Hello everyone,

Over the years I have used several registrars Like GoDaddy.com, Name.com, Internet.bs, DomainMonster.com, NameCheap.com, Hexonet.net and I would like to share my reviews and personal experience with you.

My first registrar was GoDaddy.com when my father introduced me about domain names. He created an account for me and the year was 2004. For next couple of years I bought few domains but never knew about coupon codes. Eventually I came to know through Namepros while surfing and reading more about domain names. I found GoDaddy Discount Codes with lot of coupon codes people offering for free. To date I can confirm I have saved thousands of dollars. Their interface was quite slow to react but this year I find it easy to navigate and the page opens quickly compare to some previous years. Their phone support is great but mostly the email support team’s response is filled with canned template messages. You need to be aggressive in your next email to get proper and better response 😉

The only thing I got dissatisfied with GoDaddy since I have joined them was the 60 days lock period for the newly domain transferred at GoDaddy.com. For more information you can read an article I wrote some time back. After I posted this my dear friend Jason Thompson wrote and article which is very helpful for those who are still unaware of getting rid of 60 days lock period which can be unlocked within a day! I came to knew and have bookmarked this article of Jason. Although I got one deal cancelled and lesson learned.

Transferring out of GoDaddy is quickly done if it’s not locked under 60 days lock period. You don’t need to wait for the next 5 days to complete outgoing transfer. Simply quick push the domain and it will be transferred away in minutes! I like it because sometimes the buyer needs the domain at their preferred registrar so if the transfer is done swiftly you can get the money much faster.

I would recommend them and rate them my best registrar I have ever used in past many years.

Name.com

I started using Name.com mainly for registering .IM domain names. They were having special offers ongoing for new .IM domains. I bought several through them but in coming years the price was increased and I had to move out of there to a better place which can offer lower price. I also used Name.com for backordering .CC and .CO domains. Although they were not able to catch any good domain for me. However, I like their backordering system of taking one backorder per person and no auctioning between two or more parties.

The only thing I didn’t like about their backordering system was they charged the backordering fee in advance. So let’s say you wanted to backorder 10 .cc domains you are required to pay $49.95 x 10 = $499.5 – This is not a small amount. The best thing is to enter your CC details with them for backordering domain and they can charge once the domain is successfully grabbed by Name.com.

I have moved away all my domains from Name.com to GoDaddy so currently don’t have any domains with them. Also I am currently not using their backordering service because my focus from the beginning of this year is solely on .com/.net/.org domains and Name.com isn’t good at all for grabbing these. They are good at catching .cc, .tv, .co domains. Possibly fewer more ccTLDs but I am not aware of that yet.

You can easily get the authorization code when you need to transfer out your domains. It’s hassle free.

Internet.bs

I was trying to recall why I started using them. If I remember correctly I first transferred my domains to Internet.bs because they were having offer on .com/.net domains. Their renewals were a bit higher than GoDaddy but transfer fee was quite low compare to GoDaddy (my preferred registrar). I moved several .com/.net domains to them for a year.

I was using a different email address with them so all the notification would come there. Unfortunately when the time came for renewal they usually sent me reminders but my bad luck I wasn’t actively checking the mailbox regularly and somehow lost ALL my domains which I transferred to them one year back. Some of those domains were important ones which I could have easily hold for some years just to find the right end-users. Right now all those domains which were dropped (by mistake) are already grabbed by different people.

One of the nice things I like about them was live chat. Whenever I needed any assistance which I required several times when I newly joined them and I got them online all the time. I am not sure if their chat service is for 24 hours or not but I always found them online and actively helped me all the time. Easy to get authorization code for transferring out your domains. Never had any issues with them at any stage.

Not a bad registrar at all if the price are good enough. Although their prices are good but I am talking from domainers perspective.

DomainMonster.com

While searching on Google I found new registrar offering backordering service for .cc domains. Until I registered with DomainMonster I wasn’t knowing any service who was catching .cc domains and I was actually very happy using their backordering service. I went ahead and backordered hundreds of .cc domains. I like their system because while creating an account with them you must enter cc detail and later you may add unlimited number of domains under your backordering list. You could even send them huge list and they will add manually. They have actually done for me. Thanks to them.

So once they are successful in catching your domain they would charge your card. Before their backordering fee for .cc domain was $19.99 + domain reigistration fee. The time I use to add backorders it went so high up to $49.99 for single .cc successful backorder. I was still happy because they caught some decent .cc domains like Asia.cc, 4U.cc.

Later when .CO was launched I asked them to start .CO backordering service and they started before the first anniversary of .CO domains. I compiled a big list of .CO domains and sent them to add under my account. They were successful in catching some .CO domains for me. I am sure I was the first one to add all those .CO domain backorders because whatever name I gave was added. I am sure because it was on first come first serve basis and no one knew about .CO backordering service. Later Name.com and many other opened this service and it was tough competition for DomainMonster to grab lately…

Overall, it was great experience with them backordering domains with them and eventually I had to stop because I shifted my focus towards .com/.net/.org domains only. Currently I have around 30 .IM domains all registered through DomainMonster because I find they are the offering .IM domains at best possible rates which no one is offering right now.

Their support was great in the past and we used to get response very quickly but these days it take some time. May be their customer numbers have gone high but they should maintain what they used to be.

One thing I just dislike is their control panel. You have no option to bulk edit your domains. In my opinion there are few other things which they must address and improve them under user’s control panel. Although I have asked them to offer bulk edit option for domains I think more than a couple of years back and their response was quick and seemed positive but no changes yet!

NameCheap.com

I was reading about them from long time but there has to be something which can force me create an account with any new registrar. I think three years back NameCheap came up with $1 .com/.net domain transfer offer up to 10 domains can be transferred in one account. I was surprised to see this offer and immediately created an account.

I first contacted them through live chat and asked if I can transfer 30 domains to NameCheap by creating another 2 accounts. They gave me green signal and that made me happy. I went ahead and transferred 30 domains into 3 accounts for roughly $30. When the renewal time came I started transferring out back to GoDaddy from where I earlier transferred to NameCheap. There came the trouble….

When I started unlocking the names and tried to get authorization code, it didn’t work at GoDaddy and failed for most of the domains. I was able to transfer only few but rest stayed there. I immediately contacted them and asked to generate new auth code. They said it will take 1-2 days for you to receive it. I got within a day and transfer process went smoothly with no other issues in between. I didn’t understand why some auth codes didn’t work out previously and later when the new auth code was provided it worked…

Overall, my experience with NameCheap.com was great. I still have my account with them and uses it occasionally.

Hexonet.net

Last but not least. Here comes the Hexonet which I promised myself not to use them ever again. I have written specifically about them in past which you can read here. So there isn’t much about them to share with you. I stand still on my promise even after 3 years for not using them. I just don’t like them. I am sure I can write a lot more about them but that makes me feel very bad and I don’t want to ruin my mood at all 😉

At the end I would like to ask about your experiences with your registrars. Also feel free to comment your views about my experience.