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]

JJSavard - that is exactly why we have enacted this promise. To show customers that we care about your domain assets. We are here to help. I want to see more domainers succeed. To do that we need better tools for customers and cheaper prices. Most other registrars will hold onto your domain and pretend they don't even own it....

 

[Rebies]

New update that a lot of people here have asked about.. You can now pay via Paypal.com. We are still working on integrating it directly into the shopping cart. But if you want to pre-fund your account you can do that from:

My Account > My Settings > Billing > Add Funds

We hope to have Paypal worked into the checkout process in the next week or so. There are a few slightly tricky things we are working through on that end.

 

[ecuadorbusiness]

All sales on Namebright.com are final, they will not give any refund, I am not saying it is good or bad, it is just a comment. For my part I am stepping aside from them. You never know when you could need a refund. I wish them good luck in their business.

 

[Rebies]

ecuadorbusiness - if you were just testing the system, we can offer a refund in this one-off case. But we don't plan to get into the business of people tasting domains (as you did park your domains after purchasing them) and then allowing you to request refunds on domain names.

In this situation we have released the domains you were asking about, and issued an account credit in the amount you paid for the domains. Please note going forward, do not count on returns of domains, but we do want to make our customers happy. Returning domains in not something we guarantee nor is it a service we provide as a registrar.

 

[daj]

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.

I concur. Definitely could use a transfer-in promo code.

 

[Name Trader]

I just used the Pay with PayPal to add funds to my NameBright Account. Minimum Payment was $50 which resulted $48.50 being added to my account. The checkout (for a new .com registration) will show all the higher prices ($8.53/$4.99) when you buy a domain, until the last page, when the charge for a .com will be $4.58. The purchase went smoothly. Now I have a domain I can play around with their Control Panel a bit.

Just to address 1 concern. Andrew told me that they will not compete with our backorders, once the backorder system is in place.

 

[Amir]

Hi,

There are two point here.

1- I don't see Paypal in payment options. Is that limited to certain countries?

2- The "Bulk Search" page goes crazy when you try to add some domain names to your cart and start scrolling.

 

[hippoking]

It's really hard to comment on my experience with namebright.

On one side their UI is clean and high efficient, I like it very much. On the other side, maybe namebright's registration system is new and there're some bugs. If you register some domains like "wwwgoogle.com", system will consider it as "oogle.com", luckily they have fixed this bug. Another bug is their billing system. At least in my account, all the transactions are messed up. System can't calculate the balance and bills correctly and last Friday I funded my account two times, system only confirmed one funding......

Another drawback is support. They don't have a ticket system and all you can do is to email them via online form. Even with email support, response is a little slow.

Though there are some problems， Namebright is still a promising company and has a big potential IMO.

 

[Tribulatio]

Nice interface. I opened an account last month and decided to test them with a few transfers, first from Dynadot, then from NameSilo.

Transfer from Dynadot: it took some two hours to get the FOA. After that, everything went smoothly. But definitely nothing like the very fast transfer process reported by some other users. Well, let's admit it may have been a problem with my email service having been slow.

Now, test with transfer from NameSilo (three domain names): unable to complete the order, at the stage the transfer is supposed to be initiated, I get a message after a few secunds: "an unknown error has occurred", inviting me to try later. Two minutes later, same issue. Five minutes later, same issue. (And yes, I provided the correct auth codes, and my domain was unlocked several minutes before submitting my order to NameBright.)

Thus I cannot say that my first two tests are very convincing. I see the potential, with various features, but Issues I have been encountering now are not common with the other registrars I am using.

Especially for domineers, reliability of a registrar's panel is key.
Still, willing to give some time to NameBright for improvement. I know it is complex to maintain such a service.

---------- Post added at 10:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 AM ----------

Update: I have now been able to initiate the transfer… but while the invoice has been sent for three names (all .COM), the FOA has been sent only for two names…

Moreover, unable to access the "Inbound transfers" panel in order to have the FOA sent for the missing domain name: the small wheel in the center of the panel is just turning on and on (no problem for accessing the panel with the list of domains, on the other hand). I have made attempts with several browsers, thus this is obviously a system bug.

A lot of small problems to be polished, obviously.

 

[Tribulatio]

Three hours later: the "Inbound transfers" panel remains out of reach: in that specific section, I do only see the NB logo and the wheel turning around, without ever resolving to "Inbound transfers". Thus it is impossible to see the current status of my transfers, impossible also to relaunch the FOA for the missing name (out of three, not such a long list!).

Well, I cannot say that my first experiences with NameBright are convincing: two transfers from two different registrars, problems (although the same ones) with each transfer.

Unless I get a convincing explanation, I will give up the idea of more transfers, and probably even transfer away the domain names after 60 days: security is good (I enjoy the option of two-step security with SMS, and to see that it works for me too, being a customer in Europe), but what any domainer - big or small -needs first is an efficient, clear, easily working panel for managing domain names, transfers, etc. Otherwise, too much time gets lost.

