Fabulous "partnering" with Enom?

[verbster]

I've been pleased with Fabulous for several years, but I'm not a fan of Enom. The thought of their "partnership" is unsettling, mainly because of Enom's mixed reputation and business model. (I wonder if this is somehow connected to Mike Robertson's--AKA Mike Fabulous--exit from Fabulous?)

Anyone have more details on this than the short e-mail sent on 3/10/2011 that seemed to call up more questions than it answered (especially with the lack of reference to parking)?

Here's the e-mail:

Thank you for your continued support of Fabulous.com.

We are pleased to announce a partnership with eNom.com, the world's largest wholesale registrar.

The deal enables us to streamline and optimize our registrar technology, freeing us to focus on what has been key to our success:- great tools, great support and great customers.

We are excited about the opportunities this newest partnership provides for us and our customers, and we expect to be able to implement more features as a result - such as a broader selection of TLDs.

Rest assured, Fabulous.com remains a wholly-owned business of Dark Blue Sea and will continue to operate as per usual, providing you the same level of support.

 

[RJ]

Yeah, I wasn't thrilled about hearing this either, although I use both avidly and like each for their own reasons. Hopefully they aren't merging.

It sounds like Fabulous may just be using eNom's powerful API to offer additional TLDs and other services like hosting to its customers. eNom already allows resellers to do this seemlessly on their own sites. It makes sense for Fabulous to take advantage of this.

RJ

 

[mhdoc]

I seem to recall Mike and some others recently left Fabulous. Made me wonder if there is a connection.

 

[Erdy]

I hate enom because of the legitscript issue. I don't like namecheap too much anymore because of their involvement in this issue and namecheap was my favorite registrar for years.

Fabulous had a very high reputation in my eyes but they have now ruined it after this partnership with enom.

 

[Dave_Z]

Makes you wonder who can you "trust" nowadays. Then again, trust is a fleeting commodity.

 

[Domagon]

I hate enom because of the legitscript issue. I don't like namecheap too much anymore because of their involvement in this issue and namecheap was my favorite registrar for years.

Fabulous had a very high reputation in my eyes but they have now ruined it after this partnership with enom.

Shame indeed. Another infamous eNom partnership in the making ... Fabulous customers, prepare for the worst!

It sounds as if Fabulous may soon operate much like NameCheap already does - essentially, an eNom reseller, yikes!

If so, then many future registrations that occur at Fabulous may, in reality, be registered at eNom. And in such instances, Fabulous customers will, for all practical purposes, be eNom customers; their policies, such as their LegitScript partnership, will also apply.

I'm curious whether Fabulous will be transferring, at some point in the near future, the domains it already possesses to eNom?

Regardless, current Fabulous customers should prepare for the worst...

While it's likely most registrants won't be adversely affected one way or the other, the risk of domain loss due to technical issues and eNom policies (ie. partnerships; LegitScript is only one of them) increases dramatically.

Fabulous should rethink this move - one of the best registrars will soon be, for all practical purposes, operating as part of eNom.

Ron

 

[verbster]

Registration is only half the issue here. Fabulous has consistently been a very good parking ppc provider, especially in some categories.

Wonder what will happen to revenue.

It would be interesting to hear the inside story from Mike Robertson, but I'm guessing he signed a non-disclosure agreement . . . probably a non-compete, too.