Dynadot Official Thread

[Dynadot]

Hi all!

We’ve created this thread to make it easier to communicate with us here on Namepros, and we’ll also be posting regular updates on our offers and products. Please feel free to share any feedback and suggestions with us, or to let us know if there’s anything we can assist with.

We’d like to kick things off with an extension of our $7.99 .COM transfer sale, the code “COMTRANS4” has been extended until 23:59 PST on May 31, and there’s no limit on how many domains you can transfer using the code. Every month we have great prices on a wide selection of domains, and you can find a full list of our sales here:

https://www.dynadot.com/sales.html

We’re also excited to share that our CEO, Todd Han, will be hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) right here on Namepros in the near future, with more information on a date and time coming soon.

Dynadot is an ICANN accredited domain name registrar and web host headquartered in San Mateo, California. Founded in 2002 by a software engineer, our primary focus is engineering and design excellence. Our custom written, state-of-the-art domain and hosting software is stable, fast, and easy to use. From humble beginnings, we have grown steadily and now are home to over 2.6 million domains.

Our goal is to provide our customers with world class registration and hosting services for a reasonable price. Most of our site is fully automated, allowing us to offer some of the lowest prices in the industry. At the same time we strive to provide excellent customer service, and helpful responses to all questions. If anything is not to your satisfaction, feel free to contact us, and we will do our best to resolve the situation.

We individually respond to every email we receive - no cut and paste responses. Customer service is handled by highly trained customer service representatives that work closely with our software engineers, so you are likely to get an intelligent response to your question.

Contact information:
Live chat support: https://www.dynadot.com/chat/login_resp.html
Email support: [email protected]
North American phone support: +1.866-262-3399 (toll free) and +1.650-262-0100
Chinese phone support: 400 803 5591

This was a promoted post.​

 

[Caleb Tweed]

@Dynadot your appraisal service changes prices by thousands of dollars every other day. What is the point of an appraisal if in the same week I was supplied $3,971, $1,024 and now $1,527 for the same name? With changes so frequently and by such a large amount, how is this info supposed to be of any use to a domainer? And this is just one subtle example. Others change by tens of thousands (for example, 2 days ago, $718 appraisal. Today $36,458). Can you supply any rationale for this? If not, perhaps some adjustments to your ai are in order.

Our Appraisal service is still fairly new, and is actively being improved upon with both how it appraises domains and how it parses any new data that comes through.

Could you DM me the domain in question? I'd happily forward the domain to our engineers to see if I can get an explanation to such a drastic change (say for example a similar domain was sold for that amount or something like that). Apologies it's not as consistent at the moment, we're still working towards having it perfect.

 

[NameGroove]

Our Appraisal service is still fairly new, and is actively being improved upon with both how it appraises domains and how it parses any new data that comes through.

Could you DM me the domain in question? I'd happily forward the domain to our engineers to see if I can get an explanation to such a drastic change (say for example a similar domain was sold for that amount or something like that). Apologies it's not as consistent at the moment, we're still working towards having it perfect.

While I will DM you the one specific name you asked for, this happens with every single domain in my folio Caleb. It is not necessary for me to provide an example. Take any domain in the known universe, get an appraisal today - wait 48 hours, re-appraise, and watch the change. Some change hundreds, some thousands, and others tens of thousands. It is not name specific, but rather a bug or {gasp} feature of your service.

 

[tonyk2000]

Recently, I found myself in an unusual situation - had to explain to online support agent how the things should work as per ICANN and Dynadot own setup... Had an issue with incoming transfer. It was stalled "in processing queue", because losing registry/registrar whois did not respond.

I simply asked in online chat to expedite the transfer, as whois retreival is no more obligatory as per ICANN rules. Earlier, similar requests worked. Quick and easy.

Today must be unlucky day, as, unfortunately, the agent in online chat only complicated the things. First, the agent tried to retreive whois (but failed to do so). And, even though there are no email addresses in whois nowadays (in this ngtld registry in particular), the agent changed the transfer status to "waiting for whois auth email approval", which makes no sense, as there is no email anywhere. Dynadot does not send email approvals for ages. The registry in question does not and would not show email anyway. The transfer might work earlier or later if I avoided chatting (the system could finally retreive miminal "no real data" whois). But now, the transfer is 100% stalled until such a time somebody checks the ticket opened by support agent

@Caleb Tweed can you please clarify the scope of online support agents, what they can and cannot do, and in what cases it makes sense (not) to contact them? I understand that I could simply send you email (you're my acct manager), but I thought that such an easy issue could be fixed via online chat in seconds (as happened before, @ dynadot, if the memory serves me right).

