renew or reNo?

December 19, 2005 12:16 PM

The boss "heard somewhere" that we don't have to pay for domain name registry, since they've had the domain for years. Anyone ever heard of such a thing?

They're getting notices from Network Solutions that they need to renew and think that it's unnecessary. I tried to explain that they're probably thinking of search engine submission, but it's a brick wall. Can someone show me a way to prove that they need to mail this check? Oh, and I've heard that everybody hates NS, but these people do everything retail and change is bad. Also, it's only about two weeks before expiry, so there's no time.

posted by penciltopper to computers & internet (30 comments total)

You warned'em.... snatch up the domain when it expires and tell them you'll sell it back to them for a nice xmas bonus
posted by matimer at 12:21 PM on December 19, 2005

Show them the expiration date? Tell them the domain will expire on the expiration date no matter what they think. Surely they have documentation from when they purchased it that said "5-year", "7-year" or however the length was. Our company spent a lot on a long-term domain but I don't believe they go past 10 years.
posted by geoff. at 12:23 PM on December 19, 2005

While matimer has a funny, clever solution -- this is a bad political move. If they can't comprehend the expiration date concept, they'll assume through trickery you stole the domain from underneath them.
posted by geoff. at 12:24 PM on December 19, 2005

Network Solutions does offer a 100-year registration. I would hope that someone kept the receipt if that's what they signed up for...
posted by mr_roboto at 12:24 PM on December 19, 2005

Show them this.
posted by dhartung at 12:26 PM on December 19, 2005

Have legal look over the letter from NetSol. If legal says it's legit, and the boss doesn't believe them, it's more than ceased to be your problem.

There's also that tiny window in which things stop working, but you haven't lost the domain; when you fall off the internet your boss will be convinced but you won't have lost the domain yet. You'd want to act fast right after that, though.
posted by mendel at 12:27 PM on December 19, 2005

1. Network Solutions is fine. They aren't the cheapest, but they have actual humans if you call the support lines. Try calling them, and explain that you need to explain to your boss what happens if you don't renew. NS probably charges $30 for a year or $60 for two years.

2. You could renew with godaddy or some other registrar for around $9 / year, but you will get more ads, popups, and probably not any human service. In the grand scheme of a real brick & morter business, domain registration is trivial. If you are speculating on domains, running a tiny nonprofit, blog, etc. then saving $20 can significantly reduce your expendatures. I suggest sticking with NS, since management clearly has no clue about things internet.

3. Your original web people probably registered the domain for five years for $500. Since you paid for so many years at once, your boss isn't used to paying an annual fee. Look up the paperwork, you might be surprised at how much was paid back in the day for the domain.

4. If you don't pay to register the domain, anyone else can go register it. Once someone else registers it, you migth be able to fight it, but it will take a long time and your customers will go to this other person's website.

5. Microsoft once forgot to re-register a domain (hotmail.com) and had all sorts of trouble as a result.

6. Domain registration is more like renting than owing. You don't own your domain, you pay an annual fee for the right to use it. If you fail to pay the rent, you get evicted and someone else gets your prime storefront.
posted by b1tr0t at 12:27 PM on December 19, 2005

Reminds me of this story.
posted by Plutor at 12:29 PM on December 19, 2005

If you fail to convince them that it needs renewed then I would do what matimer says and buy it yourself. Not to sell it back to them, but because when the shit does hit the fan and their domain expires they may be looking for a fall guy. It might advance your case a bit if you save their asses this time.
posted by fire&wings at 12:29 PM on December 19, 2005

regarding item (2) above, godaddy has popups and ads on their registrar page, using them won't put popups on *your* website.
posted by b1tr0t at 12:29 PM on December 19, 2005

Well, I have a story about this. The main TV station in Morocco had the domain "2M.com" for years. Somehow, they let the registration lapse, and some jerk from Beachwood, Ohio snapped it up. In about 2 seconds, he had a website up that supposedly promoted photos from nudist colonies. You can imagine that this went over like a lead balloon as far as Moroccans were concerned, especially since it happened during Ramadan. Anyway, I called the jerk from Beachwood myself, and though he was an idiot (with a strong Slavic accent), I figured that he really wanted 2M to buy him off. The registrar wouldn't tell me anything, just that they "had a case open."

After about a week, and I'm sure lots of legal wrangling and threats, the real 2M.com website was back up.

This is an interesting link on the topic.

Depending on your company's domain name, you could probably get it back after a trademark lawsuit - but I'm sure they know how much THAT will cost.
posted by Liosliath at 12:29 PM on December 19, 2005

Go to samspade.org, enter your domain at the "Do Stuff" line, and show him the expiration date. Metafilter.com's paid up through March of '09!
posted by kimota at 12:38 PM on December 19, 2005

He could have heard of this.
posted by Count Ziggurat at 12:39 PM on December 19, 2005

Explain it this way:

Option A) If you're right and they don't renew, they will lose their domain name, including the web site and any emails for as long as it takes to fix.

Option B) If you're wrong and they do renew, they will have needlessly wasted tens of dollars on the renewal.

