Hi,

I've registered my domain name at GoDaddy.

Questions:

1. Where did you register yours and why? :confused:

2. How much do you pay? :bonk:

3. What are the main differences in registration companies (i.e., why did I pay $9 but others places only charge $4...is there really a difference?) :hmm:


Your thoughts and input please. Thanks in advance!

I usually get mine at godaddy, but my feelings are mixed about them. The difference in price is simply how much profit is made, because I believe they all pay the same. Godaddy has a lot of bells and whistles, but actually up until recently they were always considered one of the cheapest.

I hosted with fatcow.com

a basic site is $99 a year, but when I needed the whole shopping cart thing I had to upgrade to a more expensive pkg. So now it's $300 a year. A little cheaper than yahoo for the same services. I'm in my first year with them... so far so good.

Coach, does that mean you registered your domain with them too and if so, was that cost included in your hosting cost?

Coach, does that mean you registered your domain with them too and if so, was that cost included in your hosting cost?

I think registering the domain was included, yes.

The only thing I don't like about godaddy really is something that's in the fine print in their service terms regarding spamming. In essence, if they get complaints and deem you a spammer, they can take your domain, redirect it and make you jump through hoops and pay a lot of money to get it back.

Now you may say, I'm not a spammer, so why should I care? And my answer is that you would be surprised what can happen. I've known of a few cases where people who absolutely were not spammers, were sabotoged and ended up having to go through hell to get their domains back. In at least one of these cases, the guy was losing hundreds of dollars for everyday his site was down.

If I lost SuccessVibe, it wouldn't make a difference to me financially, as the ad revenue does little more than cover hosting. However, this is not my only domain. Sure the odds are in my favor that something like this would never happen to me, but still it makes me a little uncomfortable not to fully own my domains.

The only reason I haven't changed registrars is that I've yet to find one I like and trust. 000domains is supposed to be good as far protecting your rights as a domain owner, however, I found their customer service to be subpar for sure.

In my last investment i built and maintained 105 sites, each with seperate domains which i paid 8.88 each for. I won't say what company i used to get them because i don't really wanna defame them publicly. I wasn't the only one using them for investment sites however, and several people i know personally got screwed over. At the end of the registration period, some people's sites were sold without warning and without notice. Funnily enough, it was the sites doing the best financially which went first.
I've heard that GoDaddy is good - that they will remind you several times that rego is coming up, and if you take no other action they will re-bill the credit card you originally used. This is far better than your sites getting sold within 24hrs of the 12 months ending!
So, why pay more and go with a mob like GoDaddy? Security. Consider your domains safer, and your interests better looked after than had you paid 4bux a hit with a no brand company.

Just my two cents ;)

Tim

I registered a bunch with www.ipower.com when they had going for $2.99


Sadly, those days are over, and I know use godaddy.


I host at www.meditemple.net and they are outstanding!

I use and thoroughly recommend --

www.directnic.com

www.hypermart.com

www.bravenet.com

When registering your domain - or have someone else register your domain for you - make absolutely sure that YOU are listed as the Owner contact of the domain, the Administration contact of the domain, the Technical contact and the Billing contact. Your name, address and phone number, and e-mail address must be listed for all 4 contacts. (You must also remember to make the changes when you move house or change e-mail addresses.)

Sometimes, designers or hosts will list themselves as technical or admin contact. That gives them the power to do stuff (change, modify, steal) your domain name. You *must* be all 4 contacts.

Then no-one can take it away from you. If your name does not appear in these positions, you do not own your domain name, even though you may be paying for it.


Added:----------------

As a matter of interest the pubic WHOIS record of successvibe.com is

Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc.
Domain Name: SUCCESSVIBE.COM
Created on: 24-Mar-04
Expires on: 24-Mar-08
Last Updated on: 24-Mar-06

Administrative Contact:
Private, Registration
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599

Technical Contact:
Private, Registration
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599

...which tells me that this domain is owned by DomainsByProxy.com of Scottsdale, Arizona. Who may sell it, keep it for themselves, and if they were to go bankrupt this domain would be an asset of DomainsByProxy.com to be dealt with as the executors determine, probably sell it to the highest bidder.

I use Valueweb for domain registry and hosting, $29.95\month for each of my two sites (www.signsbymarathon.com and www.aerographicsdesign.com).

They automatically renew unless you direct them not to, so you don't lose the domain name and they offer e-commerce packages if you have a catalog or similar.

John

I use Valueweb for domain registry and hosting, $29.95\month for each of my two sites (www.signsbymarathon.com and www.aerographicsdesign.com).
.. They automatically renew unless you direct them not to, so you don't lose the domain name and they offer e-commerce packages if you have a catalog or similar.
.. John
Careful, John...

Public Whois record: XXX's to hide your identity

Domain name: SIGNSBYMARATHON.COM

Administrative Contact:
Administrator, Domain johnXXXXXX @ signsbymarathon.com
1441-A EXXXnk NE
ALBUQUERQUE, NM 8XX12
US
+1.50XXXXX5914

Technical Contact:
Tech, Domain domaintech @ valueweb.com
3250 W. Commercial Blvd.
Suite 200
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309
US
+1.9543348000

You appear to be the Admin contact, John, but not the Technical contact. I would recommend you get that changed.

