NetFirms.com

[htmlindex]

I came across the above company & saw that they are offering domain names for $4.95 for the 1st year.

Anyone had any experience with them? Are they reputable?

How can they afford to sell names so cheap when it costs them $6 plus 22 cents ICANN fee to register a name? I know that they must be trying to upsell hosting or other stuff with the name, but what if people don't buy anything else, then they are making a loss. After the 1st year, the person can just transfer out the name to another company.

 

[kemjika11]

well i have 1 or 2 domain names with them, and they are up for renewal within a month too. At first their layout and stuff confused me a bit, but now i can navigate their website pretty ok. I've not had any complications really with them.

 

[tetrapak]

I wouldn't register too many domains there, all domains have separate account, makes very hard to handle them. Also, you have to fax them your credit card or call them to prove that your payment was valid (maybe it is only because i live in Eastern Europe), and the domain already costs over 5$ then.

 

[GreenGambler]

I've had about 10 names reg'd with them about a year ago. I regged them all at the $4.95 price and then 7 months later transfered them to GoDaddy with no problems..

It was slightly time consuming however as all the names did have seperated accounts but you can move them all into the same account too, if you wanted.
I think that they put a limit on how many $4.95 domains one person can register but the fact that each new registration with them starts a new account, I don't think they even notice when you do. Like I said, I regged 10 in one day once

(I"m sure they hate it when people do what I did)

 

[amosba]

One problem with them is they make it very hard to cancel your account(s) with them. Domain registrations and hosting accounts are set to automatically renew and you cannot turn that off! To cancel a hosting account, you have to email support asking how to do it (there is _NO_ information in their help on cancelling accounts) then you have to email their accounts/billing dept with the reason you want to cancel, username, password, etc...

Apart from that though, I have no real complaints about NetFirms - they seem to be a pretty good operation and are prompt to answer any queries you have.

 

[htmlindex]

I wouldn't register too many domains there, all domains have separate account, makes very hard to handle them. Also, you have to fax them your credit card or call them to prove that your payment was valid (maybe it is only because i live in Eastern Europe), and the domain already costs over 5$ then.

Seems a bit strange that you need to have different accounts for each domain. Is there a logical reason for this or am I missing something here?

So nobody has had any problems buying domains from them & transfering them out after the 1st year?

One problem with them is they make it very hard to cancel your account(s) with them. Domain registrations and hosting accounts are set to automatically renew and you cannot turn that off! To cancel a hosting account, you have to email support asking how to do it (there is _NO_ information in their help on cancelling accounts) then you have to email their accounts/billing dept with the reason you want to cancel, username, password, etc...

Do you need to cancel your account? Can't you just transfer out the domains out without any hassles?

 

[tetrapak]

It is possible to buy at 5$ and them transfer them out, but imho it doesnt worth the hassle!

 

[amosba]

Do you need to cancel your account? Can't you just transfer out the domains out without any hassles?

You can transfer your domains out with no problems, but if you have a hosting account, you have to email them to cancel the hosting account otherwise they will automatically charge your credit card each year. About a year ago NetFirms had a deal where you could get two domains and a year's hosting for only $10 - my domains have been transferred to Moniker, but I never needed/used the hosting account, so I gotta ask nicely for permission to cancel it.

 

[Nattydomain]

I have 5 adult names there from that "special offer" and thats all im going to do...Heard stories about them holding hostage sort of speak to your domains when trying to push. Hope that does not happen to me

 

[htmlindex]

I have 5 adult names there from that "special offer" and thats all im going to do...Heard stories about them holding hostage sort of speak to your domains when trying to push. Hope that does not happen to me

Is there nothing in the control panel to transfer the name to another registrar or do you have to manually email them to do it & get an authorisation code?

 

[amosba]

Is there nothing in the control panel to transfer the name to another registrar or do you have to manually email them to do it & get an authorisation code?

You can get the AUTH codes from the NetFirms control panel. You only need to email them if you want to cancel your hosting account or if you want to let the domain drop (to stop automatic renewals).

 

[htmlindex]

I went ahead & purchased a domain from them for $4.95. Seems that they give hosting for 1 year for free, is that right?

It says in my invoice:

Netfirms Basic Hosting Amount $0.00
25MB, 1GB, 1 E-mail

 

[amosba]

I went ahead & purchased a domain from them for $4.95. Seems that they give hosting for 1 year for free, is that right?

It says in my invoice:

Netfirms Basic Hosting Amount $0.00
25MB, 1GB, 1 E-mail

Reading the Netfirms website, it states that domain names come with 25MB hosting and email. When I signed up there was a code which gave you 12 months of "Netfirms Advantage" (250GB disk/2TB BW/500 email accounts) hosting for free, instead of the standard Basic Hosting.

 

[htmlindex]

Thanks for clearing this up

 

[doggyowner]

Yes with the Netfirms 4.95 registration you get basic hosting. I have a few domain names with them and have created a few landing pages for some of my names. Only negative things is that they put their own adsense advertising on the top of the page. For an example go to one of my names www.ixpl.com and see for yourself.

 

[GreenGambler]

Yes with the Netfirms 4.95 registration you get basic hosting. I have a few domain names with them and have created a few landing pages for some of my names. Only negative things is that they put their own adsense advertising on the top of the page. For an example go to one of my names www.ixpl.com and see for yourself.

Your right.. I never noticed that about them, of course I never used there hosting.

Maybe that's how they can sell registrations for only 4.95.

 

[htmlindex]

I wouldn't register too many domains there, all domains have separate account, makes very hard to handle them. Also, you have to fax them your credit card or call them to prove that your payment was valid (maybe it is only because i live in Eastern Europe), and the domain already costs over 5$ then.

After registering my 1st name with them, I got an email from them saying:

Thank you for choosing Netfirms.

To finalize your order, please contact a member of our Billing Team within
the next 2 days at:

1-877-399-9909 or via e-mail at [email protected]

The Billing Team is available Monday to Friday between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm
EST, and Saturday and Sunday between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm EST.

Thank you,
Netfirms Billing Team

To which I replied:
I just got the below message to contact you to finalise the order. I thought
that my domain name registration was already finalised!

And they replied:

In order to prevent the rise of fraudulent activity there are some criteria that
must be passed before an order is approved. If the criteria are not met the
order is flagged.

Your order was flagged, thus we require proof of ownership of the credit card
being used. If you do not feel comfortable faxing the credit card (fax number
1.416.661.0700) then you may scan the credit card (front and back) and send it
as a jpeg file to us at [email protected]. You may block the middle digits as
we only need to see the first and last four. Once the credit card has been
verified your order will be approved.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, we must take these measures
in order to protect you and our customers.

Is this a standard thing for everyone that buys domains from them? Seems like it's more hassles then it's worth to save a couple of bucks! Never had any other registrars requiring this, why do they have to make things so difficult?

 

[tetrapak]

http://www.namepros.com/1954405-post3.html