poll Domaining's version of March Madness - Who is the best registrar in the business? 2020 Edition

[equity78]

It's time for the domain industry's version of March Madness

The best registrar in the business for 2020

Registrars that got less than 2 votes from last time were not included, Uniregistry being acquired by GoDaddy is not included.

the last big poll here.

Can NameSilo defend their crown? Will Epik finally come through and attain the top spot? GoDaddy always a contender. Any surprises?

 

[Samer]

While I have a majority of domains in Namecheap, I think Dynadot has a very versatile UI and easy managing(although I dislike the grace period). My new registrations have been going there recently.

Considered EPIK, but the pricing is sometimes too high.

The biggest dealbreaker for me, however, is the tagging or note sections. Namecheap has an easy way to add it, without hassle. Dynadot has folders that are quite easy to manage. EPIK has notes or something similar, but it has 2-3 screens and clicks to go through which is way too big of a hassle.

Epik's $8.49 .com renewal is cheaper than:
Dynadot's $8.99, and Namecheap $13.16 renewal (NC $8.88 registra)

 

[Martins B.]

Epik's $8.49 .com renewal is cheaper than:
Dynadot's $8.99, and Namecheap $13.16 renewal (NC $8.88 registra)

Shows $8.99 for a .com for me at EPIK. While it is $9.61 for me at Namecheap. 50c is not worth the 60-day lock for me currently.

Also, non-coms are cheaper elsewhere, EPIK is pricier for those.

 

[dncafe]

Very conspiratorial. As an employee of the company, I speak openly - we were not sent instructions to vote for Epik. I voted for Epik even if I didn't have a status "Epik.com Staff"

It's officially, Epik is now denying that there was some kind of message sent out those who run these NP Epik Staff accounts.

You want me to believe that all these NP accounts with Epik Staff badges, many with limited activity all just naturally saw this Poll within hours of it being posted and decided to vote? Maybe you weren't "instructed" to vote, but it was brought to your attention.

Most community driven websites call this "vote brigading" and in my opinion, that's clearly what Epik has done here.

 

[Samer]

It's officially, Epik is now denying that there was some kind of message sent out those who run these NP Epik Staff accounts.

You want me to believe that all these NP accounts with Epik Staff badges, many with limited activity all just naturally saw this Poll within hours of it being posted and decided to vote? Maybe you weren't "instructed" to vote, but it was brought to your attention.

Most community driven websites call this "vote brigading" and in my opinion, that's clearly what Epik has done here.

Lol We’re all united voted for what think best.

You're overthinking this. This isnt Watergate.

 

[dncafe]

Lol We are all united voted for what we think best.

You're overthinking this. This isnt Watergate.

I'm not overthinking it, I'm just seeing how a company who could potentially make tens of dollars (if not more) off of the publicity and validation off of such a poll would make sure that they are going to place high. It's marketing and branding, of course this means a lot to a company like Epik, who have a long history of promoting on here.

 

[JB Lions]

Lol We are all united voted for what we think best.

You're overthinking this. This isnt Watergate.

It's 100% used for advertising, of course. This poll runs for almost a full month. The very 1st day of this poll, this was tweeted out:

"Thanks to our loyal clients for endorsing Epik as their favorite registrar in 2020. We appreciate your support and look forward to exceeding your expectations in 2020 and beyond through unmatched value, service and innovation."
https://twitter.com/EpikDotCom/status/1235102356393480192

Poll was started - equity78, Wednesday at 1:04 AM

Tweet went out - Mar 4, 2020, Wednesday at 2:18 AM

1 hour and 14 minutes.

Like I posted earlier. I saw this poll pop up again, checked the results. They already had 18 votes when everybody else had like 1 or 2. 11 were employees, first few hours. And this was past 1 am in the morning Eastern time. Yes, I know people are all over the world.

Somebody else pointed out a previous winner used this for promotion.

Of course they would do that. If you're a registrar, you would love to win a Favorite Registrar poll.

 

[Samer]

It's 100% used for advertising, of course. This poll runs for almost a full month. The very 1st day of this poll, this was tweeted out:

"Thanks to our loyal clients for endorsing Epik as their favorite registrar in 2020. We appreciate your support and look forward to exceeding your expectations in 2020 and beyond through unmatched value, service and innovation."

Like I posted earlier. I saw this poll pop up again, checked the results. They already had 18 votes when everybody else had like 1 or 2. 11 were employees, first few hours.

Just see small company feeling, never witness from Godaddy. Careful JB... might push more people to sign up for Epik.thanks for shout out!

Here is the last GD tweet; 6 hours ago;

"These inspiring women didn’t take a seat at someone else’s table — they went out and made their own damn table. Which is why we’re celebrating them for International Women’s Day and beyond."

The tweet before was from March 5. Epik has more active social media account than Gd one congratulates appreciates domainers, more.
There no twisting this. Epik better social media than Godaddy’s inactive dead 1

Happy women's day!

