Epik API support

[twiki]

These days I've finally decided to try out Epik, having domains about anywhere else.

Registered about 40 domains in 2 days, but now I am REALLY disapointed. Side note the context is drop catching and using their API for regging expired domains.

First off, as a note, I was not able to contact support at all. It's like trying to reach a black hole. All calls never reached a rep. I can see they also don't reply to emails. Tried calling many times - it's impossible. You just wait for 2 minutes then the call hangs up on you. No I won't leave a message, sorry; the whole experience makes me suspect nobody will ever call me back. The site is also made BTW so you don't actually find how to contact them, apart from calling the numbers nobody replies to.

Side note if I could call support, OR find any kind of documentation answering my problems listed here, this post would not have existed. But I'm left to my own devices with this. Hence this post.

First day, 2 domains didn't go through. Yeah, perhaps someone else was quicker, that's alright, I understand. But the funds were taken from the account. I mean, what? The inability to register the domains should automatically cancel the transactions, Paypal supports that. And they know instantly they couldn't reg the domain.

I can't really watch if each transaction is matched by a correct domain registration. Have better things to do. Any other registrar automatically sees such errors and reverts the transactions without me having to manually point each to them.

Mailed their support, received note somethone actually received it, and later that day the funds went into account credit. No email replies regarding problem solved, no warning that they actually did this. You have to discover on your own that actually something went into credit. Fortunately I took a look at it.

The worst thing by far is the API.

As a domain investor, I watch for expired domains and I use registrar API to quickly snatch what I need.

Unfortunately, that is not possible with Epik. Their API will not register any freshly dropped domain, although the manual bulk register interface allows for it. This is because, as I can see, the domains ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN REALTIME VIA THE API. While at the same time any other registrar I'm using shows them as available so you can register now. I could register 0 domains via their API. ( Edit: manual regs work though, but not freshly expired ones).

I have given up trying registration after a few minutes so then I'm doing manual regs via the bulk manual search. This meant for me, pointless work for hours at something that any other registrar API offers. Even GD is quicker than this and a more or less functional thing by comparison.

I suspect they only offer CACHED registrations via the API. Yeh, you can definitely register the same domain next day... if it's a crappy one therefore still left available. Sorry - but for a domain investor, 30-60 seconds later anything still worth picking (and not sniped by DropCatch/SnapNames) is looong gone.

Furthermore, you are limited to 10 domains max per API call. (edit: when searching for available domains, cause for registration it's obviously individual).

I mean, seriously? I often monitor up to 60 domains per day, this will likely go soon to hundreds (as I'm currently expanding), so what can any serious investor do with a 10 domains limit?? They know I'm that kind of user cause I've told them on signup. Okay, so be it - disabled search completely and broken the list in batches of 10 or less and tried even that as direct reg attempt. No luck. It won't reg anything. Even if it's just 1 domain call via the API. Minutes later, the domain is still not available. And yeah, it is available via any other registar's API already... sometimes for minutes already... (watched that unfold) but not on Epik.

I'm sorry but this is NOT how the swiss bank of domains should perform.

I'm not sure right now exactly who will actually use this API, who is this for? Us domain investors, certainly not - given the situation.

I hope that Epik takes this post as it should and as intended (as positive criticism from a domainer), and fix their service.

 

[Rob Monster]

• King Solomon was handicapped as far as reaching humility in that he had riches and power even the wealthiest of today may only dream about, but he did eventually come to the conclusion that working hard and truthfully and caring for your family are all that matter.
  
  
• Humility - humility requires the ability to admit that you’re wrong, which is something that the Monster, from admitting that he shouldn’t have denied the existence of the New Zealand massacre to shouldn’t have bought a domain outside of an ongoing NP auction, is incapable of doing. As long as he’s introduced this humility concept into this thread, it’s fair game for response I suppose.

Thanks @xynames

On changing my position about NZ, that is here:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/wh...and-rob-monster.1128748/page-102#post-7382998

As you can see, I overtly changed my position that there actually is something that can be considered "hate speech". We have since denied service or withdrawn service to several large publishers.

Also, understand that taking a position on something is essential as lawful free speech, does come at a cost since there are many determined forces that don't want that to exist. Such people are not your friends.

As for admitting I am wrong, no you are wrong there. In fact one of the main things I teach our leadership team at Epik is "fail early and fail cheap", i.e. quickly admit you are wrong and move on.

