ALPNAMES.COM - WARNING! WILL DELETE YOUR DOMAINS & HIKE PRICES WITHOUT NOTICE.

[tomcarl]

As someone who has experience with almost every major registrar out there, I am very unhappy with my AlpNames.com experience. Here's why:

1. They raised their .COM renewal fees from $8.75 to $15.00 with NO warning, NO email, NO reminder or alert. A few days prior I renewed a few domains at $8.75, a couple days later I add expired domains to my cart to renew, they're all set at $15.00 each. Dozens of them.

2. They will DELETE DOMAINS from your account OR CHARGE YOU a $60 Recovery fee, a DAY BEFORE the deadline date they specified in their emails when the domain expired! For example: "You must renew domain before the 3rd or it may be unable to recover!" , Ok fine, then on the 2nd, not the 3rd, they're all deleted or a 60 recovery fee is slapped on them. And I checked time-zones, that had nothing to do with it, they were clear in all time-zones!

3. Slow responses for support. I've contacted their support regarding the price hike, then about the domains being deleted before their due time, going on 4 days still waiting for response on time-sensitive/urgent issue.

4. Lastly, Visa doesn't seem to like this company as they're always blocking payment to them. I had to call my bank several times.

I was introduced to AlpNames because of the transfer promo a couple years ago, without issues which is why I didn't transfer out, $8.75 was reasonable so I paid back the savings to them AND THEM some, renewed my domains (HUNDREDS) for 2+ years with them AFTER promo and was going to again, NOT NOW.

If you have names with AlpNames, again, they hiked .com renewals up from $8.75 to $15.00, so if you have dozens or hundreds of domains to renew and you're not looking for an unpleasant surprise during renewal time, here's your fair warning which they won't give. And they lock your domains so you can't transfer out after expiry date and they may just delete your domains or put them in grace period early. Enjoy.

 

[kite26]

I have lost my .pro portfolio there. They deleted them without warning. I never touched them again after that.

 

[Rob Monster]

I thought so too at first.. because of the screen that pops over the options/code.. but all you gotta do is click cancel or later at that point.. and your back to picking options.. including clicking the secret code link

Jurgen was right.. its upto -36 days to get your code and transfer out

so the problem isn't really there with alpnames.

the problem is more (1) when alpnames goes from 9$ to 15$ for renewal without notice.
and (2) when its now been down couple days... without notice

as I said before no one here would probably even know about alpnames had it not been for their $5 promo 1-2 years back.

I did just use the alt link someone gave above to login and get the 25 codes for all names I own there.. of which I probably will keep maybe 15... so I think I'll go ahead and end my biz with them here... not because I believe they shut down without notice for good.. but because I don't like the two things I mentioned above. I guess even if they do shutdown (hyphotiteically speaking) we can still transfer out names if we have code and its unlocked in whois.

though honestly I've no cluie what happens to names at a registrar.. if one shuts down... or if there is some icann rules protecting names.. so people can at least transfer out... for say X days or months after shutdown... maybe @Rob Monster knows this... I would imagine the people who registered those names are somehow protected for their "property". or I hope... never happened to me before so I do not know.

The Alpnames site is still down and it appears nobody works there now. As such, it looks like lights out there. Andee Hill at ICANN is investigating the matter. I confirmed that this is in her scope.

For anyone who can access their domains via the Logicboxes URL, we welcome you at Epik with domains at cost, e.g. $8.49 for all-inclusive .COM.

I have no word on de-accreditation so for now every registrant has to find their own path. If ICANN intervenes, they have the option of moving all domains to another registrar in bulk.

Hopefully ICANN provides some clarity soon. From what I know, the vast majority of the domains there at Alpnames are governed by ICANN agreements.

@Andee Hill

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

I have lost my .pro portfolio there. They deleted them without warning. I never touched them again after that.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/al...es-without-notice.1126471/page-2#post-7144401

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Does the 60 day transfer out restriction still apply?

https://www.namepros.com/threads/please-help-get-on-fast-transfer.1127580/#post-7147420

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

All messages/notifications are coming from LogicBoxes.
AlpNames just plugged-in their accreditations in LB panel and that's all.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Do we expect that the myorderbox way to control will stay working in long term?

Until the date it is paid by AlpNames to LB.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

If I transfer a domain out, after unlocking and getting auth code, from there does it require an approval from Alpnames, or after 5 days my new registrar will be able to complete the transfer without any response from Alpnames?

No response means APPROVED if not manually cancelled within 5 days.
This is applicable to any losing registrar.

 

[PowerDN]

Damn, i have more than 200 names there and just knew this

 

[ben pedri]

ok I just checked.. I have like 40 names left.. most will drop.

that being said... couldn't find auto renew... do they have it? how to remove it in bulk?
I checked their support help db... and it talks about some toggle on off once you clicked on name.... but I don't see it.. hmmmmm weird..

and yes, like u say they did jackup price to $15. which sucks.

however, upto few months ago.. I was able to transfer out tens of .com after expiry.. like up to day -30... and no extra fee... unless this too they changed recently if thats what you mean.

thanks!

