switching registrars

[Chris]

The way Godaddy doesn't let you set DNS while buying a domain really annoys me, so I am wanting to switch registrars.

I was looking at EV1, they're cheaper than godaddy, but their system is having problems right now and they cannot accept new accounts. So, I was wondering if anyone used them for a domain prior to these problems and how their service was.

[ASP-Hosting.ca]

I have over 50 domains with EV1 and never had any problems with them.
They still allow you to renew your domains, even though they don't accept new registrations.

[MarkB]

Have you ever used RegisterFly.com, Chris? Nice system, and affordable too.

[ogito]

With namecheap you can set own DNS

[Chris]

All registrars (atleast all that I've ever used) allow you to do that.

I have over 100 domains now so EV1 being a few bucks cheaper will save me a few hundred a year.

[James]

I'm thinking of leaving from GoDaddy, also. While I don't register as many domain names, this'd be nice.

And it'd be nice to not have ads for services I neither want, nor want to hear about, beating the crap outta my eyes every time I see a page.

[Cutter]

I'm using registerfly and godaddy right now. The very best registrar out there is http://www.moniker.com, but they definately aren't the cheapest. This is what the guys with the multi-million dollar domains use.

Having a good domain registrar is critical. I know people who have had their domains hijacked because of sloppy registrars -- it happens, and when it does it screws you over big time. Worst case scenario, you never get the domain back.

I would put any big earning domains on moniker.

[Chris]

how much is moniker?

[moonshield]

Looks like its about $19.00 per domain for the normal domain procedure, as for the "corporate domain services", its probably on a case by case basis.

[James]

Oh, golly. I love their support.

They said something along the lines of ctrl+c then ctrl+v. As for what I recieved, all it said was that I can change my nameservers in my account by [yadda yadda yadda].

The only way they could have made their support reply any worse, is if they appended "We don't let you. If you don't like it, **** you. On second thought, **** you anyways."

[Cutter]

Are you talking about GoDaddy?

[moonshield]

yes he is.

[Cutter]

GoDaddy is on the low end for registrars. I know of people who have lost their domains from GoDaddy due to spamming complaints and other issues.

[James]

You mean that they complained about GoDaddy's spam and their domain names 'magically' disappeared?

[Cutter]

No, someone complained to Godaddy that they were getting unsolicited e-mail from that person's domain.

[coolosxapps]

I am very pleased with buydomains.com. I registered enough names where thay gave me a better price to compete with godaddy. There interface allows me to do just about anything I need so far; however, I am a bit of a n00b so maybe my needs only scratch the surface.

[moonshield]

I have been moving my domains to registerfly.com seems to be great for my purposes. Word of Advice = Never buy domains from your host, never.

[r2d2]

Have you ever used RegisterFly.com, Chris? Nice system, and affordable too.

Just used RegisterFly.com, and it does seem very good - certainly a lot better than GoDaddy!

Also the whois protect is very cheap compared to GoDaddy last time I checked.

[James]

Word of Advice = Never buy domains from your host, never.
I had a bad experience with doing this.
They didn't respond to the requests to transfer to GoDaddy for nearly a month, and after they did, they charged me for the domain name renewals, then months after that they charged me for the .info-version of one the domain names.

[MarkB]

R2, nice to hear your experience is good; they've always been good for me (I only went with them because they took PayPal, otherwise I would have stayed with Directnic). Their support has always been good, too.

[chrispian]

Monicker, in my opinion, has one of the worst interfaces ever. Hate that place. I let a domain I bought with them expire out of spite ;)

I prefer namecheap. I wish I could get my domains down to $5/year, but at 8.88 I'm still pretty happy with Namecheap. I was previously with Directnic and liked them just fine, just not the $15/year. Don't care for GoDaddy's interface either, feels clunky. I know a lot of people who swear buy them.

Chris, I know people stills ell cheap enom acounts. Down around the $6 ish mark. You might be able to get one and with your audience of webmasters you could probably turn some coin by referring people through your reseller account. Win/Win for you ;)

[Cutter]

I've seen several domains worth over a million dollars on moniker. If you are worried about domain hijacking I'd use them hands down, despite any other potential problems. I don't have any domains there yet, but once I have a site or two making $1000+ a month alone, I'll be doing it.

[Boom]

I've been up and down this road.
I'd apply for a bulk domain account at Fabulous.com.
All the features you could want and the pricing is great!

.COM Standard Wholesale $6.75
.INFO Standard Wholesale $6.75
.NET Standard Wholesale $4.75
.ORG Standard Wholesale $6.75

If not Fabulous, I'd recommend Enom.
Namecheap, Registerfly and a lot of others are just enom resellers.

[Snowballer]

I'm with you on this Chris, GoDaddy is very annoying for not allowing you to set a default nameserver etc.

Does transfering your domain (when it is not about to expire) take your website down temporarily?

[Chris]

No, its all invisible to the end user

[Snowballer]

No, its all invisible to the end user
ok that's a relief.

I've heard though that if the domain is about to expire things might take a while and the site may go down for some reason (never really understood why)

[MarkB]

When your domain is about to expire (or just has), some registrars put a lock on it to prevent others registering it. Basically, it gives you a chance to renew it yourself. So, if you plan to move it to another registrar, do so WELL BEFORE it expires. Otherwise you'll have to pay to renew it, and then pay your new registrar again :)

[Peter T Davis]

All registrars (atleast all that I've ever used) allow you to do that.

I have over 100 domains now so EV1 being a few bucks cheaper will save me a few hundred a year.
Chris, not a lot of people realize this but when you're buying this many domains you can negotiate your own price with the registrars. I have 100-200 now, and am quite happy with the pricing that I got through negotiating with Dotster.

[lysis]

I have always handled all my domains registrations with Chihost.com. They are not the cheapest company, $14.95/yr for .com but the tech support is great and so are the notifications for domain expiration.