I believe one of the biggest problems the world faces today is that rich people are so loaded with ego, that they don't invest more in startups. They should but don't. Too many are afraid to be "wrong".

The entire premise of co-creation at Epik is built around humility. We recognize that our clients have good ideas about the evolution of a concept or product. So, we transparently invite co-creation.

I could give you many examples, but it would take us off-topic. If folks want to unload on where our API is weak or where support let them down, have at it. We're listening. Humbly.

 

[Ostrados]

Your Epik account has to be upgraded with your Namepros membership @Ostrados

How to do that?

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

How to do that?

Authorize... LiveChat and ask...

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Regarding API...
It is not effective to catch any good .com
Just waste of time... even if you use NameSilo or Dynadot API.

So backorder at fee for domainers.

 

[Ostrados]

Authorize... LiveChat and ask...

Are there any other things thar are discounted for NP members?

I started using Epik recently 1 month ago and still not familiar with their platform.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Are there any other things thar are discounted for NP members?

I started using Epik recently 1 month ago and still not familiar with their platform.

There is separate thread about Epik escrow for NP members.

 

[Rob Monster]

There is separate thread about Epik escrow for NP members.

Thread on the Epik escrow deal:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/if...escrow-you-are-wasting-time-and-money.1119508

Thread on the Epik dropcatching services:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/epik-com-dropcatch-mega-thread.1151848

Thread on general Epik feedback:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/discuss-your-epik-experience.1146613

PM @epik for any general support question, or PM me directly if you like -- I am not always real-time especially if we are doing some kind of domain purchasing poll as we often do.

 

[frank-germany]

I guess after all the hype of how great epik is,
you should be able to tolerate a negative feedback


and please remember
you are a huge fan
of "free speech"

 

[Rob Monster]

I guess after all the hype of how great epik is,
you should be able to tolerate a negative feedback


and please remember
you are a huge fan
of "free speech"

Yup, all good. I am a fan of it -- warts and all.

The OP sent a long private feedback with some great input. Our engineers will be reviewing the feedback this week as well as revisiting how we prioritize backorder calls to the API to reward loyal customers preferentially over those who only use the API for backorders. Loyalty will have its rewards.

 

[VaibhavA]

The reason for frustration was, I could not reach support and it seems to me very weird to contact someone on a public forum (even if it's the boss

Did you try to contact them today?

If yes, give them a break, its Sunday. But still, I believe you got the response.

Also, with time you will realize that you wont find better or faster support at any other registrar. Other registrars send an automated response of mail saying you will be responded within 72 hours.

As for Epik, Create a ticket, chat online, send a DM here. All these 3 options work gr8.

The worst thing by far is the API.

I believe, the best API you will find as of now will be of Dynadot and Gandi.

 

[frank-germany]

Yup, all good. I am a fan of it -- warts and all.

The OP sent a long private feedback with some great input. Our engineers will be reviewing the feedback this week as well as revisiting how we prioritize backorder calls to the API to reward loyal customers preferentially over those who only use the API for backorders. Loyalty will have its rewards.

backorders at epik have 1 huge disadvantage
over other registrars

as far as I know epik owns 1 registrar
and a lot of competitors own
A LOT more

 

[Rob Monster]

backorders at epik have 1 huge disadvantage
over other registrars

as far as I know epik owns 1 registrar
and a lot of competitors own
A LOT more

It is true.

We have proprietary software that is very clever and has a few novelties in it that allows it to outperform relative to others.

@Gube and @Pat8 are pursuing a strategy to make expanded use of idle registry connections from partner registrars.

I expect that in 2020, we'll also acquire a few smaller registrars, especially those with available Verisign unit rebate since we keep maxing ours out.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I am a technical neophyte and don't use API so won't comment on that part, but it seems to me rather unfair to say that they are not support responsive in the title of this thread. Not only do they reply to email requests, and have a mainly good knowledge base, but also many of their staff are active on NamePros and will respond here. That is amazing support in my opinion.

And that access often results in improvements and fixes because they interact with the domaining community. Just one example - when I first started using their landers in the summer, it bothered me that when they localized to currency they did not distinguish between US$ and CDN$. That meant someone looking at my lander from Canada will think the price is in US$ when it really was converted to CDN$. I expressed that concern here on NamePros, and within 48 hr they had changed the display so that when it was CDN$ that showed by the price, not just by scrolling down to the bottom of the page. I suspect I was the only one who complained about it, and they responded quickly.

