Is anyone else pulling out of Moniker?

[Auraka]

So I'm not as big of a domain owner as I use to be, I use to have over 300 domains at Moniker and have sold many of those or let some expire. I feel that this is good business for Moniker as I have gotten them at least 20-30 new customers paying their full asking price.

Lately their site keeps loading slow or having issues as it is no longer hosted at RackSpace. Now all of their nameservers for dns hosting are all in the same location (it use to be distributed like enom). Their support is slow and doesn't seem to be very helpful. My account rep is a ghost and hasn't contacted me like I was promised.

Needless to say I have started pulling the last 55 domains I have with them over to other accounts at namecheap/dynadot.

Can anyone else recommend a registrar that actually cares about their customers?

 

[allroundguy]

NameBargain.com:
Not a single issue since I became a customer with them in April 1991.
They are registrars and offer all the necessary domain related tools.
No aftermarket, no appraising, etc. - Just registration.
They never said a domain was too long or not a .com, or worth "this" or "that".
For domain pushing purposes, I am with a few other registrars similar to NameBargain.com and NameCheap.com.
Most of these are resellers, I know, but .com's under $10.00 are a bargain.
And I see not why having a domain with a registrar having "Cheap" or "Bargain" in the business name?
When I look at the live auction results, I see that little of the domains sold respond to what was defined to be accepted for auction.

So, who on this forum ever did not buy a domain just because it was registered with a "Cheap" or "Bargain" registrar?
When will domainers understand that added value comes from what potential buyers are looking for, and not what domain sellers want that people are looking for?
Marketing and appraisals are just discussable opinions, based upon suppositions and expectations.

"Cheap" and "Bargain" not always mean "Lower Quality" etc.
They can also mean "Opportunity"or "Sale" etc.
Some people buy bread, butter, milk, shoes, flatscreen TV, book a trip to Spain, and have lunch all together in the same warehouse.
Some people buy bread in a bakery, butter and milk in a grocery, shoes in a shoe shop, a flatscreen TV in a electro center, book the trip to Spain with a travel agent (or directly online), and have lunch in some restaurant.

Some people buy the most recent fashion things immediately.
Other people wait until price drops.
Some things deteriorate in time (food ...).
Others stay for centuries.

Why should somebody buy a high priced domain from a company that picks up expired domains for scratch and resell it as "Premium" for the hundred or thousandfold price?
What is the idea behind asking the same company that registers and auctions domains to tell us what we should as for it as a seller and to other people what they should pay to us?
I hope everybody is happy with their current registrars.
But imho registering, appraising and selling/auctioning by the same company on the same website "could" give reason to doubt about the objectivity and serenity.

Whew ...
This was not short.
But I felt the argumentation could be useful.
Just my 2cts.

Okay ..., 6cts ...

 

[Domagon]

NameBargain.com:
Not a single issue since I became a customer with them in April 1991...

1991? :lol: That would have been a feat, since ICANN didn't even exist yet let alone competing registrars. I assume you meant 2001?

In regards to Moniker ... weren't they sold / merged or something a few years or so ago? ... their service has gone south big time in recent times, except perhaps for their largest volume customers.

Bottom line is there are far better registrar choices than Moniker.

Ron

 

[Pound]

Moving out. Why? No qualms with Moniker, simply that Fabulous.com is far better!

 

[BocaVision]

In regards to Moniker ... weren't they sold / merged or something a few years or so ago? ... their service has gone south big time in recent times, except perhaps for their largest volume customers.

Bottom line is there are far better registrar choices than Moniker.

Ron

Yes, Oversee bought Moniker for $65 million in January -- here is the article snippet --

Oversee.net has acquired domain registration and auction powerhouse Moniker for what is believed to be $65 million.

Oversee.net previously purchased Snapnames in May for $35 million and will integrate Moniker into its Snapnames Live service.

Moniker has become a leader in the continually growing second domain names market. We’ve covered Moniker auctions twice before (here and here); they may not have the volume of some of their competitors but they had carved out a strong niche at the top of the market.

Both parties said that the acquisition would strength their positions in a highly competitive market.

