Questions to Ask Before You Pick Your Domain Name Registrar
Elliot Noss, President & CEO of Tucows has written a guide titled “Questions to Ask Before You Pick Your Domain Name Registrar” following the problems with RegisterFly. Noss notes “[t]he interests of the businesses and individuals who buy domain names have been lost in this debate. There are a whole raft of existing rules and policies, defined by ICANN, that govern how the domain name registration system should work. The problem is that … registrants … are not familiar with the rules and do not know how to help themselves.”
Noss notes the bad news is to fix the regulation of registrars and how rules are enforced will take some work, especially from ICANN. However in the meantime, Noss notes registrants “need to stop focusing on price and start focusing on customer service, the services offered and increase their awareness of the rights that the existing rules give them.” The guide is just that, a guide, and is not exhaustive, and covers “10 questions everyone should ask a registrar before buying a domain name from them. We don’t expect registrants to necessarily dig in to all of them, but it is a place to start.”
Noss goes into detail on each point, but the points are What is your primary business model?; Do you make transfers as easy as the rules allow?; Do you allow for easy locking/unlocking?; Do you make it easy to opt-out of auto-renewals?; Do you tie domains to your services?; Do you offer Whois privacy? What are your privacy policies in general?; What are your policies on compliance issues like litigation, ownership disputes and WDRP?; How easy is it to contact you?; What happens when my domain expires? and Are you a registrar or reseller?
http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/25/2834529.html
Questions to Ask Before You Pick Your Domain Name Registrar
Elliot Noss, President & CEO of Tucows has written a guide titled “Questions to Ask Before You Pick Your Domain Name Registrar” following the problems with RegisterFly. Noss notes “[t]he interests of the businesses and individuals who buy domain names have been lost in this debate. There are a whole raft of existing rules and policies, defined by ICANN, that govern how the domain name registration system should work. The problem is that … registrants … are not familiar with the rules and do not know how to help themselves.”
Noss notes the bad news is to fix the regulation of registrars and how rules are enforced will take some work, especially from ICANN. However in the meantime, Noss notes registrants “need to stop focusing on price and start focusing on customer service, the services offered and increase their awareness of the rights that the existing rules give them.” The guide is just that, a guide, and is not exhaustive, and covers “10 questions everyone should ask a registrar before buying a domain name from them. We don’t expect registrants to necessarily dig in to all of them, but it is a place to start.”
Noss goes into detail on each point, but the points are What is your primary business model?; Do you make transfers as easy as the rules allow?; Do you allow for easy locking/unlocking?; Do you make it easy to opt-out of auto-renewals?; Do you tie domains to your services?; Do you offer Whois privacy? What are your privacy policies in general?; What are your policies on compliance issues like litigation, ownership disputes and WDRP?; How easy is it to contact you?; What happens when my domain expires? and Are you a registrar or reseller?