Thoughts on NameBright?

[agentscarn]

Saw a nice post on DNW about namebright and now the bright orange banners here on namepros. Does anyone have any firsthand experience with them?

 

[tonyk2000]

Software and pricing may be fine. But another important point, not mentioned in this thread, at least for non-U.S.-based domainers, is non-U.S. jurisdiction of the registrar... at least nowadays. I admit that for U.S.-based registrant it makes no (legal) difference though. However, the 1st thing I checked after pressing the new namebright banner was where the company is incorporated.

 

[Rebies]

Alien51 - with Linked Accounts and selling domains... unfortunately only one person can hold full control of a domain name. And no - we do not intervene at all if you have a contract to sell a domain. That contract is bound by law, and best handled in the legal system if something goes awry between two parties. We are just making it easier for domainers to sell domains with "terms", and to lease domains. Unfortunately this process is a lot better for a seller than a buyer. But it can work both ways.

 

[agentscarn]

I transferred an additional domain to namebright to test out their custom server process. It was very easy to register nameservers for my reseller hosting account.

Any chance Namebright will offer whois privacy for free all the time, and not just on the first year?

Alien51 makes a good point here. I use name.com for domains that I consider high priority. Security and free whois privacy (with coupon) are the main reasons. The cost for a .com domain with their Investor Club discount is $9.25. If it were any higher than that, I would consider leaving name.com. If Namebright could beat that price, that would certainly get my attention.

 

[Expron]

I wish NameBright's API would allow domainers to "Play The Drop" and catch domains into our accounts at registration fee. Perhaps the system can mark the domains TurnCommerce chases for HugeDomains (Domain Warehouse) as "Unavailable" and allow domainers to chase & catch / backorder domains the domains your company don't desire on our own via your API system.

Then it would make sense for me to develop a drop catch software tool to hook into your API system. It would make a great software title for DropKing.com and benefit NameBright as well. Just some food for thought, because at this point - I feel like the TurnCommerce registrars are not in the domainer's best interest. I am not trying to be negative here, just recommending a feature that can be built into the API design. I think many NamePros forum members would appreciate an API drop catching or backorder feature.

 

[Rebies]

Expron... good suggestion. we have been discussing these exact things. at launch we did not want to create extra complexities, so disabling drop-catching on the API was the safest way for us to go initially. We have already had a few requests for this and it is something we are considering.

 

[baseballworld]

I was checking the Name Bright website out yesterday. I just might signup an account there and transfer some domains that im gonna keep for parking purposes to them. I like the pricing there without a code needed. Also there paid features are pretty cool. Especially the whois branding one.

 

[equity78]

After speaking with Eric, and addressing the concerns of other members who have reported posts in this thread. If you want to discuss questions about being a customer and what NameBright can offer all members then you can post it in this thread and we thank Andrew for responding here.

If you want to discuss doing business with NameBright, PM Rebies.

Thank you

 

[alien51]

There's a huge Namebright advertisement banner on top which says Dot Com domains priced so low for just $8.03. But when i clicked it and it took me to the Namebright website, i attempted to reg a domain and the price was $8.53 ?!?

Edit:

Oh ok, i didn't see the fine print which says for "pre-funded" accounts. I think i need to wear eyeglasses now. Am having trouble reading small thin fonts. lol

 

[Name Trader]

GoDaddy does a good job auctioning off their expired domain names. As you say, you have about 1M names. I presume you don't renew all of them. I know this because I have captured one or two of them in the past. I think you would have a great opportunity (because generally your domains are of good quality) to auction off all your expired domains from all your 51 registers including all the expired domains of your customers in a "GoDaddy like" auction. This would give you some return on your drops, and us some possibility to capture some domains which you no longer want, at maybe cheaper prices than at SnapNames/Namejet (assuming you adopt a GoDaddy type level of pricing, letting the market decide the final price).

 

[Rebies]

alien51 - Yes, there is a pricing difference between $8.03 and $8.53 pricing. (A $0.50 difference) This is because of processing fees. The cheapest way to register a domain is to remove any extra fees so you can pay the exact cost we pay. “At Cost Pricing”. We worked very hard to find the pricing strategy that would work the best for domainers. This meant having two price points if the customer is paying with pre-paid funds or not.

However, stay tuned in the next 24 hours, prices will be getting even better…

stub - We have been working on expiring domain names and what to do with that inventory. First and foremost is making sure we give the customer every chance possible to renew a domain. Auctions of expired domains is not as important in my book. Auctions of our own domains is different, but still fits into the overall picture. I truly appreciate your input and thoughts on this, and I encourage more input so we can make NameBright a step above every other registrar!

 

[Rebies]

Update.. Our November promotion is live! All new .COM domain registrations during November will be $4.99 per domain for the first year. Pre-funded accounts will get slightly cheaper rates of $4.58 per domain per year! Renewals will be at the regular rate of $8.03 per year, transfers are the same price of $8.03 per year.

