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opinion How and why these registrars live off legacy assets?

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I will not name any of them here coz they are a lot, but they all do the same thing
Quick facts
1) These registrars used to be well known in the past, so they have a legacy of thousands of customers with 100s of thousands of domains
2) They charge $20-50+ for a .com renewal
3) Each if their customers had a few names and are not domainers so they renew the names thinking that’s the norm
4) They have a profit margin of up to 600% in each renewal

Is this a customer obsessed approach?
Hell no! Their customers don’t know the market. Once any of them knows the real renewal prices anywhere else, they just leave the platform.

Do they get new customers?
Should be no, but unfortunately they force domainers to be new customers!

How?
One of their legacy customers doesn’t renew the domain then they list it with NameJet or SN etc...
one of us would win the domain in the auction, then we receive the worst email ever “welcome to XYZ registrar, that’s your new login information”
This email for me is one of the worst I receive in any given day

Why?
1) I have to go through a process of creating an account with a registrar that I will never reuse
2) The user interface is close to Atari 2600
3) You know the riddler from Batman? He is the only one who could get you the authorization code when needed
4) You have to mark a calendar for 60 days to pull the name off , AND to remember the login credentials for these
5) If you miss any of the above, you have to pay $45 renewing a domain name!

In company valuations there are 3 main pillars, their assets + Profit and loss statement + A premium
These guys don’t have assets as their systems are outdated
They are profitable but their profits are decreasing year after year
They have zero premium as it relies on Goodwill. Who would ever NOT warn a domaining friend to keep their names there?

I just question and challenge the boards of these registrars. I challenge them if they have a strategy. I challenge them that that’s a clean legally coated scam. I challenge them that they never cared about a customer. I challenge them they aren’t hiring competent staff to elevate their business to be competent with much younger companies like godaddy and namebright. I challenge them that they won’t survive 3 more years in the business and will have to divest And move their assets to a more competent board of another company.

we all customers and victims of this.
There should be a rule set by ICANN for the max renewal fee! This is nonsense and we as domainers should form a working group to present a case to ICANN. This is no joke. We erroneously pay millions for these companies in overcharged renewals. At times like now when a lot of us are liquidating portfolios to pay their basic monthly bills, this has to stop!

Thanks
Ahmed Elbaz
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Facts Facts Facts.

@OnlineDomainCom wrote a great piece on NameJet (same owner as Net Sol)
9A7DC782-890D-41A5-A5A2-231EB050A0DA.jpeg


100% agree everything; ironically, Web Parent is one of the biggest problems; “from the head”
 
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People dont like talking about it.

I dont know you personally. Thank you!

You have backbone.

Samer
 
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As a rule of thumb, it has to be a very good name at NJ/SN for me to buy it and put up with that. When I do I email to request the auth code on day 58 so by day 61 I should have it to transfer out and never look back.

As a side note about remembering your password for these registrars, I would argue that shouldn't be an issue for any site. Use a good password manager.
 
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So do you guys believe that ICANN could listen if presented a case?
 
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What you are pointing out is that a 'free market' exists.

People are generally either ignorant, too busy, or it is simply not worth their time to shop around for a better deal.

This is not restricted to the domain registration marketplace - it exists in most business spaces.
 
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@bazabizo what exactly do you suggest should happen? Should they close their doors? If so, why? They do not do anything illegal by charging high fees, or offering outdated interface. Now, lets imagine - no more Web .com (no more snapnames, no more namejet, no more netsol or register .com). If so, how would this benefit our industry? We will then always deal with hugedomains acting as either godaddy auctions second bidder or "the house" @ Drop Catch ... which would be a nightmare.
 
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So do you guys believe that ICANN could listen if presented a case?
What case?
ICANN don't fix the prices. Verisign is the registry that charges a fixed yearly price to registrars. Verisign currently charges $7.85 per .com domain name per year.