Another day I noticed that landers were loading slower from Canada than normal. They immediately responded, shared some technical information on speed, and it was loading fast as usual shortly thereafter. The whole interaction was in minutes.

So fairness in saying that their support is disappointing? Not in my books. Not sure if you can still edit title, @twiki but it seems to me unfair.

Bob

 

[Rob Monster]

I am a technical neophyte and don't use API so won't comment on that part, but it seems to me rather unfair to say that they are not support responsive in the title of this thread. Not only do they reply to email requests, and have a mainly good knowledge base, but also many of their staff are active on NamePros and will respond here. That is amazing support in my opinion.

And that access often results in improvements and fixes because they interact with the domaining community. Just one example - when I first started using their landers in the summer, it bothered me that when they localized to currency they did not distinguish between US$ and CDN$. That meant someone looking at my lander from Canada will think the price is in US$ when it really was converted to CDN$. I expressed that concern here on NamePros, and within 48 hr they had changed the display so that when it was CDN$ that showed by the price, not just by scrolling down to the bottom of the page. I suspect I was the only one who complained about it, and they responded quickly.

Another day I noticed that landers were loading slower from Canada than normal. They immediately responded, shared some technical information on speed, and it was loading fast as usual shortly thereafter. The whole interaction was in minutes.

So fairness in saying that their support is disappointing? Not in my books. Not sure if you can still edit title, @twiki but it seems to me unfair.

Bob

No worries, Bob. He is still learning the secret handshake...

In all seriousness, his input was great. In the last 24 hours I have learned a whole bunch about competing APIs and where we stack up notably in the backorder area.

We have an active project to release a WHMCS plug-in that will empower a large number of resellers to resell Epik if they are not content to be an affiliate. We know there is an opportunity there.

As for the API power-users who write their own software, we'll learn from themttoo and hopefully have the industry's favorite registrar API before long.

It is becoming clear that the industry expects Epik to be increasingly perfect in every area. Fine. That is a good benchmark. We'll see how close we can get.

 

[tonyk2000]

It is becoming clear that the industry expects Epik to be increasingly perfect in every area. Fine. That is a good benchmark. We'll see how close we can get.

... and make Epik vulnerable to end up in hands of some private equity firm or some other "shark". Who will stop developing and downgrade existing platform. Such things happened before. Not exclusively in domaining, also in IT in general (hosting)... *I do not mean to say that Epik should not grow now*

 

[Samer]

Exactly. Careful, Bob... Your post might

... and make Epik vulnerable to end up in hands of some private equity firm or some other "shark". Who will stop developing and downgrade existing platform. Such things happened before. Not exclusively in domaining, also in IT in general (hosting)... *I do not mean to say that Epik should not grow now*

Come on, Tony. Privately-held, debt-free, US company i am proud to support. Why say that

As long as Rob is at the helm..
“Nowhere to go, but up!”

Samer

 

[Rob Monster]

... and make Epik vulnerable to end up in hands of some private equity firm or some other "shark". Who will stop developing and downgrade existing platform. Such things happened before. Not exclusively in domaining, also in IT in general (hosting)... *I do not mean to say that Epik should not grow now*

FWIW, Epik is closely held. We have no institutional PE owners. Despite that, we have been able to move swiftly, opportunistically engaging in acquisition and empowering more people.

I do think there is a place for institutional PE in capital structures but maverick CEOs make PEs a bit nervous so I don't see us going that route.

If you ask me, that is good news for the industry because the "winner take all" game is rigged to keep as many people as possible in debt, and/or working 3 jobs.

Threads like "Shoot the Moon" and "Teach a man to fish" are sharing strategies for overcoming scarcity with abundance. The big PEs I know would not typically embrace such strategies.

 

[Ostrados]

I dont know about Epik API either I am relatively new Epik user I only last month started registering/transfering domains at Epik.. but I know them for longer than that and to be fair their support is more than great! more than 6 months ago I needed help on an issue from Epik, I bought a domain from a NP user that disappeared after receiving the money without transfering the domain to me, the domain was registered at Epik, so I contacted Epik support using chat and Rob was on the chat that day and he was very helpful, he followed up with Eric at Namepros to solve the problem, and he even called the domain owner on the phone.. at the end I got full refund.. thanks for Rob. Imagine same scenario if it was Godaddy support!