 

[JB Lions]

Last year when NameSilo won, press release:

NameSilo Technologies Corp. Wins Namepros "Best Registrar 2019"

"NameSilo LLC CEO Kristaps Ronka states: "We were very pleased to see that a community of individuals that is active in the buying and selling of domains has embraced NameSilo in this recent poll. We truly appreciate their support and will continue to endeavour to provide our growing community of NameSilo clients with best-in-class products and services in the months and years to come".

https://markets.businessinsider.com...-wins-namepros-best-registrar-2019-1028264340

Businesses love this stuff, I would use it. In fact, years ago when I said NP should have Favorite Registrar, Domain Tool, Domain Blog etc, I pointed out when somebody wins, they'll do what Namesilo did, advertise the win, bringing even more traffic to NP. They never set it up, that's why I did the very first Favorite Registrar Poll back in 2016 - https://www.namepros.com/threads/favorite-domain-registrar-poll.933122/

 

[Samer]

Last year when NameSilo won, press release:

NameSilo Technologies Corp. Wins Namepros "Best Registrar 2019"

"NameSilo LLC CEO Kristaps Ronka states: "We were very pleased to see that a community of individuals that is active in the buying and selling of domains has embraced NameSilo in this recent poll. We truly appreciate their support and will continue to endeavour to provide our growing community of NameSilo clients with best-in-class products and services in the months and years to come".

https://markets.businessinsider.com...-wins-namepros-best-registrar-2019-1028264340

Businesses love this stuff, I would use it.

NameSilo is a public traded company (URLOF) they are obligated to do stuff like this to milk out publicity profit stock. Godaddy would def milk it, if even had a remote chance winning.

With epik? comes from heart & appreciate

 

[Bertrell]

Google - I had no opportunity to try them, because of "Google Domains is available to anyone whose billing address is in one of our supported countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam. "

Amidst all the crossfire going on in this thread, here are my two-cents on Google Domains when I used them a while back (USA billing address):

The pricing was decent and the interface wasn't all that complex. I'd say if you had only a handful of domains (and a billing address that met their requirements), then it was probably fine to use them.

The main problem I had was their complete lack of bulk domain controls (Cloudflare Registrar is also in the same boat). I offered feedback about it, but I don't believe anything was done.

 

[NickB]

I voted Epik

Great customer customer service
Good competitive pricing
Easy to use interface

That is all I am looking for when it comes to a registry

For me it is not a popularity contest (unlike some people who are trying to make it on both sides of the weirdly created Namepros fence)..........

 

[Peak.Domains]

I want to preface this by saying that I like Dyna, and I use them, and they're in my top 5 for sure, probably top 3 overall. I can't recall having any problems with them. Their promos are generous, etc. I just remembered a time where they were super cool to me over a couple of accidental backorders too, when they totally didn't have to be. Shoutout Dynadot. Anywoo...

But the reason they're not my top pick has to do with the interface and usability, I'm kind of surprised to see that brought up as one of their strengths.

I'd love to hear from one of the folks who mentioned this as a reason for choosing them, it makes me think I might be using it incorrectly or missing something.

For example, I'll order a domain, place my order... then I have to navigate through the menus to find the the order, and then pay it. With other registrars, that seems to be a smoother process? You order, check out, pay, it's all in one step without a break.

Same with pushing a domain. You have to push it to their 'forum name' which isn't their email or log-in name, and then you have to go through that process of placing an order for $0.00 instead of the name just moving. With Namesilo for instance, I type in the username of the account I want to push the name to and voila.

Why does Dynadot add extra manual steps for these things? I mean it's not a huge deal, it takes a few extra moments once you learn the process, but it still seems like it's objectively a step behind other platforms that do all of this automatically.

 

[7363824]

I want to preface this by saying that I like Dyna, and I use them, and they're in my top 5 for sure, probably top 3 overall. I can't recall having any problems with them. Their promos are generous, etc. I just remembered a time where they were super cool to me over a couple of accidental backorders too, when they totally didn't have to be. Shoutout Dynadot. Anywoo...

But the reason they're not my top pick has to do with the interface and usability, I'm kind of surprised to see that brought up as one of their strengths.

I'd love to hear from one of the folks who mentioned this as a reason for choosing them, it makes me think I might be using it incorrectly or missing something.

For example, I'll order a domain, place my order... then I have to navigate through the menus to find the the order, and then pay it. With other registrars, that seems to be a smoother process? You order, check out, pay, it's all in one step without a break.

Same with pushing a domain. You have to push it to their 'forum name' which isn't their email or log-in name, and then you have to go through that process of placing an order for $0.00 instead of the name just moving. With Namesilo for instance, I type in the username of the account I want to push the name to and voila.

Why does Dynadot add extra manual steps for these things? I mean it's not a huge deal, it takes a few extra moments once you learn the process, but it still seems like it's objectively a step behind other platforms that do all of this automatically.

