Saw a new reseller here for domain names. Great prices, so I have signed up -- but worried about the deposit money, what if they go out of business, what happens? Anyone know? Does the seller they are reselling for cover this?
Thnx for any help!
greg

I would really point you toward's godaddy if you want to resell domain's. This way you wont have to worry about them running with your money or domain's.

I looked at them (wildwestdomains aka godaddy) but really cant see paying 100 to 250 a year to make sales and money for them.

go with enom or reseller club - no yearly fees, just deposits needed - and you can probably find a few places where you can get your hands on free reseller accounts so you shouldn't worry much about fees - I wouldn't recommend godaddy...fees are unnecessary.

If you stick with one of the big four, enom, directi, ne1, or wildwestdomains, you should be okay. There are a few other reliable ones out there as well, but seem to be less widely used.

Saw a new reseller here for domain names. Great prices, so I have signed up -- but worried about the deposit money, what if they go out of business, what happens

Surely you looked into whether the business was iCANN acreditted, has a stable business plan, etc *before* you handed over the money or trusted them with your domains ?

What happens if/whne they go t1tsup.com depends on a lot of factors ...

This way you wont have to worry about them running with your money or domain's.

I can recommend an hour with NoDaddy.com ...

If you stick with one of the big four, enom, directi, ne1, or wildwestdomains, you should be okay. There are a few other reliable ones out there as well, but seem to be less widely used.
According to some reliable sources, the largest domain reseller providers are:

1. eNom - 8.5 million domains
2. Tucows (OpenSRS) - 7 million
3. Wild West Domains (a GoDaddy subsidiary) - 3 million
4. Public Domain Registry (Directi) - 2 million

According to some reliable sources, the largest domain reseller providers are:

1. eNom - 8.5 million domains
2. Tucows (OpenSRS) - 7 million
3. Wild West Domains (a GoDaddy subsidiary) - 3 million
4. Public Domain Registry (Directi) - 2 million

Other that can also be considered is resell.biz

What happens if a domain registrar goes bust :eek:

Will its resellers also go down with it or will ICANN step in ?

What happens if a domain registrar goes bust :eek:

Will its resellers also go down with it or will ICANN step in ?
Checkout estdomains past.. they were shut down by ICANN for spam etc.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2260

What happens if a domain registrar goes bust :eek:

Will its resellers also go down with it or will ICANN step in ?Most likely other registrars will take over the domains.

Let me clarify what I meant by the big four. The big four that seem to be repeatedly recommended here on WHT. OpenSRS is sometimes recommended, but usually with a few buts in there. I don't remember what they are off the top of my head, but many people say there are some negatives regarding them.

And I would stand to venture that the majority of the wildwestdomains come from godaddy itself and not resellers. But I could be wrong. I'm no expert in this field. :)

Let me clarify what I meant by the big four. The big four that seem to be repeatedly recommended here on WHT. OpenSRS is sometimes recommended, but usually with a few buts in there. I don't remember what they are off the top of my head, but many people say there are some negatives regarding them.

And I would stand to venture that the majority of the wildwestdomains come from godaddy itself and not resellers. But I could be wrong. I'm no expert in this field. :)
I guess the only drawback of Tucows is their pricing (expensive); but as the 3rd largest registrar on earth and a publicly traded company, they are probably more reliable than other privately owned competitors.

As for Wild West Domains, their 3 million count is NOT INCUDED in GoDaddy's own 28.5 million.

Hi,

I have been selling domains since 2000, shortly after Network Solutions lost the monopoly on domain registration. So I can tell you a thing or two about companies going out of business. The first company I was with was registrars.com. They had a good affiliate program and I made good money with them. However they were acquired by Network Solutions in 2001 and the affiliate program was discontinued.

After that I signed up with Its Your Domain, which, in my opinion, had the best program going for selling domains. In addition to domains I could sell domain related services and hosting. I was very happy with Its Your Domain. However IYD was purchased by Tucows in 2007. Tucows continued to operate IYD separately until December of 2008 when they migrated the former IYD affiliates to the Open SRS program.

So the answer to your question is that most likely if a company goes out of business, it will be acquired by another company and the reseller program may, or may not be continued! But I would think any of the larger reseller programs are stable and you wouldn't really have to worry about them going out of business!