Likewise with aerographicsdesign.com

You don't know much about business law, do you.:hopeless:

You have something to add?

This is what I had explained to me by someone well entrenched in the domin name business. He might have been wrong - I might have misunderstood. And the law might have changed in the meanwhile. It does that sometimes.


What is your version?

There's nothing wrong with proxy registration. Proxies are used in business all the time. Bankruptcy, meaning it would be sold as their property out from under you? :hopeless: And contacts are not the owner. There is one owner. You act like there are some secret laws designed to steal from us.

There's nothing wrong with proxy registration. Proxies are used in business all the time. Bankruptcy, meaning it would be sold as their property out from under you? :hopeless: And contacts are not the owner. There is one owner. You act like there are some secret laws designed to steal from us.I'm sorry you decided to read my words to mean I thought there were secret laws, Penelope.

I do not think any laws are secret - they are, by definition, quite public, I believe. And nothing to be afraid of.

In the case of SUCCESSVIBE.COM, the Registrant (the Owner) is recorded as Domains by Proxy, Inc. - DomainsByProxy.com. Unless Tom is the owner of Domains by Proxy, Inc. it doesn't appear as if Tom owns the domain name, Successvibe. com - does it? If he doesn't, and he thinks he does, I think it proper of me to warn him when it comes to my attention.

And if Tom does not own Domains by Proxy, Inc., then if Domains by Proxy, Inc. goes bankrupt, Successvibe.com will be lost to him, won't it? I'd welcome your opinion on that.

As far as SIGNSBYMARATHON.COM is concerned, the Registrant (the Owner) is John and John is also the Administration contact, and I agree with you, a bankruptcy scenario as above would not apply to him. However, the Technical contact is not John and the technical contact has the authority to direct the Registrar (in this case, TUCOWS INC.) to modify the ICANN Regsitration. So, someone representing themselves as the Technical contact *could* take over John's domain, couldn't they? I'd welcome your opinion on that, Penelope.

That doesn't mean this is an intolerable situation. 'Could' doesn't mean 'Will.' If one trusts the person/company registered as the Technical contact, then you rely on them to be honest. In my own case, the Technical contact for my main website is Earthlink, and as I trust Earthlink, I do not see it presenting a problem. However, a maverick inside the company (in both John's and my own case) *could* - not will - do us harm. I think it is sensible that we be aware of that, don't you?

Have I misunderstood any of this?

I dont' know about all this technical mumbo-jumbo...:D , but because of your posts I called fatcow to make sure my domain is set to renew automatically.

I feel better now, thanks!:thumb:

I'm sorry you decided to read my words to mean I thought there were secret laws, Penelope.

I do not think any laws are secret - they are, by definition, quite public, I believe. And nothing to be afraid of.

In the case of SUCCESSVIBE.COM, the Registrant (the Owner) is recorded as Domains by Proxy, Inc. - DomainsByProxy.com. Unless Tom is the owner of Domains by Proxy, Inc. it doesn't appear as if Tom owns the domain name, Successvibe. com - does it? If he doesn't, and he thinks he does, I think it proper of me to warn him when it comes to my attention.

And if Tom does not own Domains by Proxy, Inc., then if Domains by Proxy, Inc. goes bankrupt, Successvibe.com will be lost to him, won't it? I'd welcome your opinion on that.

As far as SIGNSBYMARATHON.COM is concerned, the Registrant (the Owner) is John and John is also the Administration contact, and I agree with you, a bankruptcy scenario as above would not apply to him. However, the Technical contact is not John and the technical contact has the authority to direct the Registrar (in this case, TUCOWS INC.) to modify the ICANN Regsitration. So, someone representing themselves as the Technical contact *could* take over John's domain, couldn't they? I'd welcome your opinion on that, Penelope.

That doesn't mean this is an intolerable situation. 'Could' doesn't mean 'Will.' If one trusts the person/company registered as the Technical contact, then you rely on them to be honest. In my own case, the Technical contact for my main website is Earthlink, and as I trust Earthlink, I do not see it presenting a problem. However, a maverick inside the company (in both John's and my own case) *could* - not will - do us harm. I think it is sensible that we be aware of that, don't you?

Have I misunderstood any of this?



I didn't decide to read anything any certain way.

You don't have a right to know who the owner of a domain is. If someone chooses to keep it private, it's none of your business. Under a proxy arrangement they do not own anything, they merely represent you. They don't have any ownership, they are merely providing you with an anonymous contact. How much clearer can it be explained? I thought the name of their business DomainsbyProxy was pretty obvious that they were a proxy. Why would you go around warning people about something you don't really understand? You told him he doesn't own his website and implied DomainsbyProxy organized the ownership in an illegitimate manner. And all because some guy told you about domains? :banghead:

Anyone could take over your domain just as anyone can steal your car. It's called a crime. They didn't register it, they didn't pay for it. To take a domain you have to declare you are the owner. If you are not, you have committed a crime. They don't just magically get to legally keep it because they thought they were clever. The contact does not have the "authority" unless you give it to them to act as your agent in the transaction. Otherwise they are acting criminally. :banghead:

Penelope is correct, domainsbyproxy is who godaddy uses to allow for anonymous domain ownership, nothing more. If they were to bankrupt, it would have no effect on me.

Good. Glad we've got that sorted out.