poll Domaining's version of March Madness - Who is the best registrar in the business? 2020 Edition

[equity78]

It's time for the domain industry's version of March Madness

The best registrar in the business for 2020

Registrars that got less than 2 votes from last time were not included, Uniregistry being acquired by GoDaddy is not included.

the last big poll here.

Can NameSilo defend their crown? Will Epik finally come through and attain the top spot? GoDaddy always a contender. Any surprises?

 

[equity78]

I'm not sure if those categories are relevant. I like Epik and I think they are doing great innovative work, in particular for domainers and emerging markets. I also like Rob Monster's contributions - he is always insightful, polite, full of ideas and he seems to have an infinite amount of energy.

The issue is one word: overkill. I love my mother, but I don't want her to call me every 5 minutes to ask me if I need something from her. Sometimes, less is more, particularly on a forum that should ideally be registrar/registry-agnostic.

I agree with that, and the mods have said report what you think is over the top or promotional, that's what people should do and I think @Mod Team Alfa and the rest will remove them.

 

[Pierre Barnard]

Dynadot ofcourse.

 

[Rob Monster]

Tony I will make sure to break down the votes when it closes and if I can identify members as employees of any company I will include that in results.

It is a good thing that the poll is public.

Even if you back out the few staff who voted for Epik, the results are apparent and the overnight statistical sample is valid:

I am humbled by that.

Two years ago we were not even in the consideration set.

One year ago we were a contender but far from a winner.

And now we are a front-runner. Wow. I would not have predicted that.

We have given this our all -- value, service and innovation. We are far from perfect, but we are listening, co-creating and empowering. For some that is not going to be enough.

However, for those who we do empower, I believe you will have a relative competitive advantage and will have lower costs, higher velocity, and greater efficiency.

We'll do our best to not disappoint and thank all, both fans and critics, for the opportunity to learn from you, whether intentional or not.

 

[DnFolk]

Brad, I am a domainer first and 90% of my domains are at Epik because I like the registrar most of all. My duties as an employee at Epik have nothing to do with this poll. The same applies to all the people that decided to vote on this poll.

I also use NameSilo, Godaddy, Network Solutions, etc. almost daily.

agree with this totally, even after joining at epik i have not stopped using godaddy or still been selling domains at other marketplaces. I have been quite vocal to @Rob Monster about epik products and services. there is absolutely no pressure for anything.

I voted epik because i feel right now it truly is a best registrar for domainers, my reasons -

1. fixed prices of .com renewals just 8.49 with crypto even lesser 8.10 lowest i believe, regular transfer registeration offers, more frequent offers than anyone else.
2. instant activation of afternic sedo premium listing, no lock of 2 months when you transfer your names at epik. This is highly beneficial if sedo afternic premium sales is your biggest source.
3. multiple services at one place. escrow, landing page sale, registeration. everything can be managed at one place. register, transfer, earn, resell, sale, escrow, purchase spend everything at one place.
4. domain loans, nameliquidate, domain graduate, nameinvestors free estibot appraisals, and more. so many extra products and services
5. nice UI, many useful filters, easy interference, portfolio even if large is swiftly manageable.
6. All possible payment options available including crypto or amex cards.

7. most importantly best customer support ever. None other than @Rob Monster himself personally makes sure that every customer issue is taken care of, which CEO does that? easily approachable just like Rob epik team always striving to give and improve services and products that are more and more friendly for domainers. Personal attention to every customer. Intent of overall empowerment.

Having said this i also believe that there will always be scope of improvement and following are the points where i would want epik to improve -

1. 15 days grace period for renewal is too less.
2. there must be option to download auth codes in bulk
3. if you bring a lead yourself there should be less commision and no minimum fees.
4. more filters at nameliquidate

I also like dynadot and namesilo. But overall the positives of epik i mentioned above easily overpowers all other registrars.

 

[BharatR]

agree with this totally, even after joining at epik i have not stopped using godaddy or still been selling domains at other marketplaces. I have been quite vocal to @Rob Monster about epik products and services. there is absolutely no pressure for anything.

I voted epik because i feel right now it truly is a best registrar for domainers, my reasons -

1. fixed prices of .com renewals just 8.49 with crypto even lesser 8.10 lowest i believe, regular transfer registeration offers, more frequent offers than anyone else.
2. instant activation of afternic sedo premium listing, no lock of 2 months when you transfer your names at epik. This is highly beneficial if sedo afternic premium sales is your biggest source.
3. multiple services at one place. escrow, landing page sale, registeration. everything can be managed at one place. register, transfer, earn, resell, sale, escrow, purchase spend everything at one place.
4. domain loans, nameliquidate, domain graduate, nameinvestors free estibot appraisals, and more. so many extra products and services
5. nice UI, many useful filters, easy interference, portfolio even if large is swiftly manageable.
6. All possible payment options available including crypto or amex cards.