 

[wwwweb]

So what happens to expired domains, do you offer an extended grace period for non renewal domains, such does Godaddy... As well how long does this low price come into effect, it seems everyone offers low pricing to come on over, and then jack them up next year on renewals? I would assume you are well funded, but offering such cheap prices, puts profits at risk, and nobody wants their domains trapped at a registar that can't pay their bills. What sort of customer service do you offer, 24/7 with a toll free number?

Are you exiting the drop catching business, as you are competing in registrations, with the same clients you serve, I think a registar has to pick a business side, and focus on that, and not be in direct competition with their clients.

 

[Rebies]

wwwweb - renewals are $8.03 for .com domains. Right now our support is 8 to 5 Monday through Friday though a few of us are stepping in off hours to make sure everything is smooth. We are currently in talks with a few people in Europe to handle night support and bring on weekend support as well. As for extended grace period - we offer that for sure. Even more, if we buy a domain you had with us after you let it expire, as long as we still own the domain, we will get it back to you up to 365 days after it expired. For the $8.03 renewal price. This is our commitment to our customers. There has been speculation we are launching a registrar to get expired domains from our customers, and that is so far from the truth. As to dropcatching - read earlier in this thread. It will happen, I can't give out the exact details yet. But I can say we won't be competing with our customers. We are working on solutions for this right now. Implementation takes a little time though.

 

[alien51]

Update.. Our November promotion is live! All new .COM domain registrations during November will be $4.99 per domain for the first year. Pre-funded accounts will get slightly cheaper rates of $4.58 per domain per year! Renewals will be at the regular rate of $8.03 per year, transfers are the same price of $8.03 per year.

O-M-G. This would be the best ever, when Godaddy's 1.99 promo codes finally run dry.

Will you have a similar promo for Transfers too? I would farm-out a huge chunk of my stuff to Namebright when that day comes.

 

[Name Trader]

Domain Name Wire reckons Andrew will lose $350,000 if he sells his limit of 100,000 domains in November. He'll also see a massive transfer out next November unless he makes Privacy permanently free. Making the investment a dubious one, IMHO.

Is the PayPal Payment ready for topping up our funds yet? I have an oncoming urge to spend some of my PayPal Funds

 

[Rebies]

stub: Paypal will be ready early next week. We got enough comments about it we have prioritized Paypal payments. If all goes well, next week week will have the ability to pre-fund accounts using Paypal. About a week after that you should be ableto checkout with Paypal directly...

Andrew

---------- Post added at 06:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:13 AM ----------

STUB" call me on Monday. I'm curious to have a conversation about what you want. PM Sent.

 

[Name Trader]

Another couple of good suggestions which no other registrar has

1. Look up to see if the domain is banned by Google
2. Look up to see if the domain is trademarked in both US or Europe

 

[hippoking]

Rebies, I really NameBright's software, much powerful!

Would you plan to lease namebright's registrar software in the future? ( I will get accredited within several months)

 

[Name Trader]

Even more, if we buy a domain you had with us after you let it expire, as long as we still own the domain, we will get it back to you up to 365 days after it expired. For the $8.03 renewal price. This is our commitment to our customers.

.

This is a little unclear. Do you give the domain back when we ask for it and pay the $8.03, or do you make us wait until it expires after 1 year?

 

[ecuadorbusiness]

I just registered 2 domains with namebright and I have to say that I am highly impressed. Perhaps this is only my impression but I have proved several other registrars, I have accounts with 5 other different ones. But namebright has a so intuitive UI and a so easy to navigate site. If they keep the low prices perhaps I could stay with them for good.

 

[Rebies]

hippoking - if you have an accredited registrar I believe we should be able to hook it up so that you can use our software. It would have to be hosted on our end and you would manage your domains at NameBright. You are the first person to ask about using NameBright's software with your own accredited registrars, but I don't think it would be very hard for us to setup.

stub - if you have a domain with NameBright, you let it expire, our company takes over management, and at any point in that year you decide you want the domain back, you pay $8.03 and take it over until the domain expires again. There are a few buts about this... We might not decide to buy / take over ownership of the domain. So if that happens, nothing we can do. Also, we might buy the domain and later drop it or sell it. If that happens, there is nothing we can do. And it all has to do with our expiration process, if another company takes over the domain there is nothing we can do about it. But hopefully this gives domain owners an extra level of confidence if they don't want to make the investment now, but in a year wish they did not drop the domain.

Stub - the two are good ideas. I will put them onto the features list. Not going to be very soon before we get to it. Both seem very hard and tricky at first glance.

 

[alien51]

stub - if you have a domain with NameBright, you let it expire, our company takes over management, and at any point in that year you decide you want the domain back, you pay $8.03 and take it over until the domain expires again. There are a few buts about this... We might not decide to buy / take over ownership of the domain. So if that happens, nothing we can do. Also, we might buy the domain and later drop it or sell it. If that happens, there is nothing we can do. And it all has to do with our expiration process, if another company takes over the domain there is nothing we can do about it. But hopefully this gives domain owners an extra level of confidence if they don't want to make the investment now, but in a year wish they did not drop the domain.

