Some asshat that works at GoDaddy got caught shilling on their domain auctions. This is the kind of crap that gets you kicked out of eBay if you try to pull it off. What the miscreant was doing was bidding on their auctions to raise prices artificially.
And that's not the only complaint. Almost everyone I know has had at one time a domain taken hostage by GoDaddy. For example, they'll keep you from transferring the domain out of GoDaddy. Or they will advertise their prices without some of the mandatory fees, to make it seem lower than their competition. In some cases they will tell you the domain is free if you buy some other service, but then it is almost impossible to transfer out.
Network Solutions was notorious because it was extremely hard to recover login information to manage a domain. I remember a few times when my employer would have to send a stupid fax just to prove that he owned the domain, which was stupid, there was no way that they could prove that the fax was legitimate.
To that add the Domain Registry of America, they harvest addresses off WHOIS, then send you a letter that looks like it is your domain renewal bill, when in reality they are asking you to transfer your domain to their registry.
If you only have one or two domains, you probably couldn't give a shit. But what happens when you are the designated geek that has to maintain custody of dozens, sometimes hundreds of domains? Do you really have time to deal with even two hosed domain names at the same time, and with a registrar that is not exactly cooperative?
Maybe it is time to you to become your own registrar. I have been my own registrar for the past four years, and I couldn't be happier.
How to become your own registrar
1. Find a registrar that is accredited by ICANN and has a reseller service.
2. Setup your front end, which should take you no more than an hour or so.
3. Buy one or two domain names from yourself, so you are familiar with how the process works.
4. Make sure that you have either a Pay Pal account setup for business, or a credit card merchant account. Again, email me if you need to know how I deal with credit cards outside of Pay Pal. For my personal needs, Pay Pal has been more convenient, most of the time my credit card merchant account sits idle.
5. Setup your prices, and don't be greedy. What you want here is to make about $1 over whatever it costs for the domain wholesale, plus any Pay Pal fees. If it costs you $8, sell your domains for $9, not $15.
6. Show your friends that you are now running your own micro registrar company, show them the WHOIS for your two test domains to prove that it isn't a scam.
7. Every time somebody bitches about getting raped by Network Solutions or GoDaddy, tell them that you have your own micro registrar and that you can beat their prices.
With a little bit of common sense, these domains will sell themselves. All it takes is for you to give a decent deal to a few people that have been mistreated by other registrars. You will be surprised of how many people that you know have more than two or three domain names that you just don't hear about.
The next time your boss throws a fit at having to renew a dozen Network Solutions domains in one shot, show him your price list. He'll probably move a couple to you even if out of curiosity. My first big customer was the owner of my previous company. He still renews his domains with me because not only am I much cheaper, but I have never screwed him or had any delay dealing with technical issues.
A friend of mine, a literary agent, decided to get domain names and vanity web pages for his top 15 writers. That's over 30 domain names from just two people.
Next thing you know, word of mouth will take care of it. Friends of friends will come out of the woodwork asking for your services. Since it is going to be small enough, it does not take a lot of effort to manage it, yet it pays itself no matter your volume of business.
Another thing, every now and then your wholesaler will throw in a discount for a few weeks. What you want to do here is try to use that as a hook for more business down the road, so lower your prices accordingly. My wholesaler has slashed the .info domain registrations so much that I can sell them for $2.99 and still make a buck on each domain. Those domains renew a year from now at their regular price, and most people will either pay for them or let them expire, most people won't transfer a domain if they can help it.
If you would like to know about my domains wholesaler just send me an email and I'll gladly show you their site. Their system allows you to resell both domains and web hosting.
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