In evaluating a reseller program at the other services besides domains that a company offers for you to resell. How does these other services mesh with what you are doing now? How much profit do you make on them? Some just look at the domain cost and try to get the lowest domain cost, but there is much more than that. Speaking from experience over the years, the added services besides just domain registrations can bring in significant money.

I am currently an SRS Reseller and also a Wild West Domains Super Reseller. There are pluses and minuses to every reseller program, I have looked at them all. No one is better, but one is most likely better for you. It all depends on your situation and what you are looking for. Is domain sales going to be a side line to another business (say web design and hosting), or is it going to be your main business? Do you want to provide 24/7 support for your customers or do you not want to be bothered with support emails and phone calls? I wouldn't worry about a small yearly fee if you are making money and someone else is handling all the support and payment processing. After all your time is all you have and time is money. On the other hand if you don't plan on selling very much a yearly fee might be prohibitive.

WellI havent made anu deposit yet -- looks to be a reseller of NE1, will probally give it awhirl after I think about it. Thanks everyone for all suggestions and advice -- now if they can just find my old posts! LOL

So I can tell you a thing or two about companies going out of business

Neither of the 2 examples actually went "out of business" as such - they were acquired, which is a different event :D

And one of those was an actual registrar - so more likely to be stable, as they'll have had to be liquid enough to pay the fees and the domains secure enough due to the accreditation requirements.

Neither of the 2 examples actually went "out of business" as such - they were acquired, which is a different event :D


Agreed! However when registrars.com was acquired by Network Solutions the reseller program was discontinued.


And one of those was an actual registrar - so more likely to be stable, as they'll have had to be liquid enough to pay the fees and the domains secure enough due to the accreditation requirements.


Both of them were actual registrars! Both were very successful, they just had a super buy out offer they couldn't refuse!

Again, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the major reseller programs right now. Just choose the program that meshes with your needs.

Both of them were actual registrars!

registrars was a *reseller* (of Joker ISTR) not a *registrar* :p

but yes, your warning is correct - change of *ownership* very often leads to change in service level - something to prepare for irrespective of the company simply going bust.

IME its the bucket-shop budget registration companies that suffer from the worst customer service and the "vanish overnight" issues that can destroy an online business whose domain name suddenly stops working - there are "fixed" prices for domains, and people offering them at cost/less-than have to cut corners somewhere ...

registrars was a *reseller* (of Joker ISTR) not a *registrar* :p


Not that it matters now, but according to the registrars.com website they were an "icann accredited domain registrar" as shown on the Archive.org page of their web site from April 2000 here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20000408040146/http://www5.registrars.com/

Again, it makes no difference now. I was under the impression when I sold domains for them that they were an ICANN registrar as their web site stated.


IME its the bucket-shop budget registration companies that suffer from the worst customer service and the "vanish overnight" issues that can destroy an online business whose domain name suddenly stops working - there are "fixed" prices for domains, and people offering them at cost/less-than have to cut corners somewhere ...

100% agreed! 99 out of 100 domain resellers strive to sell domains based on lowest cost! Then they wonder why they aren't making money. Maybe 1% are, the other 99% aren't because everybody can't be the lowest cost. You must find a niche and fill it. In other words don't do what everyone else is doing.

Does the seller they are reselling for cover this?

I don't think so my friend, so be very careful while choosing.

tnhomestead what reseller did you end up going with? I'm trying to minimize start-up costs so WWD doesn't seem like that great of an idea and I don't want to invest as much as I would have to to get top tier pricing with reseller club or enom. Tucows pricing is way too high per domain... around $10 so I'm looking at a smaller reseller myself.

I went for net earth one, chris seems to have a great rep here, they are ICANNregistered, prices were 7.89 .com's at tier 2 and thats what you start at if you find the easter egg. There is a reseller of his advertising here much lower if you look inn the domain ads you will find him. good luck!

WellI havent made anu deposit yet -- looks to be a reseller of NE1, will probally give it awhirl after I think about it. Thanks everyone for all suggestions and advice -- now if they can just find my old posts! LOL

I think a domain reseller program depends on your needs. I think you should just do your research on the company. Some less known companies are owned by bigger corporations that are unlikely to go out of business.