Here is the article link:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/03/overseenet-acquires-moniker-for-65-million/

 

[Archangel]

I'm a fan of Fabulous.com. Great prices and the best RPC for ppc.

I've heard this a lot. I still favor GoDaddy. Even when I had less than 5 domains there, they responded to my every need. And they are cluttered but it's easy to navigate once ya get the hang of it. Even MS XP was a challenge when it came out but it's the most loved OS out there... too bad they stopped making it. (I still use it though)

 

[Name Trader]

The Fabulous Monetization Account is just fabulous. Great prices and great service. But no PayPal, unfortunately. I sometimes take some time to get what I want from their "weighty" interface. But it works well. Email responses are also very fast.

Name.com are also fabulous. Simple control panel, fast, fast checkout, paypal, and cheap prices, if you use their coupons. Email responses are also pretty fast during office hours at least. Recently been a few too many canned responses though. Free whois privacy a bonus for some.

My main registrar is still GoDaddy though. I have a personal account manager who always responds immediately by email, if he is in the office. Their Control Panel is way better than elsewhere for managing multiple domains. In over 10,000 domain years (domains x years regged) I've only had 1 $10 charge for BS whois complaint, which I took back by charging the buyer (who was the complainant). So, I can stand the odd BS charge from them. It's miniscule. I also have their Discount Club Membership which gives usually better than any coupons. Checkout still bad, but not so bad if you skip all their offers.

 

[Pound]

The Fabulous Monetization Account is just fabulous. Great prices and great service. But no PayPal, unfortunately.

There is an option for Paypal both in depositing and withdrawing funds, no?

 

[acronym007]

• Our security is the highest in the industry. We have never lost a domain name. We also have MaxLock available, in which you have to answer self designed questions to have access a domain.


That is the single most important fact about any registrar. The first time you lose a domain nothing else will matter. That is the one reason I moved all my domains to Moniker. Now if Moniker starts to lose domains or security goes downhill I will move but I can deal with many things, security issues are my only valid concern. Moniker's customer service has always been good for me?

Godaddy - has lost to many names in the past, they are the mass publics registrar. They were made for the majority, the average citizen, not the domainer. Nothing wrong with that but security wasn't their priority in the past. I think with Adam there, over time that will change.

Fabulous - I have no knocks against them. I think they are great and if I was to move elsewhere Fabulous would be my second choice.

eNom - I like their interface but that's all, super smooth and easy.

 

[Pound]

• Our security is the highest in the industry. We have never lost a domain name. We also have MaxLock available, in which you have to answer self designed questions to have access a domain.

I don't want to keep promoting on the behalf of Fabulous, however, I thought I'd point out they also have the feature listed above, but it's free. Firstly, to transfer out domains you always have to answer 3 secret questions and, secondly, for your high-value names you can make it so that you agree certain steps that have to be made to change a domain's settings (e.g. ring them up and say "Pink squirrel").

 

[acronym007]

I don't want to keep promoting on the behalf of Fabulous, however, I thought I'd point out they also have the feature listed above, but it's free. Firstly, to transfer out domains you always have to answer 3 secret questions and, secondly, for your high-value names you can make it so that you agree certain steps that have to be made to change a domain's settings (e.g. ring them up and say "Pink squirrel").

I like Fabulous also, I have a Fab account too. Fabulous might even be better but I happen like & trust Moniker's secure history at this point in time. There is no question if I were to recommend a registrar today it would be these two.

 

[Dean]

I think people who are leaving Moniker should look at Dynadot since if you are at Moniker you dont mind paying a bit extra for a .com if you get great service and support and thats what you get at Dynadot.

As to the title of this thread 'Is anyone else pulling out of Moniker?' The answer is yes, looking at the stats they are losing a lot of domains.

 

[Kate]

As to the title of this thread 'Is anyone else pulling out of Moniker?' The answer is yes, looking at the stats they are losing a lot of domains.

http://www.registrarstats.com/Publi...aultEndDate=11/21/2008&source=marketsharemain

 

[acronym007]

By those results Fabulous is doing poorly also:

http://www.registrarstats.com/Publi...aultEndDate=11/21/2008&source=marketsharemain

BUT WAIT the stats are scewed....

