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  1. #1
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    Looking for registrar recommendations to bail from NameBargain / Demand Media

    I've used Namebargain.com for years and recommended them repeatedly (especially to people who didn't know better than to use GoDaddy). I'm done with them now.

    I'm looking for recommendations for a registrar that isn't Namebargain, and that Demand Media won't benefit from as a result of my use. I just recently saw that according to WikiPedia, eNom is owned by Demand Media -- so no eNom resellers or other registrars that Demand Media derives benefit from.

    Back in the day when there weren't so many registrars, Namebargain's prices were way better than Register.com. Lately, last couple years or so, they've made repeated price increases. Recently I went to renew some registrations and found that since the last time I renewed a registration less than 6 months prior, they've jacked the price of .com registrations by 30%, up $3.49 from $11.50 to $14.99.

    I emailed them about it to make sure it wasn't a bug and they emailed me back claiming that they were passing on a price increase from Verisign. I knew that was ******** so I emailed them back asking for the dates and amounts of fee increases by Verisign and they emailed me back admitting that was bogus.

    After the pricing issue came up I started looking into how Namebargain actually works. I'd been under the impression that at some point they may have become a reseller if they weren't all along, but it wasn't really important and I hadn't bothered to look into it before. In looking into it, it appears that their account management interface may be running on eNom software. So, ironically, even if the pricing weren't an issue, now that I know that I'd be out the door anyway.

    I don't need anything too special in a registrar, just competitive pricing, reliable and trustworthy, ability to configure DNS records (does this really vary much between registrars?), and decent interface. I do want the ability to globally edit whois data for multiple domains.

    Thanks

  2. #2
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    I personally would recommend resell.biz

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeZazz View Post
    I personally would recommend resell.biz
    That appears to be a domain reseller platform, right? I'm not looking for that, I'm just looking for a registrar to buy my own domain name registrations from.

  4. #4
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    You can still use it as that.
    Just create one client (Yourself) and benefit from the overall cheap pricing.

  5. #5
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    I've been happy with Name.com ($10.99) and NameCheap.com ($10.69). Both have good responsive support.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Techno View Post
    I've been happy with Name.com ($10.99) and NameCheap.com ($10.69). Both have good responsive support.
    Pretty sure
    name.com is Demand Media
    and
    namecheap.com uses some of Demand Media services.

  7. #7
    What is your problem with Demand Media? I am uniformed of their malfeasance. I started moving names away from Go Daddy after the whole SOPA / PIPA fiasco, but has been hard to do as cheap as Go Daddy can be with some of the coupons that fly around. Although, I have moved most of my names to NameCheap. NameCheap has two-factor authentication now, I like it.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeZazz View Post
    You can still use it as that.
    Just create one client (Yourself) and benefit from the overall cheap pricing.
    Ok, I see. I didn't think of that -- I guess I assumed those reseller platforms have fee structures that would make them impractical to use for my own domain registrations.

    They don't have a problem with you using the service that way?

    How long has that company been in business, and how long have you used them for?

    I guess if there's such a thing as a big-name company that offers the competitive pricing I'm looking for and that doesn't benefit Demand Media, I'd feel more confident in that than in a relatively unknown company.

    This company has some weird isht in their Reseller Agreement:

    3. Your Obligations

    3.1. You will use efforts to market the Services which exceed or are equivalent to those you use to market your own Services or those of other companies. In particular, you will use commercially reasonable efforts to promote, solicit and obtain contracts to resell the Service, and to perform your contractual obligations in general.
    Really, I'm obligated to market the services and solicit customers? And to a degree that meets or exceeds the efforts I use to market my own services ?!?


    3.6. The domain registrar will escrow the name you give us, email address, telephone number, fax number, and if provided, the postal address of the billing contact for each domain name registered. However, should you use a domain name privacy or domain proxy service, this information WILL NOT be escrowed, and should our business fail, a third party would not be able to contact you to facilitate recovery or transfer of your domain name....
    This is the kind of thing that makes me leery of using a relatively unknown company for something as important as domain name registration.

    3.8. You are required to comply with all of our reasonable requests to demonstrate compliance with this Agreement, our Registration Agreement, and any agreements or policies incorporated by reference. Should a site visit be required, you consent to such a visit.
    Really, I consent to such a visit? The **** I do!


    5. Prices

    5.1. We will provide the Services to you based on the pricing we have established on our website. You will be placed in the tier level for which you qualify. Should you fail to meet the qualifying criteria in a particular year, we reserve the right to place you in the tier for which you would have qualified, adjust your pricing retroactively, and invoice you for the balance....
    I don't like retroactive price increases.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeZazz View Post
    Pretty sure
    name.com is Demand Media
    and
    namecheap.com uses some of Demand Media services.
    According to WikiPedia, name.com is owned by Demand Media.

    What do we know about NameCheap? Is there anything on the web you can link to documenting a relationship between them and Demand Media or eNom? How do you know about them using Demand Media services?

