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Why you should not buy a .IS domain through NameCheap and instead should buy it directly from the registry, for the same price.
I recently registered a .IS domain name through NameCheap. Being a member of their site for more than 10 years, I figured I was familiar with the whole checkout process and what I was getting with a country code domain.
Before I confirmed my order, it clearly says: "Privacy and Uptime Protection" as one of the included features, so I could assume that my whois information was going to be protected, which seems to be a standard thing on NameCheap (since they had to compete with registrars like NameSilo who offer free whois privacy for life).
About a day after that I was having issues setting the name servers, so I did a WHOIS check and saw my details were exposed.
It turns out your WHOIS is not protected and it's displayed through the registry over at ISNIC.is
Other issues with this is that you can't manage the domain name directly through NameCheap's website, you have to create a second account at ISNIC.is (so why am I even using NameCheap). If you try to change the domain name on the whois contact, it will automatically create 2 accounts that you have to keep track of, while still trying to manage this through NameCheap. The whole setup is a mess.
During this whole process the NameCheap staff provide poor customer service and offered nothing but canned responses.
If you're set on buying a .IS domain, which I'm sure not many of you are, I would recommend staying away from NameCheap and getting it directly through isnic.is
I recently registered a .IS domain name through NameCheap. Being a member of their site for more than 10 years, I figured I was familiar with the whole checkout process and what I was getting with a country code domain.
Before I confirmed my order, it clearly says: "Privacy and Uptime Protection" as one of the included features, so I could assume that my whois information was going to be protected, which seems to be a standard thing on NameCheap (since they had to compete with registrars like NameSilo who offer free whois privacy for life).
About a day after that I was having issues setting the name servers, so I did a WHOIS check and saw my details were exposed.
It turns out your WHOIS is not protected and it's displayed through the registry over at ISNIC.is
Other issues with this is that you can't manage the domain name directly through NameCheap's website, you have to create a second account at ISNIC.is (so why am I even using NameCheap). If you try to change the domain name on the whois contact, it will automatically create 2 accounts that you have to keep track of, while still trying to manage this through NameCheap. The whole setup is a mess.
During this whole process the NameCheap staff provide poor customer service and offered nothing but canned responses.
If you're set on buying a .IS domain, which I'm sure not many of you are, I would recommend staying away from NameCheap and getting it directly through isnic.is