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?

 

[Rebies]

dotbay - yes we do that for free. We will even do the DNS hosting for you on your "custom nameservers" so you don't have to fire up an instance of BIND on 10 servers to work for you. To do that takes one extra step that was confusing for end users so we stripped out towards the end. But I can tell you exactly how to get it done if you want. That costs us nothing and is really easy to configure.

 

[alien51]

Well, Namebright or not, Reberry always gets the expired domains anyway. (pun intended)

But seriously, a Registrar built by a Domainer for domainers, well you should know what you are getting into when you and your Registrar, are thinking the same thing.

On the bad side, you can have fears that he can capture expiring domains much easily. Me, i would be more concerned about doing whois research. The fears are there, because it's an adversary, But you are regging "your" domains there for the benefits and advantages.

On the good side, they are well aware that we Domainers are cheapos. That is why we hang out at the Godaddy thread all day long. So i hope they try to beat the competition, because they know we are sensitive to pricing.

If they want to make money, maybe they would want to run an escrow service like what Moniker used to do before it went downhill. If they are true Domainers, they probably would understand our common issue regarding escrow deals that go sour (buyers who backout of deals, etc.) in places like Sedo, Godaddy, or even Escrow.com. if they can fix that, then maybe they can charge extra for covering our backs in domaining deals.

 

[Rebies]

equity78 - I understood that. I was just addressing the points you brought up. I did not take any offense to your postings.

I want people to be fully aware of who we are, what we do, and know that I am not shying away from criticism.

Also, don't get caught up in my mentioning loosing money part of it. If it was some small time registrar that might be scary. But we are in the top 15 "registrar families" in the world when you consider the 51 sister registrars we have access to and over 1,000,000 domains under management. That makes us big - one of the top 15 registrars. So losing a little money to gain customers is just a marketing expense for us. We have carefully planned that out and know what we are doing on that end...

---------- Post added at 12:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 AM ----------

Alien51 – It sounds like your concerns are if you do availability checks and whois checks and our company sees those?

My answer: not my company – not in a million years. That is shady and it is something we have zero interest in doing. As a registrar I want to work 100% for the customer.

You also pointed out sour sales deals… We have tools that will keep you happy and safe. “Linked Accounts” Simply find a buyer, sign a contract with that buyer and that contract says he will pay you in 6 months. You then give him linked account access to one domain (the domain you are selling) and give him all permissions except to unlock, transfer out, delete or push the domain. So the domain remains "secure". During this contract you have 100% full control over the domain, but the buyer does not have "full" control". If the sale does not complete, you remove his linked account access and the domain is yours again. If pending the legal contract goes full through - you can now transfer the domain to him. Best part is you don't have to deal with credit cards and 60 to 90 day chargebacks!

These are just some NameBright can be better for domainers. And a lot more features coming that we could not fit into the initial launch.

 

[alien51]

You also pointed out sour sales deals… We have tools that will keep you happy and safe. “Linked Accounts” Simply find a buyer, sign a contract with that buyer and that contract says he will pay you in 6 months. You then give him linked account access to one domain (the domain you are selling) and give him all permissions except to unlock, transfer out, delete or push the domain. So the domain remains "secure". During this contract you have 100% full control over the domain, but the buyer does not have "full" control". If the sale does not complete, you remove his linked account access and the domain is yours again. If pending the legal contract goes full through - you can now transfer the domain to him. Best part is you don't have to deal with credit cards and 60 to 90 day chargebacks!

Nice touch.

Will you have the same protection for buyers? Against shady domainers who may abuse this feature, get the money but cut the linked account? Is there a way for you to verify that monies have indeed changed hands?

I also buy domains a lot, because i'm in the end-user business as well.

 

[Jasonn]

Jasonn - expiring domain names is not the intention in building NameBright. We built a great piece of software that I am EXTREMELY proud of. This has been a very large project over the last few years and I want to share the tools we have access to ourselves with domainers, to help them be more successful. I believe that bringing domainers in eventually brings in more end users. Domainers sell domains, push them to the buyers and that becomes a driving force for our registrar and creates growth.

I'm sure you can understand that when people hear your name, they think expired domains since those who work the drops see your name every day. I must say I am quite impressed and envious of what you have achieved and how far you've come since i first noticed you getting a number of names in 2009 however in the process you've made it next to impossible for the average domainer to get a half decent expired domain without going though snapnames, namejet ect. and even then you beat them out sometimes. Like equity said, its all business and of course you can't be faulted for being successful. I think you can understand why people might think namebright could be used as another avenue for expired domains though since you are the king of the drops these days.

 

[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