There are 10 things you MUST know before you register a domain name with anyone (ex. yourdomain.com)
If you are thinking about buying a domain name (ex. yourdomain.com) then we highly recommend you read contents below.
General practice tricks
“transfer-out” fees – Buried in the fine print of a registrars’ “Terms of Service” will be a hidden fee authorizing them to charge your credit card a “transfer-out” fee if you move your domain to another registrar. Often times, this transfer-out fee is 2 or 3 times the cost of the original registration.This practice violates the ICANN policy on domain transfers. In most cases if this happens to you a simple call to your credit card company will have the charge reversed, if you notice. Registrars who use this practice play the numbers game as many will not.
the fine print from hell – Most people (read: nobody) actually reads the long, odious Terms of Service for anything they buy online. Some registrars bury truly chilling things in these terms like the aforementioned “transfer-out” fees and in one mind-boggling case a “power-of-attorney”.
“Pay-as-you-go” – This is where you make a multi-year interest-free loan to the registrar. It works like this: You register a domain with them for example, 5 years (perhaps to obtain a discounted rate), you expect your domain name to be registered for 5 years. Think again, some registrars will pay the registry for 1 year and pocket the rest of your money.Then for the rest of your five year term they’ll renew each year for one year. Usually this is coupled with a strict “no-refunds” policy, so an odd situation occurs: they stand to make more money from your original registration if they lose you as a customer before your full 5 years are up, so providing poor service to the point where you leave actually adds to their bottom line.You can use a Free whois lookup tool like you can see above in this page to verify the real expiration date for your domain. It should match up with the number of years you paid your registrar for.
Whois database scams
Whois edit fees and locks- Every time you register a domain name, the details of that domain registration must be published in a publicly accessible database called Whois.One of the functions a registrar is supposed to be providing to you is the ability to change those whois records. Some registrars (especially the bargain basement outfits) register your domain for a dirt-cheap price and then ding you with an “administration fee” when you want to edit your Whois record.Some others may also “lockdown” your domain for 60 days everytime you make an edit to your record, preventing you from moving the name out to another registrar.
Premium whois privacy services
Because your domain record is public for all to see, some registrars want to upsell you to “privacy services” or “whois masking”, “private registration”, where they put their own info in the whois record instead of yours.The important thing to know here is that in the eyes of the domain Registry to which all the Registrars interact, and the Registry’s oversight body (like ICANN, or in Canada, CIRA), whoever is listed in the domain whois record as the domain Registrant is the legal owner of the domain name. Keep that in mind, if you use a service like this, they own the domain, not you, notwithstanding whatever contract or Terms of Service you enter.
Because your domain record is public for all to see, some registrars want to upsell you to “privacy services” or “whois masking”, “private registration”, where they put their own info in the whois record instead of yours.The important thing to know here is that in the eyes of the domain Registry to which all the Registrars interact, and the Registry’s oversight body (like ICANN, or in Canada, CIRA), whoever is listed in the domain whois record as the domain Registrant is the legal owner of the domain name. Keep that in mind, if you use a service like this, they own the domain, not you, notwithstanding whatever contract or Terms of Service you enter.
