Why should you not look for the cheapest registrar as a domain investor?

Domain investment is all about buying low, and selling high.

So, it makes sense to negotiate the best prices when purchasing a domain for your portfolio. Every penny counts.

And that applies to the renewals as well. The renewal costs quickly start to pile up even for smaller domain portfolios. So, it is essential to choose a domain registrar that helps you keep your expenses low.

But you must be careful while comparing your options and do not opt for the cheapest one possible, just to save a few extra cents.

In this article I will explain why your selection criteria should not be the registration price alone, while choosing your domain registrar as you build your portfolio as a domain investor.

Registration Prices Vs Renewal Prices

It is a widespread practice for the registrars to market their domain registration services at heavy first-year discounts. Throughout the years I have taken benefit of several $0.99 promos for first year registration. Sometimes even cheaper.

But if they are selling domain registration below the wholesale prices, they are selling it at a loss.

The registrars which offer such deep discounts are often the ones which have high markups on renewal prices. So that they recoup the loss incurred in the first year in just one or two renewals.

So as a long-term strategy you need to analyze the renewal prices of your registrar along with the registration prices so that you save money not just the first year, but in the coming several years as well.

Customer Support & Ease of Transfer-Out

Even though domain registration is a fully automated process, sometimes things go wrong.

And a lot of the domain registrars’ support teams are simply not equipped enough to understand the needs of domain investors. Some registrars are even notorious for deliberately creating friction while renewing in the grace period, and in the transfer out process.

A good registrar would provide prompt support irrespective of whether you are transferring-in a domain or transferring-out. My favorite type of registrars is the one that provides a way to escalate, and instantly complete domain transfer yourself rather than waiting for 5 days or calling support.

Bulk Domain Features

Not all registrars are targeted towards domain investors as their customers. They may be good enough for bloggers and business owners with a couple of domains in their account along with other add on services like hosting, SSL and emails. One such example is Cloudflare.

But as a domain investor you have to often make bulk changes to the whole portfolio, like changing the landing pages, updating contact information, or verifying ownership with TXT records.

Many-a-times you need to have sub-portfolios inside your portfolio and want to make changes only to one of your sub-portfolios in your account.

Good registrars make it possible to have all your domains inside a single account and still manage them easily using folder/labels. They provide you domain focused dashboard which allows you to make mass changes like bulk register, bulk renew, bulk transfer, and bulk edit.

Afternic and Sedo Network & Fast Transfer

This is the most important feature I always look for in a registrar as a domain investor.

It should be a part of Afternic DLS Network, preferably with a fast transfer support, as most of my inbound sales come from Afternic network.

It would be even better if that registrar is also a part of SEDO MLS Network, preferably with a fast transfer support. Though SEDO does not make as many sales as Afternic, it is still significant enough.

Takeaways:

Whether you have a domain portfolio or are you planning to create a new one, choice of the domain registrar matters a lot.

My favorite registrars are Dynadot, followed by Sav, and NameSilo.

All these registrars are focused on domain investors. They have very competitive renewal prices, excellent customer support, expedited transfer-out, bulk editing features, and portfolio management.

These registrars also have support for both Afternic and SEDO network fast transfer.

I avoid some other popular registrars like Namecheap, GoDaddy, Network solutions etc. because of their high renewal prices.

I also avoid resellers and web hosting companies who double as a domain registrar.

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19 Comments
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DimeScout
10 months ago

I prefer Dynadot these days too..

AbdulBasit Makrani
Reply to  DimeScout
10 months ago

Thanks for sharing your experience.

MapleDots
10 months ago

The whole fast transfer thing makes me nervous as hell for my more valuable domains. I go out of my way to make sure the register I keep those domains at does NOT have afternic fast transfer.

AbdulBasit Makrani
Reply to  MapleDots
10 months ago

I agree with you. The best thing you can do is to still add those domains in your Afternic account with your unique nameserver provided by them and make them hidden status. This way, I believe no one is able to add those domains in their account and try selling it.

The above idea works for those domains you’re not willing to sell it.

Last edited 10 months ago by AbdulBasit Makrani
BullS
10 months ago

Go ahead and pay the high renewal rates if you want,it is your money
I have reg many domains at 99cent and then transfer out after 6 mths
Easy peay
Spaceship is the best one so far. Sav namecheap

BullS
Reply to  Shailendra Mishra
10 months ago

Namecheap should change the name to spaceship

Mindaugas
Reply to  BullS
8 months ago

Transferring domains to other registrar has 1 problem – 90 day lock. Had issue with 1 domain, when transferred to other registrar in order to save, and then sold it at Afternic. Had to wait ~ 2 months in order to complete the deal 🙂

Shantex
Shantex
10 months ago

Nice article, without a doubt Dynadot is one of the best around, and Network solutions the worst I have encountered.

AbdulBasit Makrani
Reply to  Shantex
10 months ago

Thanks for sharing your experience.
I totally agree with you on both the best and the worst registrars.

MapleDots
Reply to  Shantex
10 months ago

https://dn.ca/topic/stay-away-from-network-solutions.475

I wrote the article above about my netsol experience. Anyone that uses them is in for a few surprises, especially if they want to transfer out.

AbdulBasit Makrani
Reply to  MapleDots
10 months ago

What’s the escape for not using NS if someone win any auction at SnapNames/NameJet and they forcefully transfer it to crappy NS?

MapleDots
Reply to  AbdulBasit Makrani
10 months ago

None, hence my issue with SnapNames/NameJet. It’s such a crap experience transferring out of Netsol. I breath a big sigh of relief everytime I’m successful at tranferring out.

AbdulBasit Makrani
Reply to  MapleDots
10 months ago

Yes it is a big relief after every transfer out from NS. SN/NJ are purposely transferring our domains to the most crappy registrars from where even getting the auth code is very difficult, let alone transferring out the domain.

Sometimes NS provides with the wrong auth code and that also after 3 days! Then we’ve to contact their support to generate a new one. It’s a nightmare to deal with them.

Last edited 10 months ago by AbdulBasit Makrani
Aman Tibrewal
Aman Tibrewal
10 months ago

Excited to see that you changed your thoughts about Sav!

Matt morgan
Matt morgan
10 months ago

Hello Abdul. How are you doing? I hope you and your family are well.

For now I’m just dropping a quick message to say:

Happy New Year 2024 – Matt Morgan

All the best with your 2024 Domain sales.

Matt Morgan

Bhanu
Bhanu
9 months ago

Spaceship is offering at prices cheaper than Dynadot especially if you take the renewals into Consideration , they might support Afternic FT & Sedo Mls in the Future since they are a Namecheap sub company . Its becoming Pretty Popular , second most used among Domain Investors.

Mindaugas
8 months ago

I do these things, when selecting where to keep the domains.

  1. Checking, if Registrar is ICANN accredited
  2. Sedo network – supported or not
  3. Afternic Fast transfer – supported or not
  4. Price
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