Edited: the ticket opened by support agent was processed quickly (on Saturday), the domain transfer was started. All good...

 

[tonyk2000]

Here we go again. Will this be fixed someday? Dynadot is the only registrar with such an issue...

 

[Caleb Tweed]

@Caleb Tweed can you please clarify the scope of online support agents, what they can and cannot do, and in what cases it makes sense (not) to contact them? I understand that I could simply send you email (you're my acct manager), but I thought that such an easy issue could be fixed via online chat in seconds (as happened before, @ dynadot, if the memory serves me right).

Edited: the ticket opened by support agent was processed quickly (on Saturday), the domain transfer was started. All good...

It's hard to say on the scope honestly as it is very situationally dependant. For all Account security related issues we'll usually have to relay that to our management department at [email protected] as we prefer to have that through email, but most other issues our support should be able to resolve (unless of course it's something that needs an engineers touch like a bug or Registry issue), but the support team can still relay that to our other departments no problem like in this case.

Glad it got resolved quickly!

Sorry for the restarts, we try to only do them if it's something urgent that needs to be updated.

 

[pb]

I've been using dynadot since 2007 and never really had any problems. Until today. Dynadot used to have a process in place to unlock your account using birthday date. Some time ago they sent out an e-mail about how this process is changing to be based on PIN and the PIN will be converted birthday date. I didn't pay much attention and I don't remember ever using it since then.

Today I wanted to unlock one of my domains for transfer and they hit me with "There have been too many failed attempts to unlock your account. Please submit a Reset Security Pin (or a Lost Cellphone) request here: I forgot my security pin.". This is of course impossible, because I most certainly know my birthday and even if they used some weird American format, there is no way I managed to make "too many failed attempts", especially that I don't remember doing it at all.

Turns out the reset process is even more fun. It requires me to provide a secret answer to an undefined secret question, which I also don't remember ever setting. The next step is them wanting me to "send us a copy of your government-issued photo ID (drivers license or passport).", which is of course unacceptable, I have never sent any ID to the US and I don't intend ever doing so.

Long story short, after 17 years of using dynadot I am now in a hostage situation where I can't move my domains and I can just register, renew and sell (fast transfer probably works, though)... Luckily I didn't decide to transfer from sav to dyna after the recent dns fiasco.

 

[tonyk2000]

weird American format

Very true Dynadot, please add a config option to switch between date formats for display purposes, you have a lot of non-US customers! It starts with (super)bulk pricing expiration date...

 

[Caleb Tweed]

I've been using dynadot since 2007 and never really had any problems. Until today. Dynadot used to have a process in place to unlock your account using birthday date. Some time ago they sent out an e-mail about how this process is changing to be based on PIN and the PIN will be converted birthday date. I didn't pay much attention and I don't remember ever using it since then.

Today I wanted to unlock one of my domains for transfer and they hit me with "There have been too many failed attempts to unlock your account. Please submit a Reset Security Pin (or a Lost Cellphone) request here: I forgot my security pin.". This is of course impossible, because I most certainly know my birthday and even if they used some weird American format, there is no way I managed to make "too many failed attempts", especially that I don't remember doing it at all.

Turns out the reset process is even more fun. It requires me to provide a secret answer to an undefined secret question, which I also don't remember ever setting. The next step is them wanting me to "send us a copy of your government-issued photo ID (drivers license or passport).", which is of course unacceptable, I have never sent any ID to the US and I don't intend ever doing so.

Long story short, after 17 years of using dynadot I am now in a hostage situation where I can't move my domains and I can just register, renew and sell (fast transfer probably works, though)... Luckily I didn't decide to transfer from sav to dyna after the recent dns fiasco.

Hello! Sorry for the whole rigamarole in getting your account unlocked, our team doesn't like to take any chances when it comes to account security.

As per the email announcing the change, the 'birthdate' set in the account would be converted to a matching PIN, where the month and date would become a 4 letter PIN with MMDD as the format (August 20th would become 0820 for example).

As for the security question, that is set by the user upon the account's creation. How undefined it is or not is dependant on what you had set it as.

I understand you might be hesitant to provide any sort of ID, but please understand that after both the PIN and Secret question have been answered incorrectly, our accounts team just wants to take the utmost precaution to keep your domains safe, and this has proven to be one of the best deterrents for would-be hackers.

Please DM me your username and I'll see if I can help this case along at all.

 

[Future Sensors]

I understand you might be hesitant to provide any sort of ID, but please understand that after both the PIN and Secret question have been answered incorrectly, our accounts team just wants to take the utmost precaution to keep your domains safe, and this has proven to be one of the best deterrents for would-be hackers.

