Comments on: Domain registrar(s) matching these criteria, for .com and .com.au?

Question: Domain registrar(s) matching these criteria, for .com and .com.au?

sakahane — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:43:17 -0800

I have about a dozen .com and .com.au domains with GoDaddy and Name.com.au which I'd like to move, ideally to a single new registrar. Criteria below the fold:

- no upselling or sneaky emails (appearance of basic trustworthiness)
- clean back-end with easy name server management
- easy transfers
- responsive email support (same or next day), or better, live chat or a phone number to call

I'm in the process of moving all my websites to a VPS, so I don't require DNS hosting, and I'm willing to pay a small premium for the peace of not having to deal with sleazy business practices or broken back-end websites.

Currently considering: Gandi (for .coms only), Namecheap, Jumba (have had shared hosting accounts with them, with no problems)

I'd also appreciate any cautionary tips on how to go about transferring domains from GoDaddy/Name.com.au (owned by the same people as Domain Central). None of my domains are up for renewal in the next month.

Full disclosure: I asked this question at webmasters.stackexchange.com but was told it wasn't right for their format. I hope Ask MeFi is the right place to ask for recommendations like this.

By: Jairus

Jairus — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:50:28 -0800

I used Dotster as my domain registrar for years, but now I'm slowly moving to Badger because it is the cleanest and simplest no-fuss back-end I've ever seen on anything domain/hosting related.

There's also a feature that looks like it maybe starts a transfer process for all your GoDaddy domains? But I don't use GoDaddy so I don't know if that's actually what it does.

By: wierdo

wierdo — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:01:21 -0800

I used Dotster for a long time, but realized I couldn't justify the upcharge relative to Namecheap, so I switched a little over a year ago. I have had no problems whatsoever, so I can't actually say how responsive their support is. Same for Dotster.

By: Georgina

Georgina — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:47:42 -0800

I've been using Gandi since 1998 and have no complaints. The only emails I can remember receiving are notices telling me my domains are due for renewal. They're more expensive than most registrars, but several of my friends have lost domains due to shady registrar practices so I'm happy to keep paying for a service that has always served me well.

I've never needed to use their support, though, so I can't say how that is.

By: FlamingBore

FlamingBore — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 19:03:28 -0800

Dotster changed hands a year and a half ago and while initially they were being run as a stand alone company they are in the process of migrating to the platform of the acquiring company. There's been some bumps along the way. Whether they will recover from that... hard to say.

NameCheap isn't the cleanest but they are pretty damn solid. I don't know a thing about Badger, but now I'm curious. I'll have to check them out more.

By: jgreco

jgreco — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:56:17 -0800

We resell OpenSRS (but only to our clients, which you aren't). If you find an OpenSRS reseller that sells to the public, that might be an option. OpenSRS has a default back-end that's reasonably easy for users to use, and support is provided by the reseller.

More generally, a good bit of advice for the domain registration game is that you probably should not wait until "renewal" time to renew. You can register for up to 10 years at a time, at the current rate. I suggest registering for no more than 9, because a transfer requires a renewal.

You can even do something shady like renew for 8 years at the cheapest possible registrar and then transfer to someplace you really like, let's say Gandi since it's been mentioned, that charges more, to get to a 9 year registry serviced by Gandi for a lesser price. This is a bit of a loophole in the way things work. On the other hand, you're locked into the cheaper registrar for a short period because transfers are limited in frequency.

Also, make sure that your contact info, not some anon service or your registrar, is on as the entity owning the zone, at least if you care about being able to regain control of it if there's a dispute or problem of any sort.

By: amtho

amtho — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:48:30 -0800

PairNIC.com is excellent -- I think this is what you want. They are an offshoot (or something) of the excellent, very ethical, very technically friendly, Pair.com.

There is accessible phone support. There are ethics: there is renewable energy; there is stability (they've been around a long time); there are smart people on the other end of the phone. I've elected not to renew domain names; they've contacted me after the expiration time to make sure I didn't just forget (and not so that they can charge large amounts of money).

Really, please use them.