.us $4.95 .US names

[.tv]

iDotz.net is offering $4.95 .US registrations for a limited time.

Act fast!!

Reps appreciated.

 

[Cronus]

I needed to renew 323 .US domain names currently at Moniker. I put them in the cart and went to check out, but found myself staring in the last screen at the $2200+ renewal fee, which hurts a bit in this economy. Then I thought about the iDotz $4.95 promotion and how I could save about $650 by transferring there. Then I could transfer to another registrar in a year if they are charging much higher prices then.

But I don't think I'm going to do this. First of all, they don't even seem to have a bulk transfer form, so you have to paste the domain and auth codes in one at a time. And my experience is that if a company makes even transferring IN hard, transferring out (when I need to) will be a nightmare. Plus it sounds petty, but it swayed my feelings that their own domain name (idotz.net) is so lame. And they don't seem to be ICANN accredited themselves. Instead they use Key-systems' RRPproxy system. But what spooked me the most was a story on DNF (part1 ,part 2 ) about a guy who registered some .info domains there under a "free" promotion. They apparently ended up charging him anyway due some fine print in their promotion, plus they refused to give him the auth codes when he wanted to transfer out and he only got his domains transferred after months of work and intervention by Afilias. This is an old story (2004), but they seem to have the same set up and management.

So I think I'm just going to suck it up and pay the extra $650 to Moniker. They have their own problems, but at least I trust them not to scam me. And Moniker is still pretty fairly priced, just over 1/3 the $19.99 GoDaddy is trying to charge per domain! So much for GoDaddy pretending to be patriotic!

 

[yilduz]

just over 1/3 the $19.99 GoDaddy is trying to charge per domain! So much for GoDaddy pretending to be patriotic!

godaddy is crap!

 

[Narcissist]

thanks for the heads up

 

[tricolorro]

iDotz.net is offering $4.95 .US registrations for a limited time.

:hi:

I just visited their site and there are some potential red flags.

From "iDotz.Net Domain Name Registration Terms and Conditions"

1."Also you agree that you may not transfer your domain name registration to another domain name registrar within 10 days of the effective expiration date."

This is a violation of the Registrar-Registry agreement and ICANN policy:

"Registrars are not permitted to deny transfer requests arbitrarily. ICANN has no policy that permits or requires registrars to deny outgoing transfer requests solely because the registration is within X number of days before expiration"

See: http://www.icann.org/en/faq/#transfer

and:

Policy on Transfer of Registrations between Registrars.


"Instances when the requested change of Registrar may not be denied include, but are not limited to:

Domain name registration period time constraints, other than during the first 60 days of initial registration or during the first 60 days after a registrar transfer."

See: http://www.icann.org/en/transfers/policy-12jul04.htm
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2."You agree to provide a written or electronic signed authorization to iDotz.Net, along with a Transfer Out Fee for the transfer of the domain name to another registrar, BEFORE the transfer request is submitted to the gaining registrar."

This is outdated,inconvenient and designed to make it difficult to transfer out domains. Auth Codes were created to make transfers more secure but not more difficult.
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3."...along with a Transfer Out Fee"

They are closed today so I can't find out the cost of the transfer out fee
and if there really is one.
.
It does not seem to be in their FAQs or Knowledge Base.
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Tread carefully with this Registrar. :td: