GoDaddy replacement?

[sluggo]

A couple of non business domains registered with GoDaddy are expiring in early April. Not impressed with trying to navigate their site when I want to make changes, their customer service is lacking and they're what I consider to be a little shady when it comes to renewal time.
I've got 2 domains there. All with private domain name servers. Always have had private DNS. Now that renewal time is approaching, I receive an email informing me that it'll cost $9.98 per domain per year. I click the link to start the process. When I view the shopping cart, the $9.98 has become $14.99, plus $4.99 for certified domain renewal. Yet the total shows $29.15.
When I questioned them on the discrpency, they say it includes the private DNS. I ask them why it is not shown and itemized in the shopping cart. They apologize and blame in on a developer error and say they'll report it. Several weeks later I return to check and nothing has changed.
To me, it gives the appearance of being shady and a little dishonest. Any recommendations for a new registrar with better and more transparent pricing?

[Xairbusdriver]

I agree with your interpretation of GoDaddy's ethics. Except I would probably remove the "little" part. Unfortunately, domain name registration is a small profit area. It's often seen as a way to sell additional hosting services like hosting space and email. But it is also a place for "little" add-ons that may sound better and more useful than they really are for non-business users.

I've never used GoDaddy, so I can't offer any personal evidence on their qualifications or services. I have used NameCheap for the last 4 years. Before that I used directNIC. Happy with both, just moved to NameCheap as a possible hosting service. Looks like their normal .com registration is $9.69 + the ICANN fee of 18₵ fee. $9.87 total, but there may be additional taxes, shipping, handling, cleaning, stocking, repair, and office party fees.

[sluggo]

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Mar 11 2017, 11:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with your interpretation of GoDaddy's ethics. Except I would probably remove the "little" part. Unfortunately, domain name registration is a small profit area. It's often seen as a way to sell additional hosting services like hosting space and email. But it is also a place for "little" add-ons that may sound better and more useful than they really are for non-business users.

I've never used GoDaddy, so I can't offer any personal evidence on their qualifications or services. I have used NameCheap for the last 4 years. Before that I used directNIC. Happy with both, just moved to NameCheap as a possible hosting service. Looks like their normal .com registration is $9.69 + the ICANN fee of 18₵ fee. $9.87 total, but there may be additional taxes, shipping, handling, cleaning, stocking, repair, and office party fees.

Thank Jim, I'll check 'em out. GoDaddy doesn't really host anything for me anymore after a breach last year in my business website that they failed to inform me of until after I found out and questioned them.
I now have the site hosted with TVCnet. The owner there almost always replies quickly and often personally to any questions. They closely monitor their servers and stay on top of security issues.
GoDaddy for me is basically a registrar and they point emails from 2 domains to other email accounts that I have elsewhere. I think I can do better for service and price someplace else. Even if the places you mention were priced close to what GoDaddy is, if their pricing is up front and transparent that would be a pleasant change.

[Paddy]

QUOTE(sluggo @ Mar 11 2017, 12:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Mar 11 2017, 11:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with your interpretation of GoDaddy's ethics. Except I would probably remove the "little" part. Unfortunately, domain name registration is a small profit area. It's often seen as a way to sell additional hosting services like hosting space and email. But it is also a place for "little" add-ons that may sound better and more useful than they really are for non-business users.

I've never used GoDaddy, so I can't offer any personal evidence on their qualifications or services. I have used NameCheap for the last 4 years. Before that I used directNIC. Happy with both, just moved to NameCheap as a possible hosting service. Looks like their normal .com registration is $9.69 + the ICANN fee of 18₵ fee. $9.87 total, but there may be additional taxes, shipping, handling, cleaning, stocking, repair, and office party fees.

Thank Jim, I'll check 'em out. GoDaddy doesn't really host anything for me anymore after a breach last year in my business website that they failed to inform me of until after I found out and questioned them.
I now have the site hosted with TVCnet. The owner there almost always replies quickly and often personally to any questions. They closely monitor their servers and stay on top of security issues.
GoDaddy for me is basically a registrar and they point emails from 2 domains to other email accounts that I have elsewhere. I think I can do better for service and price someplace else. Even if the places you mention were priced close to what GoDaddy is, if their pricing is up front and transparent that would be a pleasant change.

