vMOT
09-24-2008, 07:32 AM
The hottest topic these days seems to be the domain price increase.. Ive been reading all over about it, and wanted to really understand the resellers view about this.. there have been a lot of posts made about how the new pricing for some registrars is higher than others. I'm talking about people cribbing for $0.10- $0.20.
Being a reseller with a couple of registrars, I understand that every cent in this low profit business is critical, however i fail to believe that pricing is the only determinant when it comes to deciding a registrar. I would never rule out a registrar cause he more expensive than others. I would infact try and figure out what is the reason behind his selling price being more than his competitors. More often than not it would be justified with better quality, responsive support and may be value added features bundled with the domain name.
On the other end, investigating cheaper registrars, I learned that not only does their support suck, but so does their system (Point in case :Wild West Domains). Offering domains names at almost cost price they are bound to make money off the customer through illegitimate practices, or through some other cost, which is not immediately visible (like registrars not including the 20cent in their pricing). I would also urge anybody to check renewal prices with registrars that offer cheap domain registrations. In most cases their renewal prices are overboard and obviously they don't allow you to transfer out the domain name.
What I'm trying to convey through this thread is that Cheapest domains are not always the best. There are many other equally important factors to consider like :
* Financial Stability of the Registrar
* The Interface provided by the Registrar to control your account (For resellers, this is a very critical issue)
* The additional FREE services provided along with the Domain Name (These could range from Whois protection, managed dns, etc. they definitely add value to Domain Names, which can be then sold onto Customers at a premium)
I am not suggesting any particular registrar out there which is the best, but would like to share my experiences which might help everyone pick a good registrar for themselves.
I would like to correct myself if anyone thinks I'm wrong in making this judgment..
Being a reseller with a couple of registrars, I understand that every cent in this low profit business is critical, however i fail to believe that pricing is the only determinant when it comes to deciding a registrar. I would never rule out a registrar cause he more expensive than others. I would infact try and figure out what is the reason behind his selling price being more than his competitors. More often than not it would be justified with better quality, responsive support and may be value added features bundled with the domain name.
On the other end, investigating cheaper registrars, I learned that not only does their support suck, but so does their system (Point in case :Wild West Domains). Offering domains names at almost cost price they are bound to make money off the customer through illegitimate practices, or through some other cost, which is not immediately visible (like registrars not including the 20cent in their pricing). I would also urge anybody to check renewal prices with registrars that offer cheap domain registrations. In most cases their renewal prices are overboard and obviously they don't allow you to transfer out the domain name.
What I'm trying to convey through this thread is that Cheapest domains are not always the best. There are many other equally important factors to consider like :
* Financial Stability of the Registrar
* The Interface provided by the Registrar to control your account (For resellers, this is a very critical issue)
* The additional FREE services provided along with the Domain Name (These could range from Whois protection, managed dns, etc. they definitely add value to Domain Names, which can be then sold onto Customers at a premium)
I am not suggesting any particular registrar out there which is the best, but would like to share my experiences which might help everyone pick a good registrar for themselves.
I would like to correct myself if anyone thinks I'm wrong in making this judgment..