Then, the registrars are who fix their final price. If there are registars charging $35 or $40 yearly while others are just charging $9 or $15, be sure that the first ones will DISAPEAR.

But they seem to not care too much about it. They have a board of directors and a CEO that don't have a clue how domain world work. They just think, hey, if we have 100,000 customers and we charge $35 instead of $15, we will gain more, at least THIS year, wow, what a clever CEO!

Well, in few years, these registars will disapear, they lose customers by thousands yearly. But when the registar will be disapeared for the ineptitude of the board and the CEO, these will just change of company, moving to destroy another company, but hey, they will continue earning millions yearly for this!
 
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How?
One of their legacy customers doesn’t renew the domain then they list it with NameJet or SN etc...
one of us would win the domain in the auction, then we receive the worst email ever “welcome to XYZ registrar, that’s your new login information”
This email for me is one of the worst I receive in any given day

Why?
1) I have to go through a process of creating an account with a registrar that I will never reuse
2) The user interface is close to Atari 2600
3) You know the riddler from Batman? He is the only one who could get you the authorization code when needed
4) You have to mark a calendar for 60 days to pull the name off , AND to remember the login credentials for these
5) If you miss any of the above, you have to pay $45 renewing a domain name!
This is how it works:
If you get a domain at Dropatch (and win the auction) it will end up at Namebright, because they just use their own net of registars, more than 1,000.
But when you catch a domain through Snapnames or Namejet, then it can end up at Netsol or at other remote registar. Why? Because, besides of also having their own net of registrars, this net is not so wide as the dropcatch one. Snapnames has partened with lots of other registars, to use them at the moment of the domain drop, so they can increase their chances to catch the domain.
If the domain just have one bidder, chances are that they just use their own registrar net to catch it, so the domain will end up registered (managed) at Netsol.
But, if the domain has many bidders, then snapnames will use all their broad net of registars, including the external ones, to have more chances to catch the domain.

In resume, the only that you have to care about, is to be happy because you catched and won the domain at auction. Don't care about the registrar, just set up an alarm at your phone, so in 60 days you will be alerted and then change of registrar to your preferred one.
Hope this helps!
 
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All I am saying is that its a free world, YES.
But to give registrars the right to price it upto 600$ is not fair. Thats not free world, its overcharging!
That should be prohibited.
There should be a cap.
 
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All I am saying is that its a free world, YES.
But to give registrars the right to price it upto 600$ is not fair. Thats not free world, its overcharging!
That should be prohibited.
There should be a cap.
Do you think that if a registrar charges a price of 600$, will have much success? Having other registrars charging only $9 or $10?
No, the 600$ registrar will dissapear in less than 1 month. And the ones charging $9, $10 or $15 will be the ones who will become rich, not because the price is cheaper, but because they will have MILLIONS of customers.
At least, this is how Godaddy has become a giant nowadays. Because when they started, they charged $10 or $15, when the rest were charging $35 - $40 yearly.
 
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@bazabizo what exactly do you suggest should happen? Should they close their doors? If so, why? They do not do anything illegal by charging high fees, or offering outdated interface. Now, lets imagine - no more Web .com (no more snapnames, no more namejet, no more netsol or register .com). If so, how would this benefit our industry? We will then always deal with hugedomains acting as either godaddy auctions second bidder or "the house" @ Drop Catch ... which would be a nightmare.

Abolish the 5-7 day transfer wait to get out of that hell-hole -and get rid of the stupid 60 lock.
 
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Abolish the 5-7 day transfer wait to get out of that hell-hole -and get rid of the stupid 60 lock.
Exactly, thats another thing that should be implemented!
 
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I will not name any of them here coz they are a lot, but they all do the same thing
Quick facts
1) These registrars used to be well known in the past, so they have a legacy of thousands of customers with 100s of thousands of domains
2) They charge $20-50+ for a .com renewal
3) Each if their customers had a few names and are not domainers so they renew the names thinking that’s the norm
4) They have a profit margin of up to 600% in each renewal

Is this a customer obsessed approach?
Hell no! Their customers don’t know the market. Once any of them knows the real renewal prices anywhere else, they just leave the platform.