Another vote here for Namecheap. I've been using them as domain registrars ever since the mass exodus over GoDaddy's support of SOPA (2011) - AND because GoDaddy is absolutely horrible to deal with at renewal time - you spend more time taking all the things out of your "cart" so you don't end up with a whole bunch of services you don't want, nor need - it's ridiculous. Namecheap has none of that nonsense.

As for hosting, I did have a lot of my clients on Hostgator, but since they were purchased by EIG a few years ago, the service has gone predictably downhill and the prices and upselling have increased (the upselling to the point that they rival GoDaddy - very, very annoying). I've moved a number of clients to Namecheap, which does a very good job of hosting at a reasonable cost. I've also now moved my own site and several clients to http://crocweb.com - a very highly rated Canadian host with stellar reviews at webhostingtalk.com (one of the few places on the web where you'll get the straight answers on which hosts are good and which aren't - the forum discussions are very helpful.) There is a CrocWeb discount coupon for 60% out there which makes the first three years on the basic shared hosting (10GB storage, unlimited transfer, up to three domains, unlimited databases and email addresses) cost a mere $48 USD. Pretty hard to beat, and so far the support has been very good - it's via email ticket, but fast.

[Paddy]

Quick question though - you mention that you have "private DNS" - I'm curious as to why. Might want to read this discussion: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1196278 - in particular post #23. BTW - I don't see any charge associated with this at Namecheap - see: https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledge...s-for-my-domain

Or did you mean private registration - which is about $10 a year with GoDaddy ($2.88/yr with Namecheap).

They're very different things - the latter keeps your registration info (name, address, email etc.) private - if someone does a Whois on your account, it will show the company that provides the privacy, not you. There is a downside to this - you don't look as "trustworthy" without that info. The downside of providing the info, of course, is the possibility of spam.

[sluggo]

QUOTE(Paddy @ Mar 11 2017, 01:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Quick question though - you mention that you have "private DNS" - I'm curious as to why. Might want to read this discussion: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1196278 - in particular post #23. BTW - I don't see any charge associated with this at Namecheap - see: https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledge...s-for-my-domain

Or did you mean private registration - which is about $10 a year with GoDaddy ($2.88/yr with Namecheap).

They're very different things - the latter keeps your registration info (name, address, email etc.) private - if someone does a Whois on your account, it will show the company that provides the privacy, not you. There is a downside to this - you don't look as "trustworthy" without that info. The downside of providing the info, of course, is the possibility of spam.

Of course I knew I'd mess up the terminology. Pretty sure that it's private registration.
Got on the chat help with Namecheap. But they don't handle the .name domain, which one of mine is.
Placed a request with 1and1.com for a phone call return to discuss. But several hours have passed and no call.

[Xairbusdriver]

There's a list or at least a link to a list of companies/hosting providers/etc. that have been bought up by EIG. Worth Googling to find the list or even searching here. I seem to remember 1and1 being one of EIG's purchases. I'm supposed to be entertaining my son and his wife right now or I'd do this for you!

[Paddy]

Hmm...not looking good for the .name registration:

http://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questi...r-a-name-domain - probably why so few registrars offer it.

Do you have an actual website at .name? If not, I'd let it go, as it may be more trouble than it's worth.

1and1 do .name registrations. $10.99 for the first year, then $14.99 thereafter, with free private registration. (I tried a .name registration without completing it to see what it cost and what it offered.) What did you need to ask them? They don't have a good rep for customer service, apparently.

https://www.werockyourweb.com/best-domain-registrar/
https://hostadvice.com/tools/web-hosting-co...1-vs-namecheap/

I'd move everything to Namecheap - and if you must keep the .name registration, go with 1and1 just for it - unless you can find someone with a better rep. You don't generally get any sort of bulk discount (unless you get into the reseller end of things - and then you have to have LOTS of domain names to realize any savings.)

