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• UNLIMITED Domains
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10 Tips Before You Register
a Domain Name
Author: kevin
1. "transfer-out"
Most registrars include within their ‘Terms of Service’, a hidden fee permitting
them to charge your credit card a "transfer-out" fee if you switch to another
registrar. This fee is usually double or even triple the original cost of
registration. This clause violates the ICANN policy on domain transfers. In case
this ever happens to you, a single call to your credit card company will have
the charge reversed.
2. The fine print
Almost no one bothers perusing the long-winded, Terms of Service when buying
online. Some registrars hide truly disturbing things in these terms like the
abovementioned "transfer-out" fees and in one instance even a
"power-of-attorney"! So, be alert.
3. Pay for term
When you register a domain for say, 5 years (perhaps to avail a discount), you
expect your domain name to be registered for the next 5 years. However, some
registrars pay the registry for 1 year. Then they'll renew each year for the
rest of your five-year term. Meanwhile, with a strict "no-refunds" policy they
stand to gain by providing inferior service to the point of forcing you to leave
them. This helps them to line their pocket with your hard-earned money.
You can verify by using a free tool such as EasyWhois for the actual expiration
date for your domain.
Whois database scams
4. whois edit fees and lockdowns
Every time you register a domain name, the details of that domain registration
must be published in a publicly accessible database called Whois.
A registrar is supposed to provide you with the ability to change these whois
records. Some unscrupulous registrars register your domain for rock-bottom price
and then charge you with an "administration fee" to edit your Whois record.
Another common practice is to "lockdown" your domain for 60 days every time you
make an edit to your record, to prevent you from changing the registrar.
5. whois masking services
Your domain record is public info and some registrars convince you to buy into
"privacy services" or "whois masking", "private registration", etc where their
own info is in the whois record instead of yours. This is a major trap.
What you need to understand 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 will be the legal owner of the domain name. When the registrar’s info
is in the whois it is they who own the domain, not you, irrespective of whatever
contract or Terms of Service you enter into with them to "own" this domain on
your behalf. In a legal dispute, they will definitely own the name.
Totally unprincipled registrars may even go a step further, sign you up for the
whois ‘privacy service’, and then sell your data.
6. whois mining and domain slamming
Since all your data is just sitting there, the whois database is vulnerable to
spammers and marketers to "mine".
Reform processes in the Whois database are in process through ICANN, as well as
CIRA. Meanwhile people often wonder why they start getting all kinds of
marketing spam in their mailbox soon after they register a domain name. This is
because their email address is being harvested by robots from the Whois
database. The good news is there is a free service to protect your email address
called MyPrivacy.ca.
Some disreputable registrars have been known to ‘mine’ the whois database for
registrant information, and later mailing out fake renewal invoices for either
those domain names or variations of them.
Unsuspecting recipients get ‘slammed’ when they remit payment thinking they've
received a renewal invoice on their domain. It triggers off a domain transfer
and in some cases their website and email comes crashing down as their DNS
services terminate with their old provider.
Domain lock-ins
7. registrar lock-ins
"Domain slamming" (tip 6) and unauthorized domain transfers have been a real
problem for a long time. "Registrar-lock" was created to protect a domain
against this. If the registrar lock is set, nobody can transfer your domain away
from you. This is actually a good thing and best practices dictate that you set
the register-lock for all your domains. Experienced registrars enable it by
default when they register or transfer a domain for you.
Unfortunately, this lock is a double-edged blade that can cut both ways. It can
become a real threat to you if it is turned on and the registrar will either not
turn it off, or give you the facility to turn it on or off yourself.
8. domain auth-code
Some of the Top-Level-Domains (TLDs) run on a protocol called "EPP" and to
further guard against unauthorized transfers, a domain must have an 8-character
auth-code supplied before it will transfer. Existing examples are .BIZ, .INFO
and .ORG. The registrar generally holds this code and you need it if you want to
move your domain away. With a bit of luck they will give it to you!!
Traffic scams and monetization
9. unauthorized domain parking
Though you may not be aware of this, domain parking is big business. Have you
noticed that every time you click on a link somewhere or make a typo entering a
web address you wind up on some "search page" that throws up a million pop-up
ads? That is a parked domain and large players can park thousands of domains and
make literally millions of dollars "monetizing" them via domain parking.
The domain registrars have access to thousands of domains. Some of them offer
domain registrations at cheap prices so they can monetize the parked names.
Certain audacious registrars have had the actual effrontery to charge their
customers for domain parking monetization. Remember, if you actually have a
domain that's worth something parked then take it to a parking service. They
will pay you to park your pages and not the other way round.
10. "free" URL Forwarding
Some people wonder why the costs vary greatly for domain registrations and what
the difference is between somebody who offers everything for $2/year while
others charge 10 times or more for basic DNS and URL forwarding.
Well, the cheaper ones often have a number of tricks up their sleeve for making
money, either by adding your domain to their parked pool (mentioned above) or
else they offer, "free" URL forwarding for your domain. In such instances, they
sell pop-up or pop-under advertisements on your domain.
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