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by JMM View Post
    According to WikiPedia, name.com is owned by Demand Media.

    What do we know about NameCheap? Is there anything on the web you can link to documenting a relationship between them and Demand Media or eNom? How do you know about them using Demand Media services?
    NameCheap was an Enom reseller last I heard (was some time ago) they still had some clients at Enom.

    https://community.namecheap.com/foru...opic.php?t=467

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by BuyServers View Post
    What is your problem with Demand Media? I am uniformed of their malfeasance. I started moving names away from Go Daddy after the whole SOPA / PIPA fiasco, but has been hard to do as cheap as Go Daddy can be with some of the coupons that fly around. Although, I have moved most of my names to NameCheap. NameCheap has two-factor authentication now, I like it.
    They're a cancer on the web. They recruit a bunch of contractors to work for them for crap pay churning out crap "articles" at high volume to spam search engines. Content farming. I think the basic idea is to spam search engines with so many articles and keywords that anytime anyone searches for anything, their crap content will come up and when it gets clicked they get advertising revenue. It's all about quantity over quality. So it means everytime you or I search for something, we have to wade through loads of crap results looking for stuff that might actually be useful, quality content.

    Supposedly Google has been taking steps to marginalize content farms, but I've still been thinking about finding or making a greasemonkey script or something to strip all results for certain websites when I do Google searches, e.g. ehow.com and livestrong.com.

    I started moving names away from Go Daddy after the whole SOPA / PIPA fiasco
    Ceasing to do business with Go Daddy for any reason is a good move, but it's sad that there are so many people who think that it was a good idea to do business with them before, and the only thing that changed that was SOPA / PIPA. I don't really blame people who aren't in the tech industry and don't know better, it's the ones who are in the tech industry and should have known better and then threw a hissyfit when Go Daddy supported that stuff that really irritated me.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by JMM View Post
    According to WikiPedia, name.com is owned by Demand Media.

    What do we know about NameCheap? Is there anything on the web you can link to documenting a relationship between them and Demand Media or eNom? How do you know about them using Demand Media services?
    Namecheap has it's own ICANN accreditation but operates as an Enom reseller - I believe their biggest reseller.

    There aren't many registrars that fit your requirements in the under $11 category unless you get a reseller account. You might want to check out rebel.com ($10.15)- Canadian and a division of Momentous.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeZazz View Post
    NameCheap was an Enom reseller last I heard (was some time ago) they still had some clients at Enom.

    https://community.namecheap.com/foru...opic.php?t=467
    Thanks for the link. Maybe I'll contact them and see what they can tell me. If they're not making new domain name registrations through eNom, and are on a path to eventually have no relationship with eNom, maybe I'd consider it. Not sure how much I'll be able to find out -- Namebargain support shut down pretty quick once I started asking questions about their relationship with eNom.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Techno View Post
    Namecheap has it's own ICANN accreditation but operates as an Enom reseller - I believe their biggest reseller.
    Thanks for posting.

    Still? @BeZazz posted that link about them becoming accredited at the end of 2007 -- what's the point of that if they're just going to continue as a reseller?

    Quote Originally Posted by Techno View Post
    There aren't many registrars that fit your requirements in the under $11 category unless you get a reseller account. You might want to check out rebel.com ($10.15)- Canadian and a division of Momentous.
    Really? That sucks. Is the main problem with meeting my requirements finding one that isn't an eNom reseller / otherwise benefit Demand Media?

    I'd prefer a US company (and preferably a well known one), but I'll take a look at rebel.com. Thanks.

  15. #15
    Techno highlights the problem with your search, there just aren't many registrars around that can offer low price points profitably. If you have a large portfolio of domains, its hard to pay 14 or 15 annually for renewals when you can get them for 9 or 10 at the larger registrars. I suppose if you have deep pockets, you can boycott the machine with a little more steadfastness. With domains now being significant assets, it can be difficult to place trust in a less established registrar, or a reseller for that matter. I still like NameCheap as the best of the lot or registrars. That being said, Resell.biz did look promising, cheap pricing over there.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by JMM View Post
    what's the point of that if they're just going to continue as a reseller?
    To paraphrase a saying: if it ain't broke, why fix it?

    Technical-wise, it likely makes sense for NameCheap to continue using eNom's reseller platform until the former is confident enough to use their own. Administrative-wise, NameCheap's ICANN-registrar status can give them more say on how to handle their clients' domain registrations.

    Of course, NameCheap's using eNom's reseller platform makes the former "answerable" to the latter. OTOH, they probably worked out some details.

    I PM'd you one suggestion that, alas, can't really be mentioned here. The one I suggested likely has what you're looking for.

    Quote Originally Posted by BuyServers View Post
    Techno highlights the problem with your search, there just aren't many registrars around that can offer low price points profitably.
    Yup. The reality, for the longest time, is that domain registration has very, very low profit margins; that it's nearly impossible to make money out of them alone without selling other services.

  17. #17
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    @BuyServers, thanks for your reply.