[tacit]

For a long time, I've had all my domains (about a hundred in all) registered at GoDaddy. Last year, I started moving them off GoDaddy for exactly the reasons you name: increasingly shoddy customer service, predatory pricing, and final totals that were higher than advertised prices.

I looked at registrars all over the place. I used Namecheap for a while--low prices but very poor customer service, and unfortunately they're owned by a parent company (eNom) that's notorious in infosec circles for being corrupt and supporting spammers. They also have rather poor security.

I finally ended up on Google, and I've started moving all my domains over. They're more expensive than GoDaddy's advertised prices but less expensive than GoDaddy's actual prices. And private registration is free.

http://domains.google.com

[jcarter]

I have my 2 at GoDaddy, but had no problem yet.
This EIG company sure is bad.

I probably should move my 2 over to Google Domains also?

[Paddy]

QUOTE(tacit @ Mar 15 2017, 02:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

For a long time, I've had all my domains (about a hundred in all) registered at GoDaddy. Last year, I started moving them off GoDaddy for exactly the reasons you name: increasingly shoddy customer service, predatory pricing, and final totals that were higher than advertised prices.

I looked at registrars all over the place. I used Namecheap for a while--low prices but very poor customer service, and unfortunately they're owned by a parent company (eNom) that's notorious in infosec circles for being corrupt and supporting spammers. They also have rather poor security.

I finally ended up on Google, and I've started moving all my domains over. They're more expensive than GoDaddy's advertised prices but less expensive than GoDaddy's actual prices. And private registration is free.

http://domains.google.com

Interesting - I've had zero issues with Namecheap and always found their customer support to be very good - both for domain registration and for hosting.

Google doesn't offer .ca registrations, which is a problem for me, as a number of my clients have .ca registrations. Their .com registrations are $12 (Canadian is $17) a year -  Namecheap is $10.69 +$2.88 for the private registration (it's free the first year). BTW - Google isn't the actual registrar: They are simply resellers of other domain registrars. They use the German registrar Key Systems and provide WHOIS privacy service via Whoisproxy in New Zealand.

[jcarter]

Guess I will stick with GoDaddy till I see a price increase with no notice or anything mentioned here which doesnt look good.
Its good so far.

[sluggo]

1and1 never did get back to me. That gives me an indication of potential customer service with them.
I wound up going with Name.com. So far, relatively easy to get through on the phone. And the people there have been helpful in assisting me with the transition. I was able to keep my .name domain. They now have my other 2 domains as well. One merchant instead of spreading accounts around. I have Whois privacy for about half the price of GoDaddy's private registration with Domains By Proxy - their cousin.
A word of advice for anyone leaving GoDaddy - Go into your account a day ahead of time. If you have privacy, a certified domain, a lock or anything else with them, get rid of it. Change all of your administrative, technical, billing and registrant phone numbers and email to something that you know you can get to easily. DO NOT keep a Domains By Proxy email around if one is associated with your domain name. You cannot simply log into DBP and access your account information. Your new registrar will send you an email to get your approval to complete the transfer. If that email is sent to Domains By Proxy, have fun trying to get it or get an answer from GoDaddy (same corporate family as DBP). Domains By Proxy's website FAQ merely keeps referring you back to your registrar.

[jcarter]

Thank you for this info!

[sluggo]

QUOTE(jcarter @ Mar 16 2017, 03:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank you for this info!

You're quite welcome. The Domains By Proxy email address associated with private registration was very frustrating. Fortunately the woman I spoke to at Name.com was able to change it on their end to one of my other email addresses so that we could complete the transfer.
I learned my lesson and logged into GoDaddy and changed the contact phone number and email for my remaining 2 domains. Then I waited until the next day to change registrars to be sure that GD had updated that contact info. The switchover is still in progress. It can take up to 6 days but the first one was complete the day after I began.