[conspire] domain registrar recommendations?

[Eric De Mund]

Christian,

Don Marti <dmarti at zgp.org>:
] Stay away from GoDaddy: http://nodaddy.com/

Christian Einfeldt <einfeldt at gmail.com>:
] Like the plague.
] 
] Domainsnext is good.

Much appreciated. Does this following 2004 post that I found via a
Google search apply to your domain at DomainsNext? Would you need to pay
a transfer fee to them to change registrars away from them? I found
their Terms of Service at <http://www.domainsnext.com/termsofservice.htm>,
but not the Price Schedule that it references.

The post:

    /-----------------------------
    http://www.hosthideout.com/archive/index.php/t-6555.html
    Warning! Anti-competitive practice
    frank hagan -- 01-06-04, 08:49 AM
    
    I've been pretty happy with DomainsNext.com, and was considering
    becoming an affilliate with them (in fact, I signed up). Then, in
    doing my research on affilliate programs, I decided to change the
    registrar on one of my domain names to track the progress of the
    OTHER registrar.

    I found out that DomainsNext, sometime in the last 6 months, has
    changed their Terms of Service to include restrictive requirements
    and fees to change registrars. I don't believe this is legal and
    binding, although they have not responded yet to my inquiry.

    They now require a $15 fee to change registrars, plus a notarized
    letter ($10) and the payment must be by cashier's check or money
    order (another $2 or so). You must include the last 4 digits of your
    credit card used to originally register the domain, or a picture ID.
    Besides the time invested, if I wanted to transfer all 11 of my
    domain names from them, it would cost me nearly $300.

    I believe these policies are not intended to prevent transfer fraud,
    but simply are a means to prevent customers from leaving. As such,
    they are anti-competitive and may be illegal under the laws of the
    state of California.

    If you registered a domain name before 6/5/2003 with domainsnext
    .com, you registered under the old TOS, which did not have these
    fees. I don't know when they changed their TOS, but the 'Net Wayback
    Machine at http://web.archive.org has the 6/5/2003 copy archived
    (and does not yet have the new version archived). That leads me to
    believe this is a very recent change.

    In the interests of fairness, domainsnext.com is a reseller for the
    accredited registrar ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM, but itsyourdomain.com does
    not have the fees in its TOS. I suspect this is something being done
    just by the reseller, domainsnext.com.
    \-----------------------------

Also, this paragraph from their Terms of Service is a bit worrying. Is
this loss of ownership of one's domain to the registrar common practice?

    /-----------------------------
    http://www.domainsnext.com/termsofservice.htm
    1.3 Credit Card Charge Backs.

    In the event of a charge back by a credit card company or other
    non-payment by you in connection with your registration, renewal, or
    registrar transfer fee, you acknowledge and agree that the domain
    name registration shall be transferred to DomainsNext.com, that
    DomainsNext.com shall be deemed the entity that paid the registra-
    tion, renewal, or transfer fee, and that DomainsNext.com shall have
    all rights regarding such domain name including, but not limited to,
    the right to sell the domain name to a third party. DomainsNext.com
    may, in its sole discretion, reinstate your domain name registration
    upon its receipt of the registration or renewal fee and a US $200
    reinstatement fee.
    \-----------------------------

Regards and thank you,
Eric
--
Eric De MUND   | Ixian Systems           | Jab: eadixian at jabber.org/main
ead at ixian.com  | 650 Castro St, #120-210 | Y!M: ead0002
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