I have working accounts with nearly ten registrars, had accounts (now inactive) with ten more: I have rarely come across so many small issues for something as simple as the transfer of a handful of domain names.

Still, I am willing to accept an explanation if there is one, and again I understand that a complex domain management is not implemented overnight. On the other hand, I remember opening an account with NameSilo on the very day they were launched, transferring domain names the same day, I have still a few dozens names with them: from the start, never any problem for registration, transfer, or whatever. Thus childhood problems are not necessarily a convincing explanation.

 

[Rebies]

Hippoking – the wwwgoogle bug was fixed last week as you noted.

Tribulatio – with FOA emails, we are typically very fast. We find it is the losing registrars that can be picky (especially GoDaddy) and not friendly to hand out whois information on a timely basis. At least with GoDaddy we will do a whois lookup and they give us their “shortened” version without the contact email – which is required to send an FOA email. I am wondering if NameSilo and/or Dynadot might not do the same thing. Can you provide me your NameBright username (in a private PM) so I can look into this in more detail? Thank you.

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:21 PM ----------

Amir - right now you can only pre-fund your account with Paypal. To do this go to My Account > My Settings > Billing > Add Funds. We hope to have paypal support inside the checkout by the end of this week, maybe next week.

As for your comment about bulk search going crazy I don't know what you are talking about. Can you tell me what browser you use, and step by step instructions for us to replicate what you are seeing?

Thank you.

 

[hippoking]

yes, wwwgoogle bug was fixed.

But the billing problem still existed. Last Friday I sent an email to support and it seems there was some fix in my billing, but billing and balance was still not correct.

And until now I didn't receive any support response.

Hippoking – the wwwgoogle bug was fixed last week as you noted.

Tribulatio – with FOA emails, we are typically very fast. We find it is the losing registrars that can be picky (especially GoDaddy) and not friendly to hand out whois information on a timely basis. At least with GoDaddy we will do a whois lookup and they give us their “shortened” version without the contact email – which is required to send an FOA email. I am wondering if NameSilo and/or Dynadot might not do the same thing. Can you provide me your NameBright username (in a private PM) so I can look into this in more detail? Thank you.

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:21 PM ----------

Amir - right now you can only pre-fund your account with Paypal. To do this go to My Account > My Settings > Billing > Add Funds. We hope to have paypal support inside the checkout by the end of this week, maybe next week.

As for your comment about bulk search going crazy I don't know what you are talking about. Can you tell me what browser you use, and step by step instructions for us to replicate what you are seeing?

Thank you.

 

[Rebies]

hippoking - please PM me with your account details (username and/or email address) so I can have one of our engineers look into this. I am not aware of any outstanding billing bugs. Thank you!

 

[Name Trader]

Andrew, when will you be supporting .US and .WS cctlds?

 

[hippoking]

hippoking - please PM me with your account details (username and/or email address) so I can have one of our engineers look into this. I am not aware of any outstanding billing bugs. Thank you!

PMed.

One suggestion, could NameBright let us choose DNS during registration process?

 

[Rebies]

DNS during the registration complicates the checkout, which we want to be simple and non-cluttered.

What I suggest is create a category. Set all the settings on that category level. Then, the second the domain is bought your whois, DNS, host records, privacy, locking, auto-renew, email accounts are already configured for you based on the category settings. If you want my help setting up an example in your account, I can gladly do that for you. Categories are extremely powerful and will really make things easier on you.

Log in > My Account > Categories

Once that is done, just make sure you select the right category when buying domains in the shopping cart. NOTE - you don't see categories in the shopping cart if you have not created a category yet.

 

[Tribulatio]

Thank you for your reply. Now, the Inbound Transfers panel is accessible again. But it was not during several hours earlier today. Regarding the second transfer (from NameSilo), the system claims that one of the auth codes was not valid. I have requested it again from NS, received the same auth code - still not accepted by your system. I have now asked NameSilo to regenerate the auth code - then we will see if the issue is with your system or with their auth code (they claim that their auth codes are up to date, and that any problem can only be on the side of the winning registrar - still, better to ask them to regenerate it).

FOA email: yes, I understand that, but it was not only the FOA email: your receipt for the order arrived also exactly at the same time as the FOA email, some two hours later… Obviously, this has nothing to do with the FOA email retrieval. - Obviously, I cannot completely rule out that my email service was faulty (although I received other messages to the same address without such delays during the same time period).

Tribulatio – with FOA emails, we are typically very fast. We find it is the losing registrars that can be picky (especially GoDaddy) and not friendly to hand out whois information on a timely basis. At least with GoDaddy we will do a whois lookup and they give us their “shortened” version without the contact email – which is required to send an FOA email. I am wondering if NameSilo and/or Dynadot might not do the same thing. Can you provide me your NameBright username (in a private PM) so I can look into this in more detail? Thank you.