This should be a no-brainer.
posted by justkevin at 12:53 PM on December 19, 2005

"Buy it yourself" is a bad plan. There's two ways you could get it: while the company still owns it, by transferring it to you before it expires, or by being the first to register it after it expires and the waiting period ends.

You can't compete with the domain squatters on the "first to register it", so the only way to have it in your own name after it expires is to transfer it -- but you may not want to have a notarized transfer of domain ownership dating to before the domain expired lying around when it comes time to find out what happened. It won't look like you were doing the company a favor at all.

You could always just pay out of pocket and once it's clear it's necessary get the cash back out of petty cash.
posted by mendel at 1:14 PM on December 19, 2005

Using godaddy does however mean going with a torture-friendly registrar.
posted by substrate at 1:29 PM on December 19, 2005

Please email me the domain name so that I can register it when it expires and sell it back to your boss to put my children through college. Unfortunately I can not share any of my profit with you as it would be unethical for you to benefit from your company in this fashion. You will have the benefit of knowing that the profit will go to deserving college bound children rather than to buy some sleazy hijacker a new ride. You may show your boss this comment as evidence of what will happen (if it isn't me it will be somebody) if he fails to renew promptly. (Of course, you could always suggest that your boss check with his lawyer, just to be sure because of the awful consequences of being wrong.)
posted by caddis at 2:00 PM on December 19, 2005

A related question I have is: if you pre-pay for a domain with one registrar for say, five years, and want to switch immediately after to another registrar, provided the second registrar doesn't charge transfer fees, would you be able to switch without paying a fee until the five years is up and then have the second registrar renew it?
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 2:09 PM on December 19, 2005

Let it expire. That'll show them that it's real.
posted by cellphone at 2:11 PM on December 19, 2005

You know, I get letters from NetSol all the time telling me "OH SHIT RENEW YOUR DOMAIN", and often it's for domains that haven't even been registered through them.

just sayin.

So check your expiration date first, and check to see who your registrar is (samspade should pull it up, or dnsstuff.com is also a goody). If it is indeed expiring and NetSol is the registrar, then you need to renew with them.
posted by fishfucker at 4:33 PM on December 19, 2005

I was sitting here thinking about the "squat it yourself and sell it back option", evilly knitting my brows over it. But then I thought - who wants an evil scarf made from eyebrows, anyway. I got the check signed. And had a good laugh. Thanks, everyone.
posted by penciltopper at 5:17 PM on December 19, 2005

I've been under a rock the past few weeks. What's this about GoDaddy and torture? I'll just Google it if nobody answers, but if any of you want to clue me in ...
posted by Alt F4 at 5:20 PM on December 19, 2005

A related question I have is: if you pre-pay for a domain with one registrar for say, five years, and want to switch immediately after to another registrar, provided the second registrar doesn't charge transfer fees, would you be able to switch without paying a fee until the five years is up and then have the second registrar renew it?

No, the registrar you transfer to will require you to renew the domain for at least a year with them, which gets added onto the time remaining on your domain. (Otherwise you're asking them to take your domain for free; they don't get any of the money you paid the previous registrar.)
posted by mendel at 5:22 PM on December 19, 2005

First result from Google: Go Daddy Torture
posted by caddis at 5:30 PM on December 19, 2005

You know, I get letters from NetSol all the time telling me "OH SHIT RENEW YOUR DOMAIN", and often it's for domains that haven't even been registered through them.

That bears repeating. We get letters from NetSol all the time for several domains that have never been registered with them. It's a trick to get you to transfer your domain from it's current registrar to theirs. So make sure you're renewing with the right registrar, if you actually manage to get your bosses to wake up (wow, they're pretty clueless! sorry). NetSol does suck & if your co.'s domain is indeed with them it would be good if you could move it to a cheaper, less evil registrar. My family has used dotster for about 6 problem-free years, for both personal and business domains.
posted by zarah at 8:45 PM on December 19, 2005

5. Microsoft once forgot to re-register a domain (hotmail.com) and had all sorts of trouble as a result.

If by "all sorts of trouble" you mean "some guy registered it for them and gave it to them for free".
posted by delmoi at 10:16 PM on December 19, 2005

regarding item (2) above, godaddy has popups and ads on their registrar page, using them won't put popups on *your* website.

They do? I've been browsing the site for 10 minutes now, and Firefox's popup-blocker hasn't triggered once. And just did a quick check, no popups in IE either.

Oh, and I really don't have any problems at all with Bob Parsons' stand on torture, either. :)
posted by antifuse at 4:20 AM on December 20, 2005

I'm curious about any additional details regarding the sotyr with the jerk from Beachwood. Any extra information would be appreciated. Thanks.
posted by stuart_s at 8:46 AM on December 20, 2005

Stuart - what kind of details? I had the guy's name and address, and I had a screenshot somewhere of the nudist colony site, but not much else. There was a little bit of chatter about on a couple of Moroccan blogs, but not a lot.
posted by Liosliath at 10:27 AM on December 20, 2005

Liosliath: Er... sorry. I didn't notice your comment untill recently. If you'd feel comfortable posting his name I'd be interested. I'm curious if he's still causing trouble in other ways here in Cleveland. I thought I'd google him and see what he's up to.
posted by stuart_s at 9:48 AM on December 24, 2005