7. most importantly best customer support ever. None other than @Rob Monster himself personally makes sure that every customer issue is taken care of, which CEO does that? easily approachable just like Rob epik team always striving to give and improve services and products that are more and more friendly for domainers. Personal attention to every customer. Intent of overall empowerment.

Having said this i also believe that there will always be scope of improvement and following are the points where i would want epik to improve -

1. 15 days grace period for renewal is too less.
2. there must be option to download auth codes in bulk
3. if you bring a lead yourself there should be less commision and no minimum fees.
4. more filters at nameliquidate

I also like dynadot and namesilo. But overall the positives of epik i mentioned above easily overpowers all other registrars.

Although imo dan.com have better landing page but i agree with you @DnFolk as registrar i voted epik in overall services and all the options they provide. On your 7th point i fully substantiate it when i was new at NP, @Rob Monster supported me the most and guided me with a long nice interaction including discussion outside of domains via personal email, i was amused with such a down to earth attitude of a big CEO. And yes i have not used many registrars but among the ones that i have used, epik easily leads for me as well.


I have checked other services of epik like nameliquidate nameinvestors intention is good but i see lot to improve on it and in terms of landing page i want them to become more competitive vis-a-vis dan healthy competition is always good for this industry.

 

[Internet.Domains]

We are far from perfect, but we are listening

Probably the most underrated attribute is "listening", yet it is the most important. The fact that a company, at it's highest levels, is listening and engaging is both phenomenal and exceptional. Both critics and supporters should appreciate this attribute and share in it's importance.

 

[boker]

GoDaddy for me this time, instant trust by end-users, in most cases. They are my customers & so I have to take that into consideration.

I love Dynadot, but recognition & global reach are GoDaddy's advantages over every other registrar.

imo

This is not the first time when somebody is talking about godaddy global recognition. In out of over 200 countries, as far as I know godaddy is instantly recognized in US, UK and India, if there are other countries where they are instantly recognized, than please share with us. I know for sure that in most Europe( outside UK) the majority of average users will not instantly recognize godaddy as a brand, so it's hard to talk about globally recognition. Mcdonalds, Apple, Nike, Adidas, BMW, and so on are globally recognizable brands, no comparation to godaddy, just if you compare them in the domaining world.

 

[gabri3l]

We are far from perfect, but we are listening, co-creating and empowering.

To be honest, I oppose the usage of a white cross on a red background if the entity has nothing to do with that particular piece of land. The new regulation that saw daylight in 2017 states the very same.

This appraisal shows no need to further use borderline deceitful statements. Plenty to lose, little to gain.

 

[boker]

Yeah. It certainly skews the results.

GoDaddy could come here with 500 employees if they wanted and win every poll.
It takes out all the objectivity.

Brad

Brad, I'm with you when you are arguing that staff should not vote for their own company, but in th same time, you can't change the rules of play during the game, because I'm pretty sure that in the last polls, some won by godaddy as well, godaddy employees were aloud to vote for godaddy, so it will not be fair to change the rules now, even if their votes it's not showing the clear picture. Also, some of these employees were epik users and could have voted for epik last years, so their vote will not dilute the general results. Regarding godaddy employees, they should be active users of namepros to vote and don't open a new account jsut with the purpose of voting.

 

[equity78]

Give your opinion here https://www.namepros.com/threads/should-employee-votes-count.1179775/

 

[johnn]

Another promotional thread for Monster.

@Samer. You need to read between the lines and stop blindly support the Monster.
We are people and we are not right all the time.

@equity78 You may want to close this thread because it is Monster spamming place now.

 

[Brands.International]

Cool poll -- Iwas not expecting it this early in 2020 but here we go.

For the folks who want to try Epik out, we have a $6.99 .COM transfer promo in effect:

https://www.epik.com/transfer

We'll keep that in place for as long as we can afford it. More about that here:

https://twitter.com/robmonster/status/1234968464428802048

If folks will be so kind as to use our SSL landers, escrow and marketplace, we'll not only provide renewals at cost with an endless list of free features, we'll even be able to do transfers below cost!

Promotional posts do not belong to General Discussion. For purpose of .com transfer promo information there is a Promotional section of Namepros.

 

[equity78]

Another promotional thread for Monster.

@Samer. You need to read between the lines and stop blindly support the Monster.
We are people and we are not right all the time.

@equity78 You may want to close this thread because it is Monster spamming place now.

Well Johnn I would hope the mods would eliminate the spam, or close down Namepros because the vibe I have gotten all day today, is because there are 35 employees of Epik on Namepros means that all discussions and polls and awards are useless or invalid because of Epik. Namepros should do something, members should all vote or just close the forum.