 

[Rebies]

hippoking - we have looked into the accounting issue you pointed out and know exactly what happened last week. A program ran that should not have. It was part of a yearly ICANN audit, and when this program ran it messed up your account balance. We have fixed your account, I will PM you with exact details.

I have a second person looking to see if this affected any other account, but at this point we do not believe it did. Finally, this program will be run once a day going forward to catch anything like this should it happen again in the future. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

---------- Post added at 05:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:56 PM ----------

Tribulatio - please PM me with the domains in question. I will look at exactly when we sent out the emails. That way we can figure out if our system had an issue that we need to look into or if it might have been your email provider. I will check both the FOA emails and the Order Receipt emails. Thanks.

---------- Post added at 05:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:13 PM ----------

stub - I don't know when we will support .us and .ws. We have a lot going on and we have to pick our battles right now. You are the first person to have asked us about these. I will keep you updated when we start work on them.

 

[Name Trader]

[/COLOR]stub - I don't know when we will support .us and .ws. We have a lot going on and we have to pick our battles right now. You are the first person to have asked us about these. I will keep you updated when we start work on them.

I understand entirely. Not a problem. I was just a tad surprised you don't already support at least .US already and there are many other 2nd/3rd level cctlds you support which to me, were less popular than .WS. But I understand you have to set priorities.

 

[Tribulatio]

Thank you, I have sent a PM.

However, regarding the registration code that is turned down for a .COM transfer by NameBright, I have now the certainty that this is a bug with NameBright. Two indicators:

1) NameSilo's support has proved very helpful, and very fast (they deserve to be praised for that, a very reliable registrar): they have even provided me with a screenshot from Verisign (registry), and the auth code provided by NameSilo (and turned down as invalid by NameBright) IS correct indeed.

2) I have conducted another test: I have initiated (without completing it) a transfer for the same name to two other registrars (Dynadot and Hexonet): BOTH identified the auth code as valid.

This means - beyond doubt, it seems - that there is a bug in NameBright system for validating SOME auth codes. A serious problem, IMHO.

 

[cdawgz28]

Is there any thought to adding IDN extensions? Also would there be a free proxy/trustee service for (DOT)DE's, CN's etc if they ever are added?

 

[Name Trader]

As far as I can tell. NameBright is cheaper than Dynadot Super Bulk Pricing on .COM/.NET/.TV/.CC, but for everything else (that I checked) Dynadot Super Bulk Pricing is cheaper than NameBright. They are clearly targeting the .COM/.NET market. Also, you only get the $0.50 transaction discount when you pay with an account balance if you buy/transfer .COM/.NET, AFAIK, you don't get this transaction discount on other gTLD/ccTLD (which is unfair in my view). You should do your own comparisons if transferring anything other than .COM/.NET.

Come renewal time, and you want to keep your privacy, it's going to cost you a whopping (at most) $2.95/year, which makes it non-competitive against most free whois privacy registrars. Of course, if you don't need whois privacy, it's a good deal.

 

[hippoking]

Thanks Rebies.

Problem was solved and now I really like namebright's interface. ( nice UI! )

I hope namebright can make a transfer promo

hippoking - we have looked into the accounting issue you pointed out and know exactly what happened last week. A program ran that should not have. It was part of a yearly ICANN audit, and when this program ran it messed up your account balance. We have fixed your account, I will PM you with exact details.

I have a second person looking to see if this affected any other account, but at this point we do not believe it did. Finally, this program will be run once a day going forward to catch anything like this should it happen again in the future. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

---------- Post added at 05:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:56 PM ----------

Tribulatio - please PM me with the domains in question. I will look at exactly when we sent out the emails. That way we can figure out if our system had an issue that we need to look into or if it might have been your email provider. I will check both the FOA emails and the Order Receipt emails. Thanks.

---------- Post added at 05:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:13 PM ----------

stub - I don't know when we will support .us and .ws. We have a lot going on and we have to pick our battles right now. You are the first person to have asked us about these. I will keep you updated when we start work on them.

 

[hippoking]

Namebright has some problems again today.

When I tried to register 4 domains, system told me that "Sorry, the following 4 domains are already registered", however these 4 domains are available and at last I registered them in other registrar..

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update: now it's working

 

[ecuadorbusiness]

I looked for some information regarding this subject but did not find it on the knowledge base. What happens with the remaining time with the former registrar when I transfer a domain to namebright? If I have a domain that expires let's say on August 13, 2014 and I transfer then the new expiration date is August 13, 2015?

When you say transfer is at regular prices, what is the regular price for you? I looked for a pricing table but did not find it on your site.