I do like not having to give out my username or email to get a push. But ya I agree with the interface. I also dislike their transfers out because although I can bulk unlock, the only way to get the auth codes that I know of is to click into each domain individually.

 

[Peak.Domains]

I do like not having to give out my username or email to get a push.

Ahh, that's a really good point, I didn't think of it that way. It means you don't have to give the person half of your log-in info just to sell them a name (or receive a name from them) and that's a plus.

 

[aceeca]

I do like not having to give out my username or email to get a push.

At DynaDot, you give neither your email, nor your username for a push. You give a different id called forum id which is not something you login with.

 

[Samer]

At DynaDot, you give neither your email, nor your username for a push. You give a different id called forum id which is not something you login with.

why not give one piece of info altogether?

no one else does this... It was hard get at first

before changed my forum name somethin

 

[aceeca]

why not give one thing altogether?

no one else does this.

you are 100% correct no one does it.

 

[Samer]

you are 100% correct no one does it.

Just saying hard at first (assigned forum name)

give hard time, but namesilo has easiest push. you dont even need approve in email, just in.

Samer

 

[aceeca]

Just saying hard get, at first. (esp assigned 1)

i give them hard time, but namesilo had easiest push. you dont even need approve

I think thats a good thing about NameSilo, just take any name into your account. I like how secure that is.

 

[7363824]

At DynaDot, you give neither your email, nor your username for a push. You give a different id called forum id which is not something you login with.

Yes. Like I said I actually like that.

 

[Samer]

I think thats a good thing about NameSilo, just take any name into your account. I like how secure that is.

we used to do that. No clue why epik changed to accept pushes in email now. Keep it simple.

NameSilo lone one, maintain that 1 step push.
i’ll agree wit you; all 3 secure dyna epik & NS.

 

[equity78]

That's completely your choice how you use them. I will point out that there were some dislikes, you told me you were going to go back and undislike which you did, but then you went back to dislike again. It was a little sneaky but I actually thought it was kind of funny. It's not like this is something people will put on their graves. Back in the day I got x amount of Likes/Dislikes on this domain forum, whatever. Dislike away if you want.

-------
Side note, back to the topic, the poll and for future ones. I'm curious if members would prefer:

1 vote

or multiple votes

I know equity likes 1 vote.

I set mine at multiple on that first one. There are multiple ones I like, sometimes hard to pick a favorite. I also thinks it helps shine some light on new ones, up and comers. Not a big deal or anything like that, but was just curious and which way people would prefer.

I don't mind more than one vote, I would say if I'm around next year, I would look to do it with people just write in their choices and we I will post a format, for First, second and third place

Then when the thread closes I will tally who got most first place, second place and third.

Assign a value to first, second and third

First place votes get 10 points
Second place votes 7 points
Third place votes 4 points

Tally everything and decide the winner on total points.

 

[tonyk2000]

I would say if I'm around next year, I would look to do it with people just write in their choices and we I will post a format, for First, second and third place

If such a feature cannot be set in poll config, then the poll should better remain "as is" (one vote).

Reasons:

1) It would not be practical to manually process votes received in text format. For example, sometimes, it would be unclear what exactly the member meant. "I vote for Register" - is it register .com or register .it? Some posts will no doubts include resellers or retail registrars which are not in the poll, etc, etc.

2) Not all members are active (willing to type anything). Current poll. as well as previous polls, started to actively receive votes only after the poll was added to the forum navigation (right column). Should it become harder to make the voice heard - (need to post / need to type), we will have lower number of participants.

3) As a matter of fact, prominent members are now leaving NP. Some publicly post their decisions, some don't. Those who post are mostly unsatisfied with the fact that one particular company is prevailing in all discussions, but it is an excuse imo, or the "last straw" for them. The problems are more deep, and unfortunately there no evidence that the situation will be improved. Further discussing this in this thread would be offtopic, but, for the purposes of the next poll, we should reasonably guess that most participants in the next poll may be those who visit NP mostly to sell their domains on the marketplace, with little or no other activity. In other words, new members. as many of older members will leave. New members may not yet be able to reasonably rate any group of registrars "from best to worst". Nothing negative here, we all were new at some point of time. The next poll, therefore, should be as easy as possible - only one vote.

4) The last but not the least. Nobody is perfect. I made a selection of 3 registrars to test the idea, and found that my 3rd choice is a registrar which is just usable - but I do not want to give a single point to them, as there are some things about them that I actively do not like. So, my personal preference would be to have just one vote...

 

[koolishman]

@tonyk2000

The problems are more deep, and unfortunately there no evidence that the situation will be improved.

Care to expand a bit on the problems?

 

[tonyk2000]

Care to expand a bit on the problems?

It would be offtopic in this thread There are related posts in
https://www.namepros.com/forums/namepros-help-and-feedback.9/