My only criticism for Epik is that they over promote themselves at the forums, they are trying to use natural promotion by engaging people in discussions, nothing wrong without but it should not be overdone and they should be totally transparent and make sure they only using 100% factual info and avoid speculations that could be interpreted as misinfo under some circumstances.

 

[tonyk2000]

Epik is closely held. We have no institutional PE owners

The industry needs Epik. Headed by Rob. Regardless of misc. controversial related topics including right here at NP (where different political and different personal opinions on various subjects are discussed). The history is teaching us that a number of IT companies became a victim of their own success (such as good hosts purchased and downgraded by EIG - Endurance). Hope that this would never happen to Epik.

 

[twiki]

No worries, Bob. He is still learning the secret handshake...

In all seriousness, his input was great. In the last 24 hours I have learned a whole bunch about competing APIs and where we stack up notably in the backorder area.

We have an active project to release a WHMCS plug-in that will empower a large number of resellers to resell Epik if they are not content to be an affiliate. We know there is an opportunity there.

As for the API power-users who write their own software, we'll learn from themttoo and hopefully have the industry's favorite registrar API before long.

It is becoming clear that the industry expects Epik to be increasingly perfect in every area. Fine. That is a good benchmark. We'll see how close we can get.

Thank you for appreciating the feedback. Glad to be of help - although I know I stepped on some toes by doing so. Hopefully not that hard.

Although my post has been indeed quite critical, they say there's no such thing as bad publicity. In fact there's yet one opportunity to shine, well, has been captured.

Side note, nobody is perfect so it's pointless to aim for perfection (that's not what needs to be done). But you have to always look at competitors and not remain behind on certain aspects. That's tough - the number of details to care for is always mind-blowing - but also the competition is always keeping a business on its toes and, in essence, pushing quality forward for the benefit of all users.

 

[Samer]

Thank you for appreciating the feedback. Glad to be of help - although I know I stepped on some toes by doing so. Hopefully not that hard.

Although my post has been indeed quite critical, they say there's no such thing as bad publicity. In fact there's yet one opportunity to shine, well, has been captured.

Side note, nobody is perfect so it's pointless to aim for perfection (that's not what needs to be done). But you have to always look at competitors and not remain behind on certain aspects. That's tough - the number of details to care for is always mind-blowing - but also the competition is always keeping a business on its toes and, in essence, pushing quality forward for the benefit of all users.

i agree with everything except no bad PR
.
thankfully got worked out.

Sorry if i stepped on your toes in initial post

Samer

 

[twiki]

This experience (with its pros and cons) has brought to me some interesting views, actually from both sides of the situation. Yes I've been on the other end, as an entrepreneur (doing different business).

First off, the negative feedback poster's end.

Most users will never give you this kind of feedback. They simply walk away and the problem stays hidden, driving away yet more valuable users. In the end, it's the business that loses. And the first reaction is, inevitably, to dislike the negative feedback commenter and to tell them they're not doing something nice. It's human to do so.

People are too afraid to voice out their negative feedback. And for good reason. It's quite stressful to do so, especially on a public forum; and especially when the business is quite loved by the community. Inevitably someone will go straight for the jugular, and in some cases you might even get eviscerated in public. The online world is great, but we are too judgemental - and this hurts everybody.

I'd love people to give me their precious negative feedback. Yet they don't.

I remember how many campaigns we had in the past to get such feedback, only to see clients keeping their teeth clenched and not saying a single world. We don't need a tap on the back - you gave us that by purchasing. Tell us what we do wrong instead, and why you walk away this time.

Example, we had our office phones set to ring while on call, so we can see there's another customer on the line and call them back when we're off the call. But this backfired. At times our lines are so busy that every line is on call, and the callers think nobody is taking any phone at this firm.

One such caller left an angry 1-star review on Google for the issue. We replied and apologized and thanked. Now the phones ring busy if we are all on call, well the callers now know they simply need to retry in order to get through. This has cost us some rating at the moment, but brought more clients on the long term.

But it's so rare to get this kind of feedback. Anyway, food for thought.

 

[twiki]

i agree with everything except no bad PR
.
thankfully got worked out.

