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I've been a domain name investor for over a decade now, and it's time to share my findings of having hundreds of domains with various registrars over the years. In this quick opinion piece, I'll share my experiences with the following Registrars: Epik, Godaddy, Dynadot, Uniregistry, Namecheap, Namebright, Name.com, and Network Solutions. If you don't have time to read on, here's the conclusion.  Best Registrar for 2021: Epik Epik Support: 5/5 Epik Product: 4/5 Epik Usable Features: 5/5 Epik Pricing: 4/5 Worst Registrar for 2021: Godaddy Godaddy Support: 1/5 Godaddy Product: 1/5 Godaddy Usable Features: 2/5 Godaddy Pricing: 2/5 More Opinions on Epik Epik is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as the best registrar to use for 2021 because of a few reasons: -DNS works fast, and is easy to navigate. -Tons of extra products, including Name Liquidate which helps you liquidate your domains that you don't plan to renew, easy to sell them under $100, on what would normally just expire and not earn you anything. -Constantly adding on new features that are useful today. Not trying to upsell products that can be found elsewhere for free--like free Whois Privacy, a legitimate security concern that other companies upcharge for. -They don't charge you an $80 redemption fee like other registrars if you change your mind on one of your expiring domains. They'll just make you buy 2 years instead of one, at their great prices. After all, you should be reviewing your expiring domains at the beginning of each month at the minimum. Here's what the domain manager looks like. It is easy to manage domains individually or in bulk. I have no complaints, and most importantly the DNS settings are updated. This is different than with Godaddy, it just says 'updates in progress and half the time, they are never updated, nor send you any email updates. Epik sends you email updates when your nameservers are updated, or when a domain profile (preset DNS settings) are updated, which happens close to instantly. In fact, I got a few words from the CEO when asking them about exciting plans for next year: "Epik is unwavering in its commitment to empower domain investors of all sizes. We combine competitive pricing with 24/7 support, while investing in programs that make the pie bigger for everyone. In 2020, Epik was named Registrar of the Year. We brought big innovations to the market including world class domain escrow, NameLiquidate.com, DNProtect.com and an upgrade to Masterbucks.com. In 2021, I believe the stage has been set for Epik to become the integrated platform of choice that brings unprecedented liquidity progress for domain investors, especially for premium domains." -Rob Monster Epik Support: 5/5 Epik Product: 4/5 Epik Usable Features: 5/5 Epik Pricing: 4/5 Screenshot from Epik's domain manager:  More Opinions on Godaddy Godaddy is NOT RECOMMENDED for domain investors. There's many problems that cost significant time and money owning many domains with Godaddy. Not to mention the hours and hours on hold - some of the worst and most frustrating time you can possibly spend as a CEO. -Domain Manager does not work. -Bugs with locking/unlocking domains. -Bugs with 'Ownership Protection' which essentially is Godaddy Protection, preventing you from transferring your own domain out. -Bugs with 'changes in progress' when updating DNS settings in bulk. They're not in progress. Even if you wait a week. From the times of websites taking weeks to launch, domains taking months of support to transfer out, and every time I check out saying no to privacy protection, which is free from almost all other registrars, we're done Godaddy. Go invest in your product, and give your support more solutions to the problems we have. I literally messaged the CEO on LinkedIn last time I had an problem after it was unresolved for months. Calling in for support takes over 15 minutes before you start waiting on hold. I entered my PIN exactly as I see it in my account, and it's not accepted. Godaddy needs to fix: -Broken phone system -Broken domain manager -Broken customer support process I hope they can improve, for the sake of the industry. Our relationship was expensive for me since we not only invest in domains, but we also own over 100 income generating websites, and when I can't manage the DNS, it cost me money daily. Sometimes, an upsetting amount. And, that's without mentioning the whole story of having to buy handshaking.com from Godaddy, after they saw that I purchased handshakin.com years before that. From Public corporation to domain name investor, it was a nightmare, and it's probably even worse for those trying to acquire domains who are not in the industry. That's coming from someone who understands how valuable domains are. It was hard for me to justify even 2/5 for their pricing, as their 'domain discount club' is not always a good deal and they're not fully transparent about that. And, if you need to buy a domain that they own (they own domains that they want to sell to you for a profit, so careful what you search for), they're even less communicative and not transparent at all. So I almost gave them a 1/5, but when done right with a high quantity of domains, the domain discount club truly does have some savings, but it comes at the cost of not being able to quickly manage your domains due to a broken domain manager product. With GoDaddy being a leader in the industry, I'd urge them to reach out to me when you fix any of these issues so I can update this post, and help our industry feel more comfortable to new people entering the world of domain names. Godaddy Support: 1/5 Godaddy Product: 1/5 Godaddy Usable Features: 2/5 Godaddy Pricing: 2/5 Opinions and Review on Dynadot Dynadot is my second top choice of registrar, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. The UI is a bit better than Epik. Pricing is a smidge higher, but often times worth it, and their auctions definitely keep me there as compared with Epik's Name Liquidate. Dynadot does have a website builder that is pretty friendly, but it's only good for solopreneurs, I was not able to share the site with the team without upgrading to a level higher than we had with Weebly, where we started building our sites (yes, we finally moved to Wordpress this year). An example of our site with Dynadot is Concrete Solutions Georgia. It's a lead generation website that is paid by local contractors who pay for more customers. That's essentially the business model and Handshaking, and Dynadot has been a great partner for us! Lastly, support is amazing, with the CEO and key team members being prompt to respond and just an email away, quite the opposite of GoDaddy. Dynadot Support: 5/5 Dynadot Product: 4/5 Dynadot Usable Features: 3/5 Dynadot Pricing: 4/5 EDIT: I was able to hear back from the CEO Todd Han on their plans for 2021: "In 2021 