    Quote Originally Posted by BuyServers View Post
    I suppose if you have deep pockets, you can boycott the machine with a little more steadfastness. With domains now being significant assets, it can be difficult to place trust in a less established registrar
    Indeed, on both points. Due to money and time constraints (I don't want to renew any more domains with Namebargain) I'll have to settle for the lesser evil for now. I get the impression that patronizing Namebargain is benefiting Demand Media anyway, so between them and NameCheap, I may as well go with NameCheap. That's probably what I'll do for the time being if a better option doesn't emerge soon. Namebargain wasn't satisfied with getting $11.50 from me for something I can get from Namecheap for $10.69 -- they had to crank it up 30% to $14.99.

    Quote Originally Posted by BuyServers View Post
    it can be difficult to place trust in a less established registrar, or a reseller for that matter.
    Can you elaborate on the risks associated with registering domains with a reseller? And what does that mean for using NameCheap -- it's undetermined in this thread whether they are still acting as a reseller for eNom, right?

    Namebargain is a subsidiary of Register.com, so the names registered via Namebargain are actually registered with Register.com. Can NameCheap be trusted as much as Register.com?

    Quote Originally Posted by BuyServers View Post
    That being said, Resell.biz did look promising, cheap pricing over there.
    I didn't like the looks of their terms, but I haven't compared them to other registrars'. I also don't know how established / trustworthy they are.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Zan View Post
    Technical-wise, it likely makes sense for NameCheap to continue using eNom's reseller platform until the former is confident enough to use their own. Administrative-wise, NameCheap's ICANN-registrar status can give them more say on how to handle their clients' domain registrations.

    Of course, NameCheap's using eNom's reseller platform makes the former "answerable" to the latter. OTOH, they probably worked out some details.
    Hmm.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Zan View Post
    I PM'd you one suggestion that, alas, can't really be mentioned here. The one I suggested likely has what you're looking for.
    Ok, thanks. That's pretty ridiculous that we can't discuss this company because of some issue the moderators have with them. If you don't want to let them advertise that's one thing, but why do we have to suffer? That's like cutting off your nose to spite your face. And the effectiveness of that policy is highly dubious as it's obviously implemented as the dumbest of dumb word filters.

    I like the pricing (especially with the whois privacy and Domain Defender product), but how trustworthy is this company with my registrations compared to a Register.com (Namebargain) or a NameCheap? Do we know if there's any relationship / benefit to eNom or Demand Media?

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Zan View Post
    Yup. The reality, for the longest time, is that domain registration has very, very low profit margins; that it's nearly impossible to make money out of them alone without selling other services.
    Well for a company like Namebargain, they better get to selling some other services to other customers then, because I'm not going to make up for it in the prices I pay for my domain name registrations. I imagine it's a low profit margin business because there are a million registrars (many [most?] of whom are resellers I'm sure), so there's also no reason for me to tolerate massive price hikes, especially once I find out they have some kind of relationship with eNom.

  19. #19
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    @cyberweb, thanks for your reply and recommendation. How long have you used them for? I think the pricing sounds great, I just wonder how trustworthy they are.

    That website was helpful enough to provide a handy price comparison chart. What do people think of Moniker? I know the name, but I don't think I've ever used them for anything. Are they a reseller for anyone? Any kind of relationship or benefit to eNom or Demand Media? Are they trustworthy? Their pricing looks right for me.

    What about Dynadot, anyone know anything about them?

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by JMM View Post
    That website was helpful enough to provide a handy price comparison chart. What do people think of Moniker?
    I had domains at Moniker but found support was slow. Moniker & Snapnames share an office building in Portland & are owned by a holding company in Luxembourg.
    http://www.keydrive.lu/

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Techno View Post
    Moniker & Snapnames share an office building in Portland & are owned by a holding company in Luxembourg.
    http://www.keydrive.lu/
    Thanks for that info. Hmm, I don't know what to make of this. I've never heard of KeyDrive, and for some reason (not sure if it's justified) I feel more comfortable using a US based company for this. The way that page describes Moniker does make it sound good though.

    Quote Originally Posted by Techno View Post
    I had domains at Moniker but found support was slow.
    Really? Can you elaborate any more? I don't remember ever requiring much support from my domain registrar, so I wonder how applicable that would be to me. Just curious what kind of support you've required that they were slow to provide to see how relevant it might be to me.

    I really seriously can not believe that this forum is so radically censoring discussion of a particular company, even to the point of deleting posts that mention them. Would you not even be allowed to discuss them disparagingly, or would they leave those posts alone?

  22. #22
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    I ended up transferring 10 .com / .net names to Namecheap using a $1.16 per name "cyber Monday" promotion. The domain transfer request emails say the following:

    eNom, Inc. has received a request from [registrant] on 02 Dec 2013 to become the new registrar of record.
    So eventually I'd still like to find a registrar that doesn't benefit eNom.

    On the way out, an inept customer service rep at NameBargain temporarily deleted a name from my account.

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