discuss Domain Registrars...What Do YOU Look For?

[DanBingham]

With so many domain registrars out there, it's a highly competitive market. Most of us become victim to getting ourselves locked into a registrar because its cheap, and fail to think about the bigger picture and only then it's too late.

So, as the question above asks, what do YOU look for in a registrar?

Discounts? Savings on multiple purchases? Ease of transferring out, and associated costs? Quaility of aftercare service? Location? Or maybe something else?

Interested to know your thoughts.

 

[anantj]

It's not about me taking anything personal. I'm trying to get to the real facts thru all the smoke and mirrors. When my account manager tells me all I need to do is to request to unlock the domain. I don't question their judgement because I trust them. That if I ask, they will unlock the domain and I can transfer it away. So I don't see how or why this is against ICANN Regulations. There are many Registrars who trample all over ICANN's owners rights, like GoDaddy, I'm offering to do a test, to see whose statements are correct yours or @simmtex or mine.

Can I ask why you @Furquah are answering to a message I sent to @simmplex? Is there any connection between you?

Um, @Furquah was replying to @simmplex and not to you!

 

[Hypersot]

It was wrong to name registrars in this thread as it is about discussing the qualities of the registrar and not the registrar itself.

I would go with support, support & support.
I need to know that the people working at a registrar care about their customers equally (that's something that does not happen with the 'D' registrar you mentioned stub)

@OP
It would be wise to set a poll based on what it's been discussed here (ie. pricing, support, trust, etc.)

 

[Kate]

I have an account manager at Dynadot too. But I have had almost zero interaction with her. I never need to contact anybody.

A good registrar should have sound systems and should be bug-free as much as possible. When things are running smoothly, customers can handle things on their own.

When the system is poorly designed, customers waste time, customer support team also waste time. If CS gets involved it usually means there is a problem, you don't want problems.
So the UI is certainly very important. Especially for big portfolio holders. An API can be a must-have too.

 

[Hypersot]

I have an account manager at Dynadot too. But I have had almost zero interaction with her. I never need to contact anybody.

A good registrar should have sound systems and should be bug-free as much as possible. When things are running smoothly, customers can handle things on their own.

When the system is poorly designed, customers waste time, customer support team also waste time. If CS gets involved it usually means there is a problem, you don't want problems.
So the UI is certainly very important. Especially for big portfolio holders. An API can be a must-have too.

No matter how 'sound' a certain registrar is, the industry is not hence you need support that can lead you through the constant issues.

One example with dynadot (since it seems that the thread is going that way, ie. to talk about dynadot) was when I tried to register a certain japanese idn .co domain with them but constantly failing.

A few email exchanges (and days) later, they claimed it was impossible for that domain to get registered since the registry wouldn't allow it.

I tried with another registrar I knew they register idn .co's (domain.com of all places) and not only they tried their best to register the domain (it's true that domain needed some extra effort to get registered) , they even let me have the first year registration for free due to me waiting 24hrs to get it.

One registrar tried, the other did not. That's what I mean by 'good support'

 

[Name Trader]

No matter how 'sound' a certain registrar is, the industry is not hence you need support that can lead you through the constant issues.

One example with dynadot (since it seems that the thread is going that way, ie. to talk about dynadot) was when I tried to register a certain japanese idn .co domain with them but constantly failing.

A few email exchanges (and days) later, they claimed it was impossible for that domain to get registered since the registry wouldn't allow it.

I tried with another registrar I knew they register idn .co's (domain.com of all places) and not only they tried their best to register the domain (it's true that domain needed some extra effort to get registered) , they even let me have the first year registration for free due to me waiting 24hrs to get it.

One registrar tried, the other did not. That's what I mean by 'good support'

Good support is when you need to ask a question, you get an accurate response in the shortest possible time.

 

[Name Trader]

I have an account manager at Dynadot too. But I have had almost zero interaction with her. I never need to contact anybody.

A good registrar should have sound systems and should be bug-free as much as possible. When things are running smoothly, customers can handle things on their own.

When the system is poorly designed, customers waste time, customer support team also waste time. If CS gets involved it usually means there is a problem, you don't want problems.
So the UI is certainly very important. Especially for big portfolio holders. An API can be a must-have too.

Don't get me wrong. I rarely contact my Account Manager at Dynadot, unless the documentation is ambiguous and I need to get something resolved ASAP, or if I'm in a conversation about wanting changes/improvements to their systems. There is 1 other reason why I contact my Account Manager, is when the Rank and File do something opposite to the past transactions, which was previously agreed between myself and my Account Manager. I cannot think of any other reasons off-hand.

 

[Hypersot]

Good support is when you need to ask a question, you get an accurate response in the shortest possible time.

I guess, in my aforementioned example, the 'registrar does not allow the domain to be registered' is what you call accurate response?

