Where NOT to register a domain name
As a hosting reseller with a few vendors, I used to request domain registration through those Web hosting service accounts. One of them outsources the registration to Melbourne IT (melbourneit.com.au/). This is perfectly reasonable because the hosting service is not set up to be a domain registrar. What is not reasonable is their choice of Melbourne IT.
Of course, you might not know who the registrar is going to be when you sign up, either as an individual or a hosting service reseller. I did not, but ultimately decided to deal directly with the registrar and had my hosting service transfer the domains from their control to mine so that I could manage my own domain registrations directly with Melbourne IT. Once I obtained this access and could bundle all of the domain names under a single account, I proceeded to transfer them out of Melbourne IT one by one as they came due. I chose to transfer them to GoDaddy.
Melbourne IT is one of the slower-to-transfer and most expensive-to-renew registrars that I have ever dealt with. Today I made the long distance call to Australia to deal with Melbourne IT about a transfer that I initiated 8 or so hours ago and found out from Support, that transfers can take four days. In fairness, I introduced a delay of my own because I missed the email from GoDaddy that asks me to authorize the transfer (Step 2 in GoDaddy’s pending transfers). My bad. However, making the discovery that Melbourne IT could take 4 days to handle this now that everything is set was an eye opener. While this is probably legal, it is pretty cheesy, especially since there is absolutely no documentation on their Web site about this. Moreover, when I have transferred a domain away from other registrars, the transfer happens in less than 24 hours.
Now I understand why Melbourne IT basically froze up one of my domains by “expiring” it a couple of months ago because I initiated the transfer less than 4 days before the expiration date. And guess what the renewal fee would have been had I stayed with Melbourne IT? $50 for an ordinary renewal! Compare that to every other domain registration service where the fee is anywhere from a few dollars to $10, I exclude the also ridiculously expensive ($20) and difficult to deal with Network Solutions, discussed elsewhere on my blog.
To make matters worse, the emails that I sent to Melbourne IT regarding what was happening to that transfer—the one that I initiated just before the expiration—were completely ignored. I never got a reply. They sat on it, no doubt content to honor the 4 day clock and charge me an exorbitant sum to renew the domain after it expired. Now that Melbourne IT had conveniently ignored me, I could “redeem” the expired domain for $150.
So here are some takeaways:
If you sign up for hosting and registration with the same vendor (Yahoo!, for example), be sure to ask them if they outsource the domain registration and to whom. If it is Melbourne IT, register the domain with a vendor other than Melbourne IT yourself, and when you do, just specify the name servers (the DNS for your Web site hosting) with your chosen registrar. Your hosting service will usually provide you with the DNS information when they email you the confirmation that your hosting account is set up.
If you are already stuck with Melbourne IT, transfer your domains to another registrar well before the expiration date, at least four days before the expiration date. Make it a week, because any problems you encounter with the transfer could put you into the costly four-day zone, or cause you to lose your domain registration altogether unless you are willing to redeem it for $150.
All is not lost if you do lose the domain name because it has expired. You have a thirty day redemption period in which you can pay the ridiculous fee, or else you can wait for that domain name to come back on the market (start watching for its availability 30 to 45 days after the expiration date), and simply register it again with someone more affordable and more responsive. This is risky if you have a really good domain name because there might be people ready to pounce on it when it is released. Be aware that some domain registrars will dump their expired names with domain auction partners. Domain auction sites are good places to look to see if your expired domain name is up for grabs: e.g., SnapNames.com. You can enter your domain name to see if it is on the auction list, and if your domain name has any bidders.
As for where to register a domain name, let me say that I have a few dozen names registered with GoDaddy and have been content with their domain registration service and prices (about $7 a year, and add $9 if you want the registration to be private, i.e. to have your contact email and address shielded from the public record). GoDaddy will discount the annual fees if you do bulk registration of more than 5 domain names, or if you do a multi-year registration instead of a year-to-year.
While I do not recommend GoDaddy for hosting because there are far too many clicks and ad-laden pages to go through to perform the simplest server tasks, they are just fine for domain registrations. As for hosting, I have been content enough with LunarPages and InMotionHosting to use them for my hosting reseller accounts. When I have a client for whom an individual account with someone other than me makes sense, I recommend that they use AcornHost.
All three of these hosting services use cPanel, a common server administration interface that is convenient and easy to use. Even my non-technical clients find that they can do some of their own server administration tasks without my help. AcornHost is women-owned, green, and offers non-profit rates. I have not had one moment of downtime or account hassles with them as I manage hosting servers for the clients who use them. I recommend them.
The bottom line: Avoid Melbourne IT for domain registrations. Apparently their Web hosting is also exorbitant and they ignore customer emails about hosting, too. You do not have to take my word for it. Just Google “Melbourne IT customer complaints” or “melbourne it does not answer email” for similar stories.
You’re right…Melbourne IT is still stuck in the NetSol era of exorbitant domain pricing. Also in Australia, there are limited options and the market isn’t that price sensitive so they can still afford to do that.
Yahoo registers with them which makes me think they don’t give a dime about others till they have that portfolio.
Go with http://www.resellerclub.com…great pricing and very professional in the 3 years I’ve been with them.