Do they get new customers?
Should be no, but unfortunately they force domainers to be new customers!

How?
One of their legacy customers doesn’t renew the domain then they list it with NameJet or SN etc...
one of us would win the domain in the auction, then we receive the worst email ever “welcome to XYZ registrar, that’s your new login information”
This email for me is one of the worst I receive in any given day

Why?
1) I have to go through a process of creating an account with a registrar that I will never reuse
2) The user interface is close to Atari 2600
3) You know the riddler from Batman? He is the only one who could get you the authorization code when needed
4) You have to mark a calendar for 60 days to pull the name off , AND to remember the login credentials for these
5) If you miss any of the above, you have to pay $45 renewing a domain name!

In company valuations there are 3 main pillars, their assets + Profit and loss statement + A premium
These guys don’t have assets as their systems are outdated
They are profitable but their profits are decreasing year after year
They have zero premium as it relies on Goodwill. Who would ever NOT warn a domaining friend to keep their names there?

I just question and challenge the boards of these registrars. I challenge them if they have a strategy. I challenge them that that’s a clean legally coated scam. I challenge them that they never cared about a customer. I challenge them they aren’t hiring competent staff to elevate their business to be competent with much younger companies like godaddy and namebright. I challenge them that they won’t survive 3 more years in the business and will have to divest And move their assets to a more competent board of another company.

we all customers and victims of this.
There should be a rule set by ICANN for the max renewal fee! This is nonsense and we as domainers should form a working group to present a case to ICANN. This is no joke. We erroneously pay millions for these companies in overcharged renewals. At times like now when a lot of us are liquidating portfolios to pay their basic monthly bills, this has to stop!

Thanks
Ahmed Elbaz
Such a nicely written post!

I completely agree with your points. Either Verisign or ICANN should impose fixed renewal fees and have a flexible tiers of renewal commissions for the registrars. I support the cause of fair pricing.

Regards.
 
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All I am saying is that its a free world, YES.
But to give registrars the right to price it upto 600$ is not fair. Thats not free world, its overcharging!
That should be prohibited.
There should be a cap.

I think you mean free market (as I mentioned earlier) and a it is how the market in a capitalist economy should work.

In economics, a free market is a system in which the prices for goods and services are self-regulated by the open market and by consumers. In a free market, the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government or other authority, and from all forms of economic privilege, monopolies and artificial scarcities. - Wikipedia

In some instances this may not seem fair as you are pointing out, but people have the freedom to take their business elsewhere, and the overcharging companies will eventually fail.

The alternative is a regulated market .
 
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I think you mean free market (as I mentioned earlier) and a it is how the market in a capitalist economy should work.

In economics, a free market is a system in which the prices for goods and services are self-regulated by the open market and by consumers. In a free market, the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government or other authority, and from all forms of economic privilege, monopolies and artificial scarcities. - Wikipedia

In some instances this may not seem fair as you are pointing out, but people have the freedom to take their business elsewhere, and the overcharging companies will eventually fail.

The alternative is a regulated market .
Well this should be a regulated market for renewals, for one single reason. There is no differentiator at all. Its the same renewal period of 12 months in any registrar and no added value from one vs another!
Domaining is built on top of free markets, especially for pricing names. However each name is unique, but every renewal is the same!
 
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Well this should be a regulated market for renewals, for one single reason. There is no differentiator at all. Its the same renewal period of 12 months in any registrar and no added value from one vs another!
Domaining is built on top of free markets, especially for pricing names. However each name is unique, but every renewal is the same!

Once you regulate something, it becomes expensive.
You also won't get all the special domain discount deals that many NP members thrive off.
 
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To put it simply, a free market drives competition, and keeps costs down.
 
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