Network Solutions & Tucows are doing great and I hope every domainer knows not to use them.

http://www.registrarstats.com/Publi...aultEndDate=11/21/2008&source=marketsharemain

http://www.registrarstats.com/Publi...aultEndDate=11/21/2008&source=marketsharemain

No one should use those stats as a basis for the best registrar, don't we all agree?

 

[Dean]

By those results Fabulous is doing poorly also:

http://www.registrarstats.com/Publi...aultEndDate=11/21/2008&source=marketsharemain

BUT WAIT the stats are scewed....

Network Solutions & Tucows are doing great and I hope every domainer knows not to use them.

http://www.registrarstats.com/Publi...aultEndDate=11/21/2008&source=marketsharemain

http://www.registrarstats.com/Publi...aultEndDate=11/21/2008&source=marketsharemain

No one should use those stats as a basis for the best registrar, don't we all agree?

No one said it had anything to do with best registrar. I am just saying the fact is that they are losing a lot of domains. Tucows are doing great because a lot of hosts resell domains from Tucows and, as you can see from the stats, a lot of people register domains with their host. Thats why a lot of those registrar that domainers dont use have so many domains.

 

[OnlineDomainCom]

• Our security is the highest in the industry. We have never lost a domain name. We also have MaxLock available, in which you have to answer self designed questions to have access a domain.

This is no longer valid. If it ever was...
They have lost one and they almost lost one of mine.
And these is what I have heard in the past couple of months.

 

[thetruman]

I agree with moniker do not be intuitive... my favorite is dynadot, hands off... Godaddy is a little better with costs..

 

[acronym007]

No one said it had anything to do with best registrar. I am just saying the fact is that they are losing a lot of domains. Tucows are doing great because a lot of hosts resell domains from Tucows and, as you can see from the stats, a lot of people register domains with their host. Thats why a lot of those registrar that domainers dont use have so many domains.

I understand what you are saying and all I am saying is let's agree to analyze the data. If Fabulous is losing allot of domains and Moniker is losing allot of domains then really it becomes a unusable fact/stat. Most people like Fabulous even if they don't like Moniker so what is causing the loss of domains? I mean it's interesting for us to think about the data and curious if anyone knows the root cause?

 

[Dean]

I understand what you are saying and all I am saying is let's agree to analyze the data. If Fabulous is losing allot of domains and Moniker is losing allot of domains then really it becomes a unusable fact/stat. Most people like Fabulous even if they don't like Moniker so what is causing the loss of domains? I mean it's interesting for us to think about the data and curious if anyone knows the root cause?

Moniker is loosing a lot more domains. I dont see how the data becomes unusable, maybe people dont like something about Fabulous neither?

 

[JOHNDEER]

depending on how many domains you ha ev they have a new vip person to take care of you. she is good and quick

 

[copper]

• Moniker - I may have 1,500+ domains with them and no problem so far. One time, I had concern about $xx,xxx escrow process and sent email to Monte. He replied back within 5 minutes said he's driving and will forward it to other person. Problem solved within one hour. Forwarding - I don't think it cost anything. You have to go thru shopping cart, but, total is zero.
  
  One time, I was completely off the net for more than 2 months and forgot to renew some domains. They were about 40 days past renewal date. I called them up just in case and asked if I can still renew. You know what? I was able to renew it. Actually, I think rep. had to manually renew them since they were nolonger in my acct. I got all of them back except 2 which were already registered by someone else. To top it off, I did NOT pay any extra fee :kickass:
  
  On the other hand, enom charge how much when you want to get your expired domain back? is it $80? I had one domain expired at enom and give up because of that extra charge This is main reason why I move about to expire domains from enom to Moniker every chance I get.

• Godaddy - I think I have 500+ domains. Their price is ok. But, too slow and have to go thru hoops and loops to register/renew domains Support is ok. I never tried email support. I tried phone support and seemed ok. They occasionally call and ask if everything is ok Seems like I have dedicated rep (? or whatever you call it), but, what benefit does it bring?

• Enom - I just have few. no problem with them except prices.

• NameCheap - few domains there. No issues.

• Dynadot - few domains. price is higher.

• Other registrars - few domains. moving when renewal date comes.