So what that basically means, is that WE who are waiting for those EXPIRED domains to drop, will NEVER get it (as in ZERO chance). You practically have 1 YEAR as a form of Domain Tasting, to check out whether the expired domain you took control has traffic, or has demand (via inquiry).

Imagine if 90% of all domainers are in Namebright, you would catch ALL of their drops before anyone else, and you have the ability to TASTE the domain for 1 FULL YEAR.

There would be TOTAL GLUT in the drop pool competition. Everything that will be spit out from that fine mesh AFTER 1 YEAR would appear to be domains totally devoid of any measurable value.

That would be like fishing the ocean using a net that has holes only 3 millimeters wide catching everything while scrapping the ocean floor. You then have 1 year to see which fish has demand, before you throw them back into the sea after you have proven to yourself that there's no demand for that fish.

 

[Joseph Green]

I think everyone is so curious how NameBright is going to profit from this venture that we are eager to latch on to new information and attempt to extrapolate from it.

Let's note that having a domain registrar does not necessarily mean that you are able to "taste" the domains that are registered with it. In fact, the registrar would have no knowledge of the domain's inquiries or traffic except during the periods of which that domain name is using the registrar's DNS services. DNS services are something all major registrars provide as a courtesy upon registering a domain and upon expiry of a domain, typically to inform their customers of the status of the domain (newly registered or expired). The registrar would have no traffic insights regarding the domains on their platform once the domain owners set their name servers to, say, a parking company.

alien51 brought up a great point about the expired domains on NameBright having zero chance of being picked up by others, but I think Rebies mentioned that there may be an announcement about that soon. So maybe NameBright will provide an aftermarket of some sort like Go Daddy does in which case we'd all have an equal opportunity to bid on the domains.

Update: I should point out that the registrar would have access to how many registrar-based WHOIS queries were requested for a particular domain name, so that information is valuable. However, when we're able to buy domains at cost, I think that entitles the registrar to at least something of value from the relationship.
FYI: Go Daddy records the number of WHOIS requests on all domain names registered with them.

 

[Rebies]

Yes, we are working on all parts of the equation, just not ready to launch them. This includes solutions for expiring domains. The topic keeps coming back to us owning domains. But it is not that. This is about our companies growth. Going up a level. Becoming a service provider. The profits are in hosting. (something we don't have built in yet.) Companies in that space have it great these days. Design services, datacenter stuff. That is where we want to eventually be, and offering a registrar is a part of the long term plan for our company.

 

[JJSavard]

from my perspective ...

So what that basically means, is that WE who are waiting for those EXPIRED domains to drop, will NEVER get it (as in ZERO chance). You practically have 1 YEAR as a form of Domain Tasting, to check out whether the expired domain you took control has traffic, or has demand (via inquiry).

Imagine if 90% of all domainers are in Namebright, you would catch ALL of their drops before anyone else, and you have the ability to TASTE the domain for 1 FULL YEAR.

There would be TOTAL GLUT in the drop pool competition. Everything that will be spit out from that fine mesh AFTER 1 YEAR would appear to be domains totally devoid of any measurable value.

That would be like fishing the ocean using a net that has holes only 3 millimeters wide catching everything while scrapping the ocean floor. You then have 1 year to see which fish has demand, before you throw them back into the sea after you have proven to yourself that there's no demand for that fish.

Applying a bit of perspective:

Notwithstanding the still-to-be-announced 'opening up' of Andrew's drop-catch service, it's been argued that regardless of where domains are registered, his drop-catching system already is able to catch the majority (70%?, 80%?, 90%?) of domains targeted. So, while it's true they would catch 100% of domains that delete from their NameBright registrar (as any registrar can do), they would have caught most of them anyways (70%-90%), even if they were registered elsewhere.


As to access to expired domains ...

Being a registrar, NameBright will have 1st-dibs on any domains registered with them that expire & delete. And, for domainers who actively pursue the daily drops, it is true they "will NEVER get [these domains] (as in ZERO chance)". But, how does this differ from any of the top registrars who ALL conduct similar practices - selecting the best of their domain deletions for their own use.


As to the "tasting" claims...

Domain Tasting is the practice of registering domain names, assessing revenue generation potential and, if they create an insufficient return, deleting the domain names before the registry requests payment. (source: Nominet.org.uk)

In 2008, ICANN severely limited the domain tasting practice; capping the number of domains a registrar can return for a 'full' refund each month at 10% of their net new monthly registrations. NameBright must respect this limit; and so would NOT "practically have 1 YEAR as a form of Domain Tasting", nor the "ability to TASTE the domain for 1 FULL YEAR" as is claimed.


Finally, as to the "domain return" promise itself (from the pov of the customer) ...

As I understand it, NameBright (as with all registrars) may grab (for their own portfolio) domains that "the customer" has allowed to expire and delete. However, anytime during the next 365 days, for the cost of a 1-year renewal, the customer may request the domain be returned to his/her account (so long as the domain is still under the control of NameBright).

Seems a very customer-friendly promise! Definitely a big step to allay fears that NameBright wants domainers to transfer-in their portfolios for the purpose of grabbing any domain expiry deletions!

Steve