Can someone please let me know if I should just stick to Godaddy or use multiple registrars?
Honestly, while I agree 110% with
@Ja Kai, and GoDaddy's platform is a total mess, it still is the biggest in the industry, and if you're going to use their auction platform to buy names (a must for me as I focus on auctions/closeouts), then you don't have a choice but to use GoDaddy. They are slowly getting better, but there have been very serious bugs for years that have not been fixed. I reported a critical security bug at least 4 years ago, and it's still there today. I empathise with them because it's a really big ship and not as easy to fix things as people think .. yet there's still no other word for it but disastrous .. particularly if you're a bigger user as your chances of bumping into problems grow as your portfolio does.
Also, I wouldn't move your GoDaddy domains (or anywhere else), just for the sake of moving them. I use renewals (or a couple of months before) as the time to decide if/when I'm going to switch registrars. Remember that transfers are "effectively" free if you do it like that because while on paper you pay for a transfer, generally they are almost the same price as renewals, and come with a free renewal, so in the end it doesn't change your budget at all to move your domains as long as you're sure you'll be keeping them another year.
The most important thing as a domainer, is to keep your domains at registrars where they are easily available to end-users. Basically you should choose a registrar that has fast-transfer agreements with the big end user markets like Afternic and Sedo.
(Does anyone have a full official list of all such registrars?
@Joe Styler @Paul Nicks?)
With all that out of the way, the other thing I recommend, just for portfolio management reasons alone, is try to limit your domains to the smallest number of registrars possible. A couple years ago I was using Name.com along with the bulk of my names at GoDaddy. These days I'm at Epik and obviously still GoDaddy because I buy 99% of my domain acquisitions there.
In all honesty, I originally chose Epik last year randomly because of pricing promotions. I was facing the choice transferring my domains from Name.com to Epik for $7.49, instead of renewing them at Name.com for something like $12.99 or $14.99. No big deal if you have 2-3 domains .. but when it's 200-300 and more domains, it's a big deal.
After that however, I actually like Epik for many of the reasons above. There are some very smart features integrated into their platform. Like 100% of registrars, they are not perfect and have little issues. But the difference with Epik is that I can email
@Rob Monster with a bug or problem, and it's generally addressed in hours or days .. where as with GoDaddy, it can be years if ever. That to me is probably the biggest difference. The irony is, in my opinion, the staff at GoDaddy is actually great. Super nice, friendly and most will go the extra mile for you ... until they hit a wall where there is a problem in the platform that prevents them from doing something, or it's something they aren't aware of .. at that point communications seem to quietly slow. I actually feel bad for their staff sometimes. A couple of years ago before I completely gave up reporting bugs and issues, I'd sometimes actually start my emails to my GoDaddy rep with an apology because I felt bad that he had to be the buffer for all my technical issues and problems .. even worse in that he send them off to the various departments, and then I'd never hear anything back. Again though .. GoDaddy is a mush more complex platform than any other registrar .. the sad part is, that it has potential to be so much more! They are getting better .. but sometimes it feel like watching a snail crossing a continent! lol
For the record, at the moment my portfolio is split between Epik and GoDaddy, and I think I have one other domain at another registrar (you see the problem with having too many registrars, I'm not even 100% sure .. lol)
(Also .. almost all my domains that expire between now and the end of the year are at Epik)
, and I actually declined because my ethical standard was way above theirs.
