Epik Promotion

[Rob Monster]

The price increases are going to continue -- 7% per year from Verisign. That is actually still pretty good value for non-trash domains. It may also improve the expiry streams as some registrars use this as a pretext for price increases. At this time, Epik has no plan to raise prices for .COM.

Two things as tactical points:

1. Forever domains at Epik are $399 but we can do bulk deals for less.

2. For bulk transfers we can also do deals, e.g. we have done $6.99 promos and happy hours in the past. If folks want that, we'll see what we can do.

The Versign price increase is not good news. Epik will do its part to try to soften the blow!

 

[Reallybigidea.com]

$6.99 promos and happy hours in the past. If folks want that, we'll see what we can do.

we want 6.99 transfer

 

[Steven McEvoy]

What would happen if Epik went out of business then there is no forever?

 

[Rob Monster]

we want 6.99 transfer

Tell you what. Get 100 Likes on your post and we'll get it done for you. @Sufyan Alani.

 

[Future Sensors]

1. Forever domains at Epik are $399 but we can do bulk deals for less.

This is not aimed at domainers:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/ho...gistration-work-exactly.1135382/#post-7411840

 

[Lox]

I don't trust Epik or Dynadot at all anymore.

Dynadot Offices:
San Mateo (hq)
Toronto
Beijing
Zhengzhou

Regarding Offices - It's 21st century, remote.

Regards

 

[Chris Hydrick]

This is just self-promotional. It is not relevant to the discussion

Agree. In my report, besides citing off-topic, I mentioned members already letting him know of the promotional issue, and at this point, it seemed like it evolved from just being promotional, to a conscious and an unmistakable level of trolling that not only disrupts the flow of conversation, but has led to folks leaving namePros.

Just because somebody here may have an Ivy League education, it doesn't mean that those of us who don't have such an education are mindless idiots solely here for the advertising disposal of somebody who may have an Ivy League education. If anything, it means the ivy league educated individual(s) here should stop playing dumb, move on from his or her stupid antics, and respect the forum accordingly.

If that individual won't police themselves, and if nP mods are restricted to their ToS, then the community needs to step up. Report off topic posts as protocol #1. Or get creative. If any epik individuals want to continue trolling, just troll back, and remind them of the time they read their customer landing page inquiry, then published it on twitter citing it as a complaint received, when in actuality epik got trolled. Essentially epik accepts nazi content, but draws the line at dolphins.

https://archive.li/qqPRe

The hopes being, if epik individuals have their off topic promotional posts greeted with the the off topic archive.li/qqPRE link / image, maybe enough chaos will ensue, to where epik <Dolphin H. Fucker> finally gets the hint, and stops the promotional madness.

 

[bmugford]

If nobody @NamePros stops him, why would he? Free advertisement...

I agree.

He has had multiple posts in the past removed and moved for the same self-promotional reasons.

He just can't seem to help himself.

Every thread seems to turn into an advertisement for Epik, no matter how irrelevant to the actual discussion.

Brad

 

[Rob Monster]

This thread needs some Friday Fathers Day Weekend Happy Hour love.

$6.99 .COM registrations transfers until further notice. That should help.

 

[Future Sensors]

You know we launched this product with help of Bill Hartzer and some very capable developers: https://dnprotect.com/

Hi @bhartzer

What's Rob talking about? Who is 'we'?

You mentioned that DNProtect was not part of Epik in the AMA thread.

 

[Future Sensors]

The FOREVER Case.

You know, You guys pay ~$10 per a domain for a year

I guess most domainers on this forum don't even pay $10 per year. I'm currently paying around $8.58 for .com regs & renewals, which is the normal pricing at my registrar, and includes the ICANN fee. For some countries, a VAT component will be added to this.

 

[bmugford]

Assuming that this is true,

The question then is how can this "Promise" be strengthened and backed up to the point that domainers can feel safe and comfortable with using this forever domain service.

Aren't there other examples in other Industries where an agent promises to make a payment on behalf of a client on a long term basis, I wonder how those are set up to survive any unforseen changes in the future.

IMO

Epik has no control over inflation. They have no control over who runs the .COM registry. They have no control over .COM pricing.

They have the same ability you have to renew a .COM domain for (10) years. They don't have any extra abilities.

Various parties, mainly the registry itself, would have to be on board. There would have to be some type of legal guarantee that if the .COM contract was moved to a party other than Versign these liabilities would be moved as well.

Brad

 

[Rob Monster]

The problem here is you are offering products from a third party that you have no control over, and are not part of the agreement. It is a big issue.



You can see in the Epik TOS (https://www.epik.com/forever.php), they have given themselves an out clause...

Cancellation

The User acknowledges that Epik may cancel the Forever Registration at any time for any reason, provided that Epik notifies the user via email and provided that the User receives a full refund of the price originally paid for the Forever Registration. Such cancellation shall release Epik from the obligation to renew the Forever Domain in the future and from any responsibility to pay or reimburse the User for future renewals or other costs. But cancellation of a Forever Registration, if said cancellation is not requested by the User or a consequence of alleged abuse or non-compliance by the User, shall leave intact the Forever Domain's expiration date. In other words, such cancellation of the Forever Registration would result in the User receiving a domain renewal for the maximum period allowed by the TLD registry, paid at Epik's expense; and this service would have a net cost of zero for the User.

