Epik vs NameSilo?

[Domaniak]

Anyone here using NameSilo and Epik? How does Epik compare to NameSilo? Interested in hearing from those with hands-on experience regarding pros and especially cons with consideration for the following:

- I don't want domain privacy

- not interested in their "marketplaces"

- not interested in registrar's DNS management / domain parking

- not interested in ccTLD's and new gTLD's offerings

- interested in admin panel convenient for managing domains in the thousands

- interested in robust multiple sub-accounts / user management

- interested in reselling

- interested in convenient domain "push" process between accounts

So far leaning towards Epik because of their competitive, fixed standard .COM pricing (for NP members), proactive "can do" support and domaining-centric environment and suite of additional services

*** Note: NOT INTERESTED in any other registrars - already have accounts with and tried most of them out and formed an opinion ***

 

[namesilo]

Hi everyone. Just wanted to jump in on this thread. We are certainly sensitive to the needs of domainers and have built many of our services and offerings around those needs, while also balancing the needs for our non-domainer customers. We constantly work to improve for both. We originally entered the market in 2010 as one of the first registrars to offer free WHOIS privacy and ultra-low pricing with no hidden fees, and we have stuck to that model with good success. Since that time, other registrars have entered the market and other existing registrars have changed their models for the better. While many still employ old tactics that they can continue to get away with (hidden fees, policies making things like transferring out difficult, etc.), we believe the industry has changed for the better in that there are now more alternatives offering good solutions.

Very low everyday pricing has been the hallmark of our company and we have been PM'd by a few people referencing this thread asking us to offer a lower rate. It is very important to us that we stick to what has worked for us through the years which is the ability to use our service and all of its free services, while charging the lowest rates possible to maintain a viable business. We aim to continue this approach and to possibly offer even lower prices, and we will make an announcement once we are able to do so.

We appreciate the feedback we have seen on this thread and others, and competition is a great thing in that it continues to force companies to evolve for the better, or risk becoming obsolete. As always, we are available for any questions, comments or suggestions and wish everyone on NP a very Happy New Year!

 

[namesilo]

Don't know for Epik, but NameSilo is part of Afternic Premium Network.

Yes, we are one of the few registrars that is both part of the Afternic Premium and Sedo fast transfer programs.

 

[usernamex]

Epik wins in managing domains in the thousands for me. You can actually get accounts at both and load as many names as you want in each of their Domain Managers WITHOUT transferring, like a free test drive.

I just recently joined Epik for the NP pricing and Epik Escrow, the Domain Manager is the best I've seen, I have close to 40 registrars and 30+ TLDs (mostly ccTLDs) so that is impressive. It is not quite perfect, and their site is slow on search/registration, hoping that will improve.

My NameSilo account is a few years old, the Manager and overall site is not as up to date, but functions fine, I use their API which Epik does not offer, or I haven't found yet. It that what you want is API for custom reselling , or am I misunderstanding?

Customer Support is great at both, and both have reps here. Just for fun nobody tag them and see how long it takes for them to notice and comment! : grin :

 

[StargateCapital]

@usernamex & @Domaniak - Epik API Documentation is here. Let me know if you need your accounts upgraded to our Name Pros Domainer pricing.

Don't forget, Epik offers leasing too! Learn more here and click here for our step-by-step guide to get setup.

 

[Rob Monster]

Apologies for being late to this party. Just getting back from an 18 day, 5 country trip and managed to get on an international flight without a working WiFi. It happened to be on a day when we created some excitement.

For calibration, $8.10 is the hard cost from Verisign and ICANN for a .COM. The most recent PayPal rate increase is insane. Here is what happens with PayPal on your $8.10 domain purchase.

Total amount: $8.10 USD
Fee amount: -$0.53 USD
Net amount: $7.57 USD

That is a whopping 6.6%. Insane. Credit card processors are a little better but they are opportunists do.

When you are dealing in hundreds of domains, that is chump change. When you are dealing in hundreds of thousands of domains, it adds up.

Also, registrars keep funds on deposit with Verisign -- in other words we pre-pay Verisign. When customers pay us via PayPal or Credit card, we get those funds 2-3 days later as usable funds. Charity is one thing, but that is an upside-down economic model as it scales. And it is scaling as registrants move on from their legacy registrars in search of a reliable partner to hold their domain assets, process escrow and process domain sales/leases.