I just transferred an in expir

An Epik customer is reporting challenges with accessing AlpNames.

In the meantime, I am at ICANN in Kobe and will try to track down someone from Alpnames. Apparently Robert Posnett from Alpnames is here.

I did also put a question to the ICANN Registrar Stakeholder Group just now.

If anyone is still having issues with Alpnames, you can email me at [email protected] and will try to coordinate with Alpnames.

Thanks.
Rob

 

[luantt]

I had only 1 here but luckily it expired for long time ago.
Hope you guys can transfer all yours out and I just hope to see an official notification from AlpNames or ICANN about this provider.

 

[wwwweb]

Did all those promo reg's, and transfers bankrupt them?

 

[ben pedri]

obviously not ,rob monster said the big shots ,or should I say big snakes were out of all places icann conference ,hopefully someone poisons the bastards

 

[Rob Monster]

obviously not ,rob monster said the big shots ,or should I say big snakes were out of all places icann conference ,hopefully someone poisons the bastards

Ben - As clarified privately just now, Alpnames personnel were not in attendance at ICANN. If you look at the comments from the former CEO, Damon Barnard, posted earlier, it is clear that there is plenty of humility, regret, and even contrition on the part of the leadership there who likely worked their tails off.

One thing I will say is that smaller registrars struggle to keep up with the big guys, e.g. Godaddy that not only has a huge scale advantage, but has also an endless ability to borrow funds plus can access equity markets pretty much as needed through private placements that have institutional buyers.

I suspect with Alpnames there was a bit of collateral damage from the very large bet by Famous Four on new TLDs which did not work out vis-a-vis dependence on the registrar channel. And then Alp adopted a blitzscaling model which is great if you can access capital markets but can be a fiasco when you can't!

To chase the Godaddy model without the capital structure is very gutsy. In some ways, NameSilo might be trying to do exactly that with a highly levered balance sheet and a dependence on Verisign unit rebates that are tied to year-over-year growth metrics. Suffice it to say that the stakes are high.

By contrast, Epik has a dual pricing model where retail customers pay a high margin for a full service product while professional domain investors get domains at cost. For being global and a fast innovator, we have a relatively lean overhead model and we have raised only a modest amount of value-added capital.

Hopefully it all works out before folks lose domains. ICANN has been warned and can hopefully speak with Alpnames stakeholders this week to find a workaround that does the least damage to the fewest people regardless of whether Alpnames equity holders see a penny from their investment as that ship has sailed.

 

[timestamp]

I unlocked domains and got auth codes.

Lets say some other registrar takes over alpnames.
Will domains get locked and auth codes changed?

 

[Domains - Wanted]

I unlocked domains and got auth codes.

Lets say some other registrar takes over alpnames.
Will domains get locked and auth codes changed?

Yes.

 

[HotKey]

Really really big thx to @jorgeug for the link, can confirm works perfect, full access to domains (as customer login). Have unlocked, and in process of transferring remaining names out. With only a handful left, don't care to see the aftermath of all this.

@Bob Hawkes just fyi, your link to this thread from the article on your site is broke..

 

[Rob Monster]

For anyone who missed it, this URL apparently works for all all Alpnames users:

https://apal516804.myorderbox.com/

Good luck.

@Andee Hill - FYI!

 

[Rob Monster]

Officially lights out for Alpnames:

https://onlinedomain.com/2019/03/15/domain-name-news/icann-terminates-alpnames-registrar/

We'll see how quickly ICANN appoints a new registrar here.

 

[alcy]

I wonder what the delays are usually.

so if I understand things correctly, icann will apoint one singular gaining registrar for all names and registrants? or multiple gaining registrars?

I think we better act quick to transfer out our names where we want.. while we can.. cause what if situation arises where icann forces gaining registrar to be somehting where transfer .com or other tld rates are much higher than averages? such registrars do exist.

i better get to work on my 25 names asap. man what a mess it can be dealing with little known registrars in some exotic places...

 

[Rob Monster]

I wonder what the delays are usually.

so if I understand things correctly, icann will apoint one singular gaining registrar for all names and registrants? or multiple gaining registrars?

I think we better act quick to transfer out our names where we want.. while we can.. cause what if situation arises where icann forces gaining registrar to be somehting where transfer .com or other tld rates are much higher than averages? such registrars do exist.

i better get to work on my 25 names asap. man what a mess it can be dealing with little known registrars in some exotic places...

Considering that there was an ICANN meeting going on, and that the site went offline just 3 days ago, I think ICANN did a reasonable job here. They have a fiduciary requirement to reach out to the registrar admin contact which of course took time since nobody was reachable. They are aware that there are many expired domains involved and I imagine @Andee Hill will fast-track some kind of transition plan. Epik has offered to take action and migrate through the weekend if selected.