 

[Brands.International]

Thanks Kassey.

Guys like you are bringing the ideas. The NameInvestors.com dictionary engine was in part inspired by some of your reports. @MayC18 and @Gube have been working on the pinyin dictionary deployment.

Technology can empower many and what enthuses me most is that we can do almost all of it for free. The only part we really monetize is the EXIT.

Keep costs super low and then share in the upside for a successful exit. I think that is the winning formula, and by keeping overhead super low, we are able to be the sustainable cost leader.

Promotional posts do not belong to General Discussion. For purpose of NameInvestors.com information there is a Review section of Namepros.

 

[johnn]

The question of the day is why an CEO of Company keeps Spamming the forum despite so many threads from members talked about him and he also was temp banned several time?

 

[bmugford]

Promotional posts do not belong to General Discussion. For purpose of NameInvestors.com information there is a Review section of Namepros.

We have the first post offering some Epik registration promo, then one advertising name investors, then name liquidate in a comment later.

Rob has turned this thread into an Epik spam fest.

Brad

 

[Brands.International]

We have the first post offering some Epik registration promo, then one advertising name investors, then name liquidate in a comment later.

Rob has turned this thread into an Epik spam fest.

Brad

Of course he did, as usually. But the blame is not on him - Namepros moderators and owner(s) must decide whether they want this course of action to continue, or whether they will enforce their own rules, and/or create new rules to bring forum back on balance. I know they can enforce the rules pretty well, so I do not see why this should be exception.

It is pretty tiring over and over to report one member who simply thinks he is above the forum rules. Most people would already been banned for this.

Just to clarify - I do not care about Rob and/or about some small registrar Epik at all - I have no domains with them, I do not plan to do any business with them now or in future, and I have not even a slightest interest in Rob and/or his company and/or their services. Yet, I have been spammed about it since months now here and it seems to me there is no escape from it (...and from that infamous bigger pie as well).

Imo

 

[wwwweb]

So what makes a good register?

Affordable registrations, and transfers

Quick Pushes, and Express Transfer out when needed

Ability to transact crypto

Offers various payment methods for buyers across the World

Payment Plans

Good support, with ticket tracking

Effective marketplace able to handle buys/sells with low commissions, and quick payouts

Able to offer a wide range of extensions, and country codes

I suggest people make a checklist of what services they need, and what is offered, and choose the one that is right for them. As everyone has different needs, and portfolio sizes.

 

[DomainVP]

Epik is my registrar of choice. The only reason I have domains at other registrars is the 60 day lock.

When that 60 days is up I move my names right over to Epik.

- Side note -

I have read many posts from @Rob Monster , and I find them extremely relevant and helpful. In fact, I think the content he provides extremely helpful content across all levels of domaining experience.

The issue Namepros has is a troll problem.

Trolls have chased away any relevant thought leaders as their trolling posts far outweigh any knowledgeable information here on the forum.

Every now and then I will see a extremely valuable post/question get buried because nobody will contribute to the thread or it gets lost in threads that are focusing on yelling/shaming another domainer or registrar.

Now I'm not saying that there aren't great posts here, because there are, but most of the real knowledge doesn't get shared or discussed here.

For me, anyone who provides good content and knowledge should be supported by the community.

 

[etifit]

I love epik. The platform is very easy to navigate or use on like other registars I have used. So many innovations there that makes domaining smooth and fun.

I voted dynadot last year but this year epik all the way.
Keep up the good work @Rob Monster

 

[blockhead]

I use several registrars regularly - but voted without hesitation for my favorite registrar that doesn't spam my favorite forum incessantly, deliberately breaking rules and making the mods' jobs far more difficult - all for personal gain.

 

[blockhead]

Such disrespect.

No more Epik for me - your actions in this thread are the final straw for me.

 

[Rob Monster]

Such disrespect.

If this was a political campaign, we would expect candidates to show up and debate. Right?

If this was a talent contest, we would expect candidates to perform. Right?

If this was a chili cook-off, we would taste the chili. Right?

So, perhaps set aside your normalcy bias, and just think about the utility of Ray's thread. It is an order of magnitude more useful when the vendors provide some perspective.

Other than that, have a great day and remind your favorite registrar to show up.

 

[Steven McEvoy]

the vibe I have gotten all day today,

The Vibe you've gotten all day, I have been getting for about a year now.... NamePros is not a community anymore... Its really not. So much back and forth and hatred with new and old members. I mean even the support has changed to hidden.

 

[Samer]

Whatever Rob says is perceived as “spam”

I see passion; Rob true 2 his word, since day 1

If you havent made an epik, missing out

Samer