I understand that, being happy with them, you try your best to defend them which is natural but 'D' are far from being the best at support out there.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

[QUOTE="stub, post: 6866139, member: 25600"]I would NEVER advise to anybody to use the same hosting company as your registrar. Let's be realistic. Most problems are hosting related. Their solution is to quickly block access to your account until, you can comply. Which often times is not an easy fix. When the host puts a block on your account, they generally put a block on all hosted domains and all registered domains. Everything is toast. With an independant hosting company. When they put a block on your account, you can sign up at another hosting company and point all your hosted domains to the new hosting servers. But I wouldn't recommend you do that for the domain which caused the problem, without seriously fixing the problem. Else you could easily find yourself in host water with your new host too

Other than that. I think it's a good list of wants.[/QUOTE]​

Thanks @stub.In my 17 years of being in charge of hosting sites I have never had a block issue, so I guess did not think as completely as I should have about this part. My thinking was simply that it would be easier, if cost competitive, to have a one stop shop. Also, getting on in years, I sort of think in terms of simplifying things in case someone else should have to take over (I run a few websites personally in addition to my domain one, and one for my daughter).

What sorts of reasons would they block - like a claim that something was copyright or trademark infringement? Or do you mean they lock account because of a payment dispute? Or some reason I am not even thinking of might happen?

Would this be an argument that we should use multiple domain registrars, since supposedly there could be an account problem with respect to a domain, not hosting, service, and they would lock them from being transferred until resolvved? I currently use mainly 4 different registrars, but that is largely for cost reasons (e.g. the best deal I get on my .ca is different from best .com which is different from my new extensions).

Anyway, thanks for your earlier response (I have been in past but not currently using hosting from my main registrar, but had been thinking of making that change, but your comments have made me wonder if that is wise). Thanks again wise 10 star person, and thank you in advance for any additional enlightenment as I am considering a web hosting change in next month or two.

Bob

 

[Name Trader]

Hi Bob,

It could be for any of those reasons. Usually it would be from a complaint from a disgruntled member of the public (possibly a disgruntled customer). The problem is, the Host have a reputation to uphold. It's better for them to behave pro-actively. Even if you are their customer. There have been many, many cases about this stuff. But don't recall a recent public case for a while now. One of the nastiest examples was against GoDaddy, sorry I don't remember the domain right now, where there fraud department turned off the whole account at 4pm on a Friday, and their department won't answer the phone after 4pm on a Friday (even if they work until 5PM), or just give you lip-service until they return on a Monday. If this is a profitable website, they could be losing 10's of thousands of dollars a day. The timing of the turning off your account seems almost vindictive. But the website owner is treated like a pariah rather than a customer. This is mostly SOP for all Hosts. Suspend your account first and ask questions later. If your Host is also your Registrar, you will find everything is locked down, even if it's unrelated to the original complaint.

Besides. The best registrars don't necessarily make the best hosts, and vice versa. It's better to be safe than sorry. And keep your Registrations and Hosting separate. Because the rectification of the problem is in your hands. You are not locked out for an indefinite length of time negotiating with your host whilst the problem is sorted out, and domains which require renewal cannot be renewed because they too are locked down.

All these examples are REAL. You combine your Registration and Hosting at your own risk. IMHO.

 

[Name Trader]

It could also be your website security is weak and somebody has injected phishing code into your website.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks so much @stub - all good points! It is too late for me to edit my post, but I would based upon the points you raise take away my last point about the having hosting at registrar a good thing. I had not realized a lock would prevent you from renewing possibly, that would indeed be bad news!

 

[robert widener]

Trust factor

lol please tell us which one that might be ?

 

[simmplex]

@stub

Update:

Expired domains at Dynadot could not be unlocked and transferred out now(Aug. 08, 2018).

The only option is
Please renew domain name first.

 

[Name Trader]

@stub

If you do not mind,
Let's do the test.

I would like to see what will happen,
if you pick a domain(it's better to be more than 10 days after expiring day) yourself which has recently expired and ask for the domain lock to be removed.

After my first question to them. They told me they were making changes which should be out by the end of this week. I will keep you informed with what's going on.

 

[dsam23]

Competitive and transparent prices with free whois privacy option and also good customer service.

 

[nomen]

Combination of:

- Cheap reg
- Cheap renewal
- Reliability
- Ease of management
- Own marketplace/sales landers
- Afternic fast transfer

So Namesilo, Epik, or Uni (yes, not on Afnic fast transfer). I would use Dynadot a lot more if they'd provide sales landers.

Based on this and that, I'd actually want to add one more aspect:

- Sleek, well-thought, professionally designed landers

Uniregistry +1, all others, not that great IMO although Namesilo has a couple of semi-nice landers.