We provide forever registration service for hundreds of TLDs.

The quoted clause exists for a reason:

(1) Extreme price increases: remember when Uni increases the price of some TLDs by up to 40X?

(2) If an eventual future acquirer decides that they could never support Forever registrations.

The result would be that the registrant gets 100% of their fee refunded AND they got a free ride for 10 or more years of registration along the way as Epik eats the entire expense.

 

[F.C.]

Why do people buy insurance? They transfer risk.

Why do businesses hedge? They transfer risk.

Same story here. What risks are being mitigated:

- The risk of unforeseen neglect to renew.

- The risk unforeseen loss due to future incapacity or inability to pay renewal.

Forever domains are not for everyone.

If Epik is acquired, the acquirer contends with those inherited obligations.

However, for the folks that are concerned about price increases, there is a hedge. And for the folks who value their time, or don't like waking up in a panic, there is convenience and peace of mind.

Let's not over-think this -- for some folks Forever domains are a useful feature with win-win economics.

You can see in the Epik TOS (https://www.epik.com/forever.php), they have given themselves an out clause...

Cancellation

The User acknowledges that Epik may cancel the Forever Registration at any time for any reason, provided that Epik notifies the user via email and provided that the User receives a full refund of the price originally paid for the Forever Registration. Such cancellation shall release Epik from the obligation to renew the Forever Domain in the future and from any responsibility to pay or reimburse the User for future renewals or other costs. But cancellation of a Forever Registration, if said cancellation is not requested by the User or a consequence of alleged abuse or non-compliance by the User, shall leave intact the Forever Domain's expiration date. In other words, such cancellation of the Forever Registration would result in the User receiving a domain renewal for the maximum period allowed by the TLD registry, paid at Epik's expense; and this service would have a net cost of zero for the User.

We provide forever registration service for hundreds of TLDs.

The quoted clause exists for a reason:

(1) Extreme price increases: remember when Uni increases the price of some TLDs by up to 40X?

(2) If an eventual future acquirer decides that they could never support Forever registrations.

The result would be that the registrant gets 100% of their fee refunded AND they got a free ride for 10 or more years of registration along the way as Epik eats the entire expense.

Then I would rather renew the domain myself every 10 years, because if prices increase Epik may cancel the deal anyways, very uncertain.

 

[Rob Monster]

Here is a real scenario from this week. A widow calls about her suddenly deceased husband's domain portfolio. The widow had no foggy idea which domains to keep, had already lost one valuable domain, and had literally no money with which to fund renewals. This scenario has been happening often enough before COVID. My forecast is that it will happen more often post-COVID. Forever domains fix that. For the high value domains, it is an easy choice. For the guy who wants to play Russian roulette every year with domains worth more than $10K, they can do so but just make sure the spouse knows the game plan.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

NameCheap even lets you know when someone logs into your account and gives you the IP Address, which is cool! Their support team is out of this world, and their prices are fair. And the CEO does not spam NP lol

Wow!! That's huge!

While reverse engineering the night.com hack, that info would have been huge to have accessible. Meanwhile, GoDaddy abuse reporting page <https://www.godaddy.com/help/reporting-abuse-27154> has no option to report a compromised account, besides hoping their generic [email protected] email works. And even then, as I've yet to hear of (not saying it hasn't happened) a GoDaddy customer receiving IP logs of logins, after reporting an account breach without subpoena/court order. I hope I'm wrong here, but if the Oxley situation taught us nothing, GoDaddy is too big to be erroneously be held liable, and they require a subpoena/court order for just about anything, even if not legally required.

Their support team is out of this world, and their prices are fair.

I hate to say I base my registrars on whether or not I can reach a namePros representative should anything go wrong, but it's where I'm most comfortable. I had assumed since namecheap rep @tamar doesn't chime in as much as other registrar reps that namecheap wasn't as reachable on nP as other registrars, nonetheless, when I sent her a DM, she responded within 4 minutes. Likely an anomaly, and was directed to the proper department, I just felt it necessary to share, that nameCheap does have a nP rep who is responsive.

Thus, I foresee myself following the Oxley playbook and moving many domains to NameCheap this year.

And the CEO does not spam NP lol

We all have our own definition of spam. @Rob Monster has his. Hawaiians have theirs. And I have mine.

I'm OK with @Rob Monster nP spam, it's nowhere near what it used to be. Hawaiian canned spam, sure, whatever floats your boat. But I draw the line at Epik hiring an attack dog as Epik senior VP of Qommunications, just to leverage/manipulate/submerge the Epik client base with unsolicited PSYOP like political charged messaging. #KeepSnarkyOnALease #FireDavis #Rehire@Slanted

 

[bmugford]

1. Forever domains at Epik are $399 but we can do bulk deals for less.

"Forever domains" are not a thing without the registry itself on board.

