What's in a name?
Quite a lot it seems. I own a few domain names. Most I've had for several years and they've always been with the same registrar. Three of them need to be renewed in a few days time and I thought I'd shop around for a better deal on renewing the registration. My current registrar (Dotster.com) wanted $14.95 a domain per year. I'd heard of GoDaddy.com and saw they would transfer the domains and renew them for a year for $7.95 which seemed like a good idea so I started the process...
I "unlocked" the domains at Dotster so I could move them, but the transfer kept failing saying there were still locked. I emailed Dotster and they insisted the domains were not locked so I tried again and indeed they were unlocked. The cynic in me would say they didn't get unlocked until I emailed complaining... Anyway the transfer process started and I just had to let it take it's time.
Yesterday I got a phone call from GoDaddy.com they just wanted to welcome me to their service and thank me for my business. That was nice of them, I was pretty impressed.
Today I got an email from Dotster saying they'd seen I was transferring my domains and they were willing to beat GoDaddy's prices to keep my business. Not only would they beat the price for the transfer and one year of service they'd continue to offer me that price for renewal of my domains for as long as I had them. How could I say no? My domains now won't be transferring, they'll be staying at Doster for less money with more included services.
Moral of the story? It pays to shop around.
Comments
- Anonymous
February 02, 2005
well its nice to hear that. i currently have all my domains with godaddy...the only registar i tried after directnic...back when domains where 30 bucks a year and directnic had them for 15...
anyways. good luck with dotster....i was going to use them to resell domains myself..they had a good api for anyone's site to become a reseller without showing its being reselled.
i might try that again. - Anonymous
February 02, 2005
Ahh a familiar story. I went through the same process about a month ago. One of my domains was about to expire and it seemd the Network Solutions were just way over priced when compared to some other registrars out there. I ended with GoDaddy as well. Isn't that domain lock/unlock thing such a hassle? I had to request something, then a code would be sent to my email then I had to fill out some form, then I had to call Network Solutions for another code... I don't even know how I did it, but somehow I got transfered over finally... oh and no great counter offer for me. - Anonymous
February 02, 2005
I transfered some domains before from directnic. I wonder though if they do that for everyone with the counter offers I am not gonna ask how many domains you have but it's probably quite a few for them to take the time to keep you happy. I might just sceptic but I've never had such a special treatment from any domain registrars. - Anonymous
February 02, 2005
I was only transferring 3 domains, I have another 3 or so with Dotster. I've been a customer of their's for five years, so that might have something to do with it. - Anonymous
February 02, 2005
I have a couple domains with Register.com, but just recently used GoDaddy for the first time because they were so much cheaper. I bought the domains on a Friday, and on Satuday morning a GoDaddy rep called me to confirm that I was satisfied and would answer any questions for me. He left me with a 1-800 number for 24/7 support should I need it.
If this was my first time registering a domain I would have definately needed the help. I was impressed with their service. - Anonymous
February 02, 2005
I transferred a domain to 1 & 1 and was happy with the price and service. I've emailed them a couple of times with some questions and they have responded quickly. - Anonymous
February 04, 2005
Actually, the moral of the story is that anyone else at Dotster is getting ripped off.
Obviously they aren't losing money on you with the new deal - why would they want to keep your business if it weren't bringing in a net profit?
So the price you paid before - and most are paying now, I'll bet - was clearly much more than the service was worth to you (and them)... otherwise you wouldn't have had to shop around.
I look at this much like the infamous employer counter-offer. It goes like this "Oh, you finally found out you were worth more in the market than we pay you. Turns out you're worth much more to us, as well. We'll pay it, now that you've given notice".
Makes you wonder what other services you're paying Dotster for that are overpriced. Should you threaten to switch everything again to see if you can get lower prices?
While price is king in something like this, I'm always wary to go with companies that show a hint of "shady" practices, and this kind of thing always feels a bit dirty to me... - Anonymous
May 29, 2009
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