Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Running a Web Hosting Business : Domain Name Renewals

[AdventInternet]

How do you guys handle issuing domain name renewal notices to your clients - e-mail, snail-mail or what?

How actively do you or should you chase up clients for renewal payments given the small sums involved, and to what lengths should you go to track down clients whose e-mail addresses etc. are no longer valid when it comes to renewal time?

Andrew
Advent Internet
http://www.adventinternet.co.uk

[Synergy]

You can pay me to send all your clients a notice + a bill about their renewal 2 months before it expires.

[Chicken]

I'd say two months before expiration you should send an email. NetSol send me emails, snail mails, etc. They even sent me WARNINGS about my name expiring after I had transfered the domain to another registrar.

Then I got a FINAL NOTICE from them, heh. Apparently this isn't checked.

[Jaiem]

Assuming the client registered through you and assuming they pay by CC, why not make it part of your TOS that domain renewal is automatic and billed to the CC unless otherwise contacted by the client.

Still send the notice but say that renewal will be automatic unless they inform you otherwise.

If they registered through someone else like Nic then IMO it's up to them to keep it paid to date. I suppose a nice service would be to notify your clients in advance but that's a lot of effort for a large client base.

[TheComputerGuy]

I would first send in email like the Chicken said, then I would go with Snail Mail, because sometimes people get on someone elses mail and deletes messages. So i would go with snail mail, just as a backup so that they can't say

YOU DIDN'T SEND ME A NOTICE A MONTH AGO!!!!


Best of Luck,
Chris

[Jaiem]

Guy - In that case probably best to send it certified or return receipt so you can prove not only it was sent but was delivered. Whether the client reads it and acts on it is another matter beyond our control.

[Chicken]

That is just not possibly (costs too much and is too much of a hassle). I like the automatic renewal thing much better. Though with yearly purchases there is a good chance the card will expire at some point and you'll have to have the customer re-enter cc info.

[kunal]

I thought it was insecure to store the users credit card information?

[ODE]

Originally posted by kunal
I thought it was insecure to store the users credit card information?

I know on Alabanza's Domain System Manager (DSM) Credit card numbers are stored encrypted with PGP. Even if some one did crack the server the would only get garbage and no numbers.

[kunal]

Pgp Encryption isnt that tough to break, would just take you a litlle time. But it is not impossible.

[JTY]

kunal, many factors will affect the difficulty of breaking pgp crypto. Seeing as, there are many different formulas you can use, and several different sizes of cypher blocks.

[kunal]

Originally posted by JTY
kunal, many factors will affect the difficulty of breaking pgp crypto. Seeing as, there are many different formulas you can use, and several different sizes of cypher blocks.

I know that, which is why I said, its not impossible If some one is gonna take the pains to crack into the servers, and get the credit card file, he would be prepared to take the pains of cracking it to. anyways.. I'm jsut arguing for the sake of it. Lets stop the discusion here?

I just think, you should mail your customers about the renewal thing. You can automate the process.

[AdventInternet]

Our CC processor, WorldPay allows repeat billings, but at no intervals greater than one year. Thus we could do it for US domains, but for UK domains which are for a two year set period it would not work. Pity!

[Jaiem]

While nothing is totally impossible the time and effort needed to break a PGP code for just some CC numbers doesn't make it worth it IMO to a would-be thief.

Besides, that assumes you keep CC info on your server. Don't. Keep it offline.

[AdventInternet]

But then you have to consider the relative risks of hackers getting into the server or thieves getting into the office. Strange how people are so uptight about credit cards on the net but think nothing of throwing those little receipts with credit card numbers and signatures on them onto the pavement as they go about their business. Still. that's life and 'cyberphobia' for you.