Dotster.com offers hassle-free domain name registration as well as other services.
I’ve been using dotster.com for my domain name registrar for almost a decade. I began registering domain names back when we had only one choice — Network Solutions — and paid a lot for the privilege. I later tried a couple of other services and through the years have helped clients transfer, sell or modify domain names through all of the large services. Nothing has even enticed me to consider another domain name registration service other than dotster.com.
Slick customers and penny-wise, pound-foolish web novices often point out that there are some cheaper domain registration services, including offers of free registration with hosting (dotster.com
will usually offer a free domain when signing up for a hosting account), however there are a number of things to take into consideration.
First and foremost, will the domain name registration will be in your name?
In my town there’s a web hosting and “design” company that offers “free domain name registration” with every account. What the poor saps who sign up don’t discover is that the registration is in the name of the hosting service. When the customers try to move their site to another service because they can’t stand the poor service any longer, they discover they don’t control the domain name. Usually, they have to abandon the domain name they spent so much time and effort developing and start all over — or the domain name is held for ransom and they have to cough up hundreds of dollars to buy it back. This is not an isolated case. I’ve had many clients who discovered too late that they were caught in the bear trap of a “fantastic deal.” Think like a less-than-ethical business person. If you promote and build name recognition for a domain name, it becomes a valuable asset to anyone who controls it. If you don’t bite to the ransom demands, the domain name —and all of its hard-earned traffic — can be sold or used to generate additional revenue through ad sales or new hosting customers. I’ve never had any client using dotster.comwho had a problem with domain name ownership.
Second, how difficult it is to transfer the domain name to another registrar?
When I decided to sell a domain name I had registered with register.com, it became a battle of endurance worthy of getting Pentagon expenditures from the G.A.O. through the Freedom of Information Act. Five weeks, six faxes, 3 phone calls and so many emails we lost count later, the domain name was finally transferred with all the reluctance of Ebeneezer Scrooge releasing a shilling at Christmas. But that was a snap compared to what some of my clients have experienced transferring domain names from a registration giant who shall remain nameless (all right, it’s godaddy.com)! I have had nothing but simple, clear, fast transfers with dotster.com through the years. I often grab potential domain names for clients or friends who are contemplating a new site and then transfer the domain name registration to them and their registrars.
How much spam and hard sell do you have to endure?
If I ever had a quibble with dotster.com, it was with the monthly notices of specials and deals they are offering on various services. But after seeing what godaddy clients and others experience, I’ve started counting my blessings. I’ll cheerfully take a single email a month of sales notices and the renewal notices that start 3 months early, over relentless spamming and niggling charges. And the part that stuns me is how little the difference is in price between the discount registrars and dotster.com. Since I have several domain names registered to my account, I’m paying only US$10.37 per registration. That’s less than a movie ticket! And frankly, I get more out of my domain names than I do most of the movies I see these days! So if you’re looking to register a new name or transfer a domain name to a new registrar, check out dotster.com
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