There are alternative methods to do account recovery. An example is by first sending a verification code to the account holder's email address, possibly followed by sending an additional 2fa code (sms/authenticator) in the next step.

https://kb.porkbun.com/article/42-how-to-reset-your-password-at-porkbun-com

 

[Caleb Tweed]

There are alternative methods to do account recovery. An example is by first sending a verification code to the account holder's email address, possibly followed by sending an additional 2fa code (sms/authenticator) in the next step.

https://kb.porkbun.com/article/42-how-to-reset-your-password-at-porkbun-com

We try not to send a ton of pertinent info to emails until we've confirmed them as the account holder in case the email is compromised. We do have 2FA available for logins and unlocking the account, but when someone no longer has access to their SMS/Authenticator we run into the same issue.

 

[Future Sensors]

We try not to send a ton of pertinent info to emails until we've confirmed them as the account holder in case the email is compromised. We do have 2FA available for logins and unlocking the account, but when someone no longer has access to their SMS/Authenticator we run into the same issue.

Sure, you will experience security risks in each method, but fewer if you use them together. I consider using someone's date of birth to generate the PIN, as you described, to be a high risk, as the date of birth may be widely known.

 

[Caleb Tweed]

Sure, you will experience security risks in each method, but fewer if you use them together. I consider using someone's date of birth to generate the PIN, as you described, to be a high risk, as the date of birth may be widely known.

That's actually one of the reasons we changed it to a PIN instead of a date!

 

[NameGroove]

So it should show Hit Counts, although it doesn't record it in real time. The hit counter should update from the previous hour, though going to it from the same IP within that hour won't increase the hits. Let me know if it's still not showing any hits after going to the site!

Hit count is still always 0/0. It never moves even though when I go deeper into a name (not clicking it on the web, but clicking into it to see hit count details) it shows many 'hits'. Something is still wrong

 

[NicTraders]

Sure, you will experience security risks in each method, but fewer if you use them together. I consider using someone's date of birth to generate the PIN, as you described, to be a high risk, as the date of birth may be widely known.

I'm glad they changed from the DOB system. Everyone had the option of changing their PIN, which is what I did.

 

[scithe]

Hmm is there a way to reset the secret question? I signed up for Dynadot over a decade ago and whatever post-it note I would have written my snarky answer to would have been discarded 3 residences back. At the time it didn't matter as I wasn't using Dynadot for much but now I love them and use them regularly.

 

[pb]

I've been using dynadot since 2007 and never really had any problems. Until today. Dynadot used to have a process in place to unlock your account using birthday date. Some time ago they sent out an e-mail about how this process is changing to be based on PIN and the PIN will be converted birthday date. I didn't pay much attention and I don't remember ever using it since then.

Today I wanted to unlock one of my domains for transfer and they hit me with "There have been too many failed attempts to unlock your account. Please submit a Reset Security Pin (or a Lost Cellphone) request here: I forgot my security pin.". This is of course impossible, because I most certainly know my birthday and even if they used some weird American format, there is no way I managed to make "too many failed attempts", especially that I don't remember doing it at all.

Turns out the reset process is even more fun. It requires me to provide a secret answer to an undefined secret question, which I also don't remember ever setting. The next step is them wanting me to "send us a copy of your government-issued photo ID (drivers license or passport).", which is of course unacceptable, I have never sent any ID to the US and I don't intend ever doing so.

Long story short, after 17 years of using dynadot I am now in a hostage situation where I can't move my domains and I can just register, renew and sell (fast transfer probably works, though)... Luckily I didn't decide to transfer from sav to dyna after the recent dns fiasco.

Follow-up: a kind person from Dynadot support reset my "fail count" and I was manage to unlock my account with my PIN on the first try. Which both proves that "too many failed attempts" were unlikely and that the Dynadot team is flexible and customer-oriented. The important thing is that I can function normally again.

 

[Caleb Tweed]

Hmm is there a way to reset the secret question? I signed up for Dynadot over a decade ago and whatever post-it note I would have written my snarky answer to would have been discarded 3 residences back. At the time it didn't matter as I wasn't using Dynadot for much but now I love them and use them regularly.

There isn't right at the moment, but it is something we're working on and should be ready soon!

 

[Embrand]

I registered a domain from my watchlist, but after that it still appeared in the watchlist with the status "registered". Maybe names that we register from our watchlist should be removed from it?

 

[Caleb Tweed]

I registered a domain from my watchlist, but after that it still appeared in the watchlist with the status "registered". Maybe names that we register from our watchlist should be removed from it?

I'll see if it's something we can add!

 

[alcy]

I wanna know why dyna now has 50usd per io.

and also when why and how they stopped caring to be competitive with prices. this is insane.