advice Autorenewal is scam or just business?

Apprich · May 18, 2018

Hello,

I need an advice for this annoying strategy in domain industry..

I've seen this in most of the registrars every time you register new domain they set it auto-renewal true with renewal fee is horrendous price. and if you happen to forget any domain on this registrar with your credit card bound to this website they charge you with their high price and no refund back.. and they call this as business.

Trying to understand whether is scam or shady way or just business way it is... do we have consumer rights against it?

Registrar forcing for auto-renewal and then auto-charging to credit card the price they want and if customer say i don't want to renew it just refund back money to credit card..

they refuse doing it and stating "Terms and Conditions, we cannot provide a refund on domain names as these are personalised items."

what is it personalized items? does it make it qualified non-refundable product?
where is the consumer rights? could i refund any product after certain days?

Please help me to understand this, and what can we do against this registrar that's not refunding money back to credit card.

thanks to all.

Kate · May 19, 2018

Some registrars will send advance notice by E-mail before autorenew takes place. But I guess most don't want to take a chance, you might change your mind

DOMAIN ILLUMINATI · May 20, 2018

If you have the choice to choose between on / off autorenewal while the registration process, it's business.
This situation is normallyyy the case.

If you don't have this choice while the registration process and it is automaticallyyy set at autorenewal after the registration process, it's already shady business in my eyes - also if you can turn off the autorenewal then (of course this option must be given).
It's possible that some registrars acting like this.

If you don't have the choice to turn off the autorenewal after the domain is registered, then it would be scam - but I don't think you will ever face this situation, you should always be able to turn it off - at least within a specific time.
But be carefull, some registrars won't let you turn it off until the last dayyy before the domain expires.

At the end it all depends on the TOS (terms of service) of the registrar which you are using, every domain registration is an acceptance of a binding agreement between you and their TOS and you always should knowww to what you agreee

poweredbyme · May 20, 2018

As the prices at namesilo are fixed and naturally very low without needing discount coupon codes, you don't need to manually renew your domains to use discount coupons. I can turn on auto-renewal with peace of mind only at namesilo.

Apprich said:
Trying to understand whether is scam or shady way or just business way it is... do we have consumer rights against it?

For me, it's a shady business practice to sell the same thing to the same customer at different prices. But all big companies have an army of lawyers. It's difficult for an ordinary consumer to win a legal battle against to them. You normally have a right to ask for refund as a consumer right, but usually users have to accept to waive their certain rights during sign up or they can't create an account. Also I am unsure if a domainer can be defined as consumer. Registering/renewing a domain looks like to me more of a b2b type business. So, you should decide which registrar is the best one for you and should keep most of your domains at your favorite registrar. For me, namesilo is the best one.

ivey · May 20, 2018

It's probably just good business practice:

When you purchased something, that at checkout they give you the option to choose to put your item on auto renew or not. Just like if you purchase internet security or proactive or anything else.

I don't think it's good to automatically put anything on auto renew without your permission.

I simply called my registrar and had them lead me to change the settings so nothing auto renews.
The constant reminders are enough for me..

Each month I get to go through a list of my names a I get to choose what i want to renew and what I want to drop.

I would hate to renew some crap for $30. It happened before. And caused overdraft in my bank account.
I like having the responsibility to do it myself.

Note: what you can do is leave your highly valuable names on auto renew(manually).

Haroon Basha · May 21, 2018

Having experienced a lot of time my unwanted, junk domain names used to be auto renewed by Godaddy.com, that too at horrible regular rate (though I am a VIP customer, I have special discounted rates). This happened to me not once, several times. Then I decided to put off Auto Renewal button for all the domain names at one stroke. Thereby, I saved a lot of money. If I want to renew any worthy domain name, I will take care to renew it when they send me reminders. Auto-Renewals are profitable for the Registrar and double loss for the owner of the domain name. Remember, unless you are Discount Club member (need to pay $ 95 per year), your Credit Card will be charged for exorbitant renewal fees; for example manually you can renew it for $ 9.07 per year, but if it is auto-renewed, you credit card will be charged $ 15.17. Be discreet while opting for Auto-Renewals.

golan · May 21, 2018

Haroon Basha said:
Having experienced a lot of time my unwanted, junk domain names used to be auto renewed by Godaddy.com, that too at horrible regular rate (though I am a VIP customer, I have special discounted rates). This happened to me not once, several times. Then I decided to put off Auto Renewal button for all the domain names at one stroke. Thereby, I saved a lot of money. If I want to renew any worthy domain name, I will take care to renew it when they send me reminders. Auto-Renewals are profitable for the Registrar and double loss for the owner of the domain name. Remember, unless you are Discount Club member (need to pay $ 95 per year), your Credit Card will be charged for exorbitant renewal fees; for example manually you can renew it for $ 9.07 per year, but if it is auto-renewed, you credit card will be charged $ 15.17. Be discreet while opting for Auto-Renewals.

Another dirty practice by GD. One of the reasons i never use them other than for closeouts.

stewmath · May 22, 2018

I don't have any of my names on auto renewal, i manage them all in a way that when renewal is due i transfer them out to a cheaper registrar

Steven McEvoy · May 22, 2018

stub said:
What I don't like is sometimes the registrar will change from not renew to renew without telling you. I think GoDaddy have done that in the past, although I didn't keep any evidence. But it's not a biggie for me. Coz I always transfer my domains out ASAP. At every registrar.

Proof from personal experience another reason why I will never use Godaddy, specially their outrageous prices!

My theory on this, is stop jumping around registers find one you like and stay with it. Is the $1 promo really worth the hassle.

advice Autorenewal is scam or just business?

More options

Apprich

Top Member

Kate

Domainosaurus RexTop Member

DOMAIN ILLUMINATI

THTMVATMEDNOATTop Member

poweredbyme

Top Member

ivey

Top Member

Haroon Basha

Service.xyzTop Member

golan

GolanMedia.comTop Member

stewmath

Top Member

Steven McEvoy

CFaDN.comTop Member

Similar threads

We're social

New posts

Auction activity

What non .com extensions have you sold in 2024?

Polls of interest

Popular this week

Community favorite

Popular this month

Blog favorites

Pinned

Appreciation

Agreement