Sorry if i stepped on your toes in initial post

Samer

No worries

 

[Ategy]

Re: Epik Support ... I still remember calling very late into the night (East Coast) and the phone was picked up after a couple of rings .. I recognised the voice right away and said "Rob?" .. lol .. Sure enough I was right and it was @Rob Monster answering support.

That being said .. when it comes to support, no registrar is perfect. But for the most part Epik is well above average.

One issue you touched upon was documentation, and in that regard, I honestly don't know of ANY registrar to which I'd give even a 7/10. FAQs and documentation is one of the most overlooked and undervalued aspects of just about every registrar. Most are so disconnected from their FAQs that don't even realise that most of the information in their FAQs are 1-2 Platform-Generations out of date. Most registrars are so happy about making an upgrade that they forget to document it. Which ultimately ends up being the largest source of frustration to clients, as well as a huge long term cost and financial drain on the registrar due to support costs.

While Epik certainly are not the worst in this regard, the fact they are on supercharged growth both in terms of number of clients/domains and features/services, does mean that documentations/FAQs are prone to be an issue.

I'm a fan of Epik .. they have some extremely useful and helpful features (and great prices .. lol) .. but I'll be the first to say that sometimes things aren't always obvious (again though .. they are FAR from being the worst .. I'm looking at you GoDaddy .. lol). It can be frustrating to those who just like to figure things out for themselves knowing that usually the type of information we look for isn't available with Tier 1 support, but in fairness to Epik, I can't think of any issue/question that I didn't get a reply to within a day or so (and usually less).

All that said ...The type of API level support you're looking for, in all fairness is not a quick-fix-holiday-weekend-expect-a-reply-in-3-hours type situation. When you're doing something as complex as integrating your custom made API integration software into a new registrar, you kinda almost have to expect a couple of issues, that in all fairness normally need to be handled by an upper-tier support or dev-level "weekday 9-5" staffer.


All that said .. I've reported several glitches, bugs, clarity/UX issues to Rob, and for the most part Epik has been fairly responsive and quick to address the issues in question. That's actually why I like Epik .. because I don't expect any registrar to be perfect .. but it's how they deal with and improve upon the existing imperfections that matters.

Epik is growing very fast and constantly adding new features .. in the tech world there is ZERO chance of evolving quickly without facing a few bumps in the road. But overall the Epik overall experience is pretty hard to beat .. and it's only going to get better.

 

[JB Lions]

This experience (with its pros and cons) has brought to me some interesting views, actually from both sides of the situation. Yes I've been on the other end, as an entrepreneur (doing different business).

First off, the negative feedback poster's end.

Most users will never give you this kind of feedback. They simply walk away and the problem stays hidden, driving away yet more valuable users. In the end, it's the business that loses. And the first reaction is, inevitably, to dislike the negative feedback commenter and to tell them they're not doing something nice. It's human to do so.

People are too afraid to voice out their negative feedback. And for good reason. It's quite stressful to do so, especially on a public forum; and especially when the business is quite loved by the community. Inevitably someone will go straight for the jugular, and in some cases you might even get eviscerated in public. The online world is great, but we are too judgemental - and this hurts everybody.

I'd love people to give me their precious negative feedback. Yet they don't.

I remember how many campaigns we had in the past to get such feedback, only to see clients keeping their teeth clenched and not saying a single world. We don't need a tap on the back - you gave us that by purchasing. Tell us what we do wrong instead, and why you walk away this time.

Example, we had our office phones set to ring while on call, so we can see there's another customer on the line and call them back when we're off the call. But this backfired. At times our lines are so busy that every line is on call, and the callers think nobody is taking any phone at this firm.

One such caller left an angry 1-star review on Google for the issue. We replied and apologized and thanked. Now the phones ring busy if we are all on call, well the callers now know they simply need to retry in order to get through. This has cost us some rating at the moment, but brought more clients on the long term.

But it's so rare to get this kind of feedback. Anyway, food for thought.

A lot of people here have been greased, hence the replies you're getting.

I've always had great support at GoDaddy since I have my own rep, but if someone doesn't, then that's their experience.

I've always been paid every month on time by Namejet but some people have posted they have payment issues. I don't jump in those threads attacking them, pointing out I've never had issues therefore you must be full of it. I say, I hope it gets worked out and they should have better communication with you.

So if you or anybody else has issues with anybody, or any company, you can post about it. Don't let people try to make you feel bad about it.