So all that being said, to get the $8.10 deal, here are the options:

- Wire funds into your Epik account

- Make a counter deposit at any Chase or Wells Fargo branch

- Pay via Bitcoin

- Sell or lease your domains via Epik -- your proceeds are deposited commission free, and tax-free, and are instantly available funds for domain purchases, etc

In other words, the $8.10 deal is completely on the table. It just requires our large volume clients to not have Epik hold the drippy bag from PayPal. Those guys are simply crooks. It is not just the transaction fees. They are also now charging insane fees for sending funds, e.g. a customer yesterday receiving a $2500 escrow proceeds getting charged another $51.25 in PayPal fees for a disbursement. It is nuts. The domain industry needs to do its part to put these jerks out of business.

So, bottomline, if anyone wants the $8.10 deal, just contact your account rep or support, and they will update your account to the $8.10 cost deal subject to the above funding methods.

At the end of the day, Epik is still the best deal around. With all-inclusive $8.10 .COM and a fantastic bundle of value-added services included at no additional cost. However, we do need our clients to cooperate and put these PayPal opportunists out of business. Enough is enough. #StopUsingPaypal

 

[korganian]

You can't beat Epik's commission free instant sales and leasing.

I recently had a guy call me about a domain. We agreed on a price and five minutes later, he had the domain in his new account at Epik and I had the money in my account at Epik. I didn't have to do anything or pay any commission.

 

[namesilo]

Thank you very much @namesilo for showing up. I believe it did not go unnoticed and is appreciated by many.
Could you please tell us if you are thinking about updating your site and interface ( not one of the most modern let's be honest ) and if the lower prices are something already set to happen or yet to be discussed.

Yes, we actually have plans to update the front-end of our site during 2017 - it certainly has gotten pretty dated on us

However, we likely will not be changing our domain manager and other account area screens as the functionality we offer is one of the things we get the most positive feedback about. We do not want to mess with what works, but also bring the front-end design of the site more up to recent design standards.

We have been internally discussing a few different options for bringing our pricing down further for large portfolio holders. We originally developed our Discount Program a few years ago to accomplish this goal (getting prices as low as $8.39 for .com registration/renewal), but we still try to devise was to lower it further. We always strive to maintain transparency with our pricing and have not offered special deals for individuals beyond what is posted on our site, but we also understand the need to continue competing with domainers who are a very important market for us. We are aware of other alternatives offering lower pricing, but we also always need to remain cognizant of how our business model works so that we can remain a profitable and viable business. There are different approaches that registrars take to make money as we can all only exist if profitable for the long-term, and we will continue to explore options that allow us to offer better and better prices while maintaining our business model.

 

[Rob Monster]

Epik is on Afternic and Sedo MLS.

We will also release a secure, native mobile app this quarter which also will support the MLS inventories with fast-transfer. I met with Sedo's CEO, Tobias Flaitz, at NamesCon last week. We are looking forward to doing more with Sedo in the coming months to help Sedo compete more effectively in mobile-centric markets like India, China and Latin America. I believe this is a positive development for Epik customers.

 

[Rob Monster]

@robepik - since direct CC transactions are not subject to PP fees do you plan to include these as well ?
I don't use BTC & I'm European so wire / Chase or Wells Fargo is out of the question.

As it would happen, we are about to announce a European acquisition. As a side benefit of that acquisitons, you are now able to deposit funds in Euros to a European bank account. Since we have not formally announced the deal, you can private message me at [email protected] if you need immediate details on how to fund your account from Europe. We will be happy to get you set up that way.

 

[namesilo]

@robepik & @namesilo

I love you both

please offer opt out of 60 transfer block
as uniregistry does

I am into selling and reselling
and this is important

We never enforce the 60-day transfer lock based on change of Registrant. The only 60-day lock that is enforced is the 60-day lock required per ICANN rules following new registration. However, even during that 60 days, you can still push domains to other NameSilo accounts.

 

[StargateCapital]

@photonmymind -- We're grateful for the opportunity! Our customer support is nothing less than Legendary. How do I know you ask? Well, before I joined forces with Rob Monster (Epik.com CEO) last year, I was (and still am) a client for several years. It truly amazed me that the CEO of the company would be online at ridiculous hours providing great customer support and really listening to suggestions (and implementing them) that would help domainers like you and I to better manage our domain portfolios. This is but a fraction of the great reviews and love we receive on a perpetual basis... At Epik.com premium support comes with every domain name!

@internext - We're excited about the app too! To be released soon!

