you know if you get some of that money back in yearly payments? Not initial payments, since like I said, I'm only going to be registering a few domains.

I'm currently contacting Gandi.net support to see if they offer general WHOIS protection. After that, I'll try to make a decision from the registrars left on my list. I do think 1and1 is off, I've heard some pretty bad comments on them.

I found my nameservers directed to another one in directi.. Stay away.

Hey again, thanks for all the replies. Well, after a few days of checking things out and following your suggestions and hearing about a few other registrars that weren't mentioned, I've assembled the following list:

Name.com
Moniker
GoDaddy
1and1
Gandi.net


Moniker = no... terrible.

name.com, godaddy, 1and1 = Yes. I have domains at each... prefer godaddy, unless I need private registration, then I use 1and1. Name.com is a company I was testing (purchased a domain with) and never removed the domain... name has good customer service. Godaddy has the best customer service. 1and1 customer service sucks. Normally I don't need customer service though.... lol

gandi = never heard of before....

i am using these registrars the most :

Godaddy.com
Name.com
DOmainsite.com
estdomains.com

And they are reliable as far i know them .

Hi

The initial deposit money you put in DirectI(Resellerclub) can be used for domain registration renewal or transfer. $199 is good for almost 20 domain registration for 1 year. But if you go for multi-year registration, like 5 domains for 4 years, you can utilize that money fully at a stretch. When your total invoice crosses $499, domain rates becomes even cheaper. Anyway it is your personal choice.

Regards