Domain Registration Worries - 1st Quarter 2008

The cobbler’s kid has new sneakers. The landscaper’s yard has new flowers. A fresh new coat of paint anoints the painter’s house. AND…Clearbuilt has a new website!!

While we are not done with the vision we have for the site, at least it is improving. Check it out and let us know what you think. www.clearbuilt.com

I’m often shocked at the lengths people and their companies will go to make money. Network Solutions was caught earlier this quarter taking advantage of the trust users place in them. They were basically trapping customers into registering domains through them.

Below is a brief explanation of what they were doing. We’ve provided links for further reading if you are interested in the nitty gritty details. However, we’ve kept this article short in hopes that you will read it and understand why dealing with domains is getting more difficult.

Domain Worries Away

The following is a very real scenario.

• You start a new company called “Domain Worries Away”
• You want www.domainworriesaway.com for the website address
• You go to www.networksolutions.com to check if the domain is available
• You do a search and find that it is available
• Network Solutions wants $34.95/year to register it
• You find out you can get it for $8.95/year elsewhere
• You go to the cheap company and find out that the domain is no longer available
• Network Solutions “reserved” it (registered it to themselves) right after you did the search!
• Now you HAVE to register it through Network Solutions at the higher rate!

There’s more…they claim, with a straight face, that it was for YOUR protection. Huh?

My tweenager comes up with equally baffling excuses when he is caught doing something he is not supposed to be doing. I just wish I could take away Wii privileges for Network Solutions.

Companies that sell domains, like Network Solutions, are called registrars. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) regulates registrars[1]. ICANN requires registrars to allow a customer to cancel a domain registration within 5 days if they change their mind or made a mistake. So in the above scenario, Network Solutions would actually only hold the domain for 4 days and turn it back in if you didn’t register it. But if you don’t register it, and the “reservation” expires, domain stalkers will often re-register it to themselves within moments of it expiring (they watch for expiring domains). If the domain is good, it’s lost to you unless you are willing to pay what amounts to a ransom.

The 5 day waiting period was the enabler for this issue and has lead to other troubling actions (for example: domain tasting and domain kiting). Luckily, we do not have to wait for ICANN to fix that policy. The uproar from customers forced Network Solutions to find other ways to “protect” us. That hasn’t stopped the lawsuits though (see this press release).

I do understand their motivation. The registrars have to pay for the domains as well. The .com domains, for example, cost the registrars $6.25 and competition is very high. Some registrars advertise domains to the public at $6.95. Operating costs quickly make that a losing transaction. The only way they can stay in business is to sell you other services, that often you don’t even need. We at Clearbuilt have grown so tired of the high pressure sales tactics that we have always bought our domains through a reputable registrar, even though the cost is significantly higher.

Conclusion

My tweenager will take one square of toilet paper and ever-so-gently glide it across the bathroom counter, call it clean, then expect his allowance. I have to put up with excuses, clean up the additional mess (the one square of toilet paper that didn’t make the trash can for instance), and try to find a way to not let it happen again. This is not unlike the painful process Clearbuilt goes through in cleaning up the mess other registrars make when trying to register or block domain transfers away from their service. Fortunately for you and your domains, there’s a simple solution. Let us handle all your domain needs from the start and you can wash your domain worries away (.com).

For further reading:

• BEWARE: Don’t Search For Names At NetworkSolutions.com
• Domain Registrar Network Solutions Front Running On Whois Searches
• Network Solutions Responds to Front Running Allegations Part II
• NSI May Be Legally Liable For Alleged Front Running

[1] ICANN controls what is known as generic top level domains (such as .com, .net, and .org). ICANN does not control the country code top level domains (such as .us, .fr, and .mx).

Filed by nb on March 26th, 2008 under ClearPoint