 

[usernamex]

The problem with Platinum is they each want you to have all your eggs in one basket, which I am just not a fan of. Not that there would be another RegisterFly, but there could be! Somehow I have managed to sweet talk my way into higher tiers at enough places that when I get offered a "Special" deal, I usually have something better already with no strings. : grin :

And in fairness to @namesilo they are my top choice to refer lay people / non-domainers to, especially all my friends stuck at the mercy of overpaying GD and too afraid to move because they got roped into some long term deal. Plus I use their API for dropcatching so that's different from normal volume API access.

 

[usernamex]

@dordomai - I was joshing - it's free

http://www.epik.com/about/
Unmatched Privacy and Security
All domains can use our free WHOIS privacy proxy service as well as IP-address security protection and 2-Factor authentication for those who require it. For high value domains, Epik.com offers complementary max-lock services.

 

[Rob Monster]

@robepik & @namesilo

I love you both

please offer opt out of 60 transfer block
as uniregistry does

I am into selling and reselling
and this is important

@frank - There is an opt out for the transfer block. The only enforced block is the first 60 days of the registration as ICANN requires it. Otherwise, we don't enforce a 60 day block.

 

[namesilo]

when I transfer a domain into namesilo
its blocked for outbound sale ( transfers )
for 60 days

at uniregistry its possible to deactivate that block
as I done today with a domain that was in uniregistry for about 1 week max

obviously at epik too as rob tells us here

Yes, we are happy to remove the 60-day lock on outgoing transfers upon request. Simply email [email protected] and the lock can be removed.

 

[Dondomainer]

At some point I lost myself, i mean, a lot of information from everywhere, but, there was a detail that among all the registrars that made the difference to me, you can talk to a person for any emergency...I mean, I know we are all people here... but.. for me

this is personal care.

.Even epik chat is personal for me (what i feel). I want personal involvement,

It's like, - Hey bro.. I give you my domains in your hands.

And from the other side.. - I will do everything I can to help you. ( this sentence is a proven fact for me with Epik and Rob. )

So I start moving all my domains progressively today...

 

[Rob Monster]

Yup I too have the same Question?

This is a useful whois check stuff created to be helpful for Domainers at Epik yet would this stuff not mislead people

Actually the huge corporation is the one that likely has fixed IP or whose staff likely use VPNs with fixed IPs. Those are the ones that are interesting. The private citizen with a consumer ISP is the one with dynamic IP. So, what we are looking for is the repeat visits from the same IP. That is what we highlight in orange or red. It is a useful diagnostic, among others that you find in the "Performance" tab. We have an internal "Domain Quality Index" score that we are considering to start publishing as a sortable attribute to help Pro domainers quickly assess "keep or toss".

 

[garptrader]

EPIK has some interesting development solutions - real estate and lead generation for example. I have not tried those yet but since I have some geo real estate domains am considering.

 

[GoKaizen]

https://www.namepros.com/threads/epik-announces-escrow-service.895046/

 

[Domaniak]

@RL...@Domaniak - you still on the fence or wanna share any decision and what features solved it for you?

Still on the fence, but leaning more and more towards Epik. Their API is another strong point in Epik's favor, as far as I'm concerned. In addition to all the other features and pricing, I mean. Moving some domains there to get a better taste. Not crazy about Epik's admin panel, I like NameSilo's website and panel. A bit old fashioned, but very crisp and snappy. Eh, never mind that. Epik's way ahead in other ways. They seem to understand domaining and the needs of domainers much better. Kindred spirits wins the day, I think

 

[Silentptnr]

Which site - and why - if you don't mind sharing?

I decided to use Uniregistry. The slickness and complete design. The smooth integration with the market and all the powerful tools and features. I also like the mobile app. I have tried them all and I really like NameSilo and Epik, but I find Uniregistry the best solution for me.

 

[Silentptnr]

To stay on topic though, I really like the simplicity of NameSilo, but Epik is better than NameSilo for domain management. Although I just sold a domain through NameSilo marketplace.

 

[NameOmnia]

I decided to use Uniregistry. The slickness and complete design. The smooth integration with the market and all the powerful tools and features. I also like the mobile app. I have tried them all and I really like NameSilo and Epik, but I find Uniregistry the best solution for me.

I have been using Uniregistry for a while and I was happy until I needed some support..not good.
I will give Epik a try even though I have better prices with Uni

 

[NameOmnia]

Thank you very much @RL, you certainly show what responsiveness is..

 

[NameOmnia]

Better prices with Uniregistry than Epik's $8.10 for .COM regs / renewals / transfers?