.COM domains can be renewed for a max of (10) years with the registry, where it actually matters.

You are paying $399 for the promise that Epik will pay for the renewal fee in perpetuity, regardless of price.

Obviously this could become unsustainable depending on what happens with pricing over time or Epik as a company long term.

Verisign, the actual .COM registry, is not a part of this agreement. There are no guarantees.

Just know what you are actually paying for.

Brad

 

[Rob Monster]

<familiar whinge>

Brad

The economics of the $399 Forever domain are as good as ever for two reasons: (1) .COM prices are going up and up, and (2) Nobody really knows what a dollar will be worth in 1 year let alone 10.

 

[Rob Monster]

Yeah, you are basically making a good argument why the model is unsustainable without the registry on board.

Epik has no control over inflation, or .COM pricing...but they have all the potential liability.

The bottom line is you are paying for a promise from Epik to renew the domain, regardless of price, in perpetuity with no actual guarantees.

Brad

It is all out in the open:

Overview: https://www.epik.com/forever
Fine Print: https://www.epik.com/forever.php

For anyone planning to keep domains anyway, it is an easy decision. There is discussion to add the DNProtect.com warranty feature with $10,000 of loss protection as well. Great product, by the way.

Your friends at Godaddy added BIN landers in 2021. Maybe they will introduce Forever domains in 2035. Who knows. You could wait.

 

[bmugford]

Just to clarify, NP members pay $8.49 for .COM, all the time, no promo code required. Sometimes we do promos, e.g. there is discussion of $6.99 .com registration and transfers.

And if it can be free, we do our best to make it free. As a result, the value for money is unmatched. More details here: http://epik.com/free

Some registrars are going to use the price increase to milk the cow. Some have already started. Epik intends to remain the pro domainer's best friend. It is a core strategy. That was the point.

Pretty sure he was referring to the margins on the forever stuff...aka $399 upfront, not standard domain renewals.

Anyone can renew their own .COM for (10) years right now for say $90. So you are paying an extra $300+ for the promise that Epik will renew the domain after that point, a decade from now.

The financial interest for Epik is obvious.

How many decades will it take for that to make financial sense to the buyer?

Brad

 

[Lox]

Thanks @Lox! Then I only don't trust Epik anymore...

Trust or $ insurance is not the issue w Epik, the semi-PRs and a few of "rebellion" moves that framed the Epik company was / is an ongoing issue, but that can be changed anytime - tomorrow.

Regards

 

[Rob Monster]

The best way to sell a "cure", is to create fear in the minds of potential clients/patients.

Registrar industry insider secret: owners of registrars love their expiry streams. Forever domains eliminate the expiry stream. NameLiquidate lets domains owners keep 91% of their expiry stream proceeds. You can call innovations like Forever domains and NameLiquidate as self-serving, but they actually co-create abundance and are win-win. Not sure what life is like looking for boogeymen, but can't be much fun!

 

[Chris Hydrick]

WOW! Thanks @Grilled now I don't trust Epik or Dynadot at all anymore.

Sorry, that wasn't my intent.

Are you now saying you now trust GoDaddy as your asset holder over than Epik and Dynadot?

Until proven otherwise (eg GD cleans up the auction renewal unfairness and stops acting like its too big to care), or until a GD CEO comes to namePros, like Paul Han or @Rob Monster, I trust Epik/Dynadot any day of the week over GoDaddy, when it comes to customer service, safeguarding, and security.

If GoDaddy doesn't change their ways soon, they're quickly on their way to becoming the next NetSol. An outdated dinosaur that cares more about profits, and less about accessible quality customer service, security, or innovation. #AmansLegacy

 

[Rob Monster]

@Rob Monster How can you guarantee to us that Epik as company will be here forever and renew our domains every 10 years? What if Epik ever closes down for whatever reason let's say in 40 years when you are not around anymore? @bmugford has a very valid point that the registry is not involved in this deal, making the deal very uncertain in the long term!

Why do people buy insurance? They transfer risk.

Why do businesses hedge? They transfer risk.

Same story here. What risks are being mitigated:

- The risk of unforeseen neglect to renew.

- The risk unforeseen loss due to future incapacity or inability to pay renewal.

Forever domains are not for everyone.

If Epik is acquired, the acquirer contends with those inherited obligations.

However, for the folks that are concerned about price increases, there is a hedge. And for the folks who value their time, or don't like waking up in a panic, there is convenience and peace of mind.

Let's not over-think this -- for some folks Forever domains are a useful feature with win-win economics.

 

[oldtimer]

It's not about taking sides, it's about the rules, why if we cannot promote our domains even indirectly, why can he promote his company and services? What if we all had a registrar as our own company, then everybody would promote it too.

The way that I look at this is that this shouldn't be about promoting anyone's services, but rather offering a solution to a problem and trying to help the community in the process.

Perhaps owning a registrar is different than owning a domain, but if you owned a domain name that was useful for a community project here at NamePros then I don't think that anyone would object if you mentioned your domain here.

Nevertheless I am more interested in coming up with solutions than watching people get in a fight.

IMO