we will continue refining our free For-Sale landing page and checkout process. Our checkout is translated into 7 languages, accepts 8 currencies and supports 12 payment methods, reducing friction and maximizing sales." -Todd Han, CEO of Dynadot  Opinions and Review on Name.com With Name.com, I last connected with them at NamesCon, a domain name investor conference. With them being based in Denver, just like our HQ, I was anxious to give them a chance, especially when they had a great offer for domain name investors at the conference. I've been pleased with the beautiful product, and although every new registrar means that you'll need to find exactly how their DNS management works, as well as where their specific settings are, I've been really happy with them. Often, registrars don't have great user or team management, which is a big opportunity in the industry in my opinion. However, Name sends emails each time someone logs in, with the location of their IP, which helps me ensure it's only one team member and myself that manage the entire domain portfolio at Name. I do not have much experience with their add-on or usable features, like hosting or products since we are currently transitioning from Weebly to Wordpress + Siteground for what will soon be 400 live websites. We have over 100 of our developed websites with Name.com currently, including a newer one with only a landing page: Visalia Concrete, based in California, all the way to a complete site that is currently climbing the ranks: Saint Paul Concrete Contractors. For their pricing, I'll give them a favorable rating since they offered me a great deal at the conference, but I'm not sure it's automatic if you're a reader who goes to visit their site. They are trying to charge with Privacy, but you can use Honey to immediately remove that extra cost, so I'm not going to ding them for that. Name Support: 4/5 Name Product: 4/5 Name Usable Features: N/A Name Pricing: 4/5  Opinions and Review on Namecheap The reason I found myself with a Namecheap account was after buying an income generating online asset from Empire Flippers. The previous owner had a Namecheap account, which I had heard of so I inherited the domain here. I typically prefer to transfer domains to my primary registrar, but Empire Flippers required that it be a push, which resulted in me creating a Namecheap account. I have no complaints with their system, despite not knowing them as well as Godaddy, Uniregistry, Epik, and Dynadot. It's easy to navigate and has sufficient features (it appears) if you'd like to keep most your domains with them. The transfer process emails were straight forward and easy to search and follow any instructions they had. Easy process. Their pricing was not the cheapest, as I'm getting better prices from at least two other registrars, but sometimes you can negotiate discounts in the industry after owning several hundred names for over a decade. Namecheap Support: 4/5 Namecheap Product: 4/5 Namecheap Usable Features: 3/5 Namecheap Pricing: 3/5  Opinions and Review on Namebright I found Namebright because I purchased a domain name similar to our brand that was marketed by a domain brokerage, Huge Domains. After buying it, they made me create a Namebright account in order to receive the domain. Both companies are owned by investors located in Colorado. Although I'm a fan of the owners, their registrar's design is looking pretty outdated as you can see above. I can't speak to the usable features or pricing, but the support helped me make some DNS changes via email since the product was a bit hard to navigate (see screenshot below). I was not able to transfer my domain out due to a 60 day lock, which is common in the industry, but I was able to use it and own it almost immediately after purchasing it. So I would recommend buying domains from Huge Domains (typically premium domains owned by investors; not unregistered domains, so they will cost you more), but I would not recommend going to Namebright as your primary registrar. EDIT: For pricing I don't much experience, but a trusted partner in the domain name investing industry told me that they have the best in the industry if you prefund your account, and even without that he showed me proof of their great pricing on .com renewals. Which is different than transfers, new registrations, and other TLDs. I'll add a 4/5 since I thought that was impressive! Namebright Support: 4/5 Namebright Product: 2/5 Namebright Usable Features: N/A Namebright Pricing: 4/5  Opinions on Uniregistry Disclosure: These are from when I used Uniregistry in 2017-18, before they were acquired by Godaddy. I would NOT RECOMMEND Uniregistry in 2020 or moving forward because of Godaddy's track record of broken products and support that is not result based. *The reason I stopped using Uniregistry is because after transfering hundreds of domains to them over the period of one year, they reneged on the great pricing they gave me. This mean that after the time and monetary investment of moving hundreds of domains, that the savings over the coming years would disappear and it would cost us even more <Historical> Review: Uniregistry Support: 3/5 Uniregistry Product: 4/5 Uniregistry Usable Features: 2/5 Uniregistry Pricing: 2/5*  Opinions on Network Solutions I had never heard of Network Solutions until I bought an aftermarket domain, and the seller told me I could ONLY receive it at this registrar which always turns me off. I have hundreds of domains and I'd rather just transfer it to my preferred registrar. But okay, fine. I received the domain after negotiations, and didn't really like their interface, and of course smoothly transferred it to my registrar after the normal lock period. A better story I can sharer with you is a friend who is operating on a .co, and wanted to buy the .com. He was sharing his story with me and it was a pretty rough process for him to eventually trying to acquire. He said it best, “We were baffled by the sequence of events, where a domain was listed for sale one day, and upon our interest in purchasing it, remained listed but unavailable for unknown reasons. Finally, it was declared “not for sale” but that we could make a certified offer. The business of domain services seems to be to leverage resources they did very little work to acquire for the greatest profit, by waiting for some optimistic businessperson to overpay for a domain. We decided on the .app domain and decided to use resources to build the business. “ He didn't mention that he paid money to make a 'certified offer,' which I just call BS on. The owners should accept offers, and if they don't want all offers, they should set a minimum offer to weed out the tire-kickers and lowballers. I must give their pricing a one, because even if they are generally competitive as a registrar, they did not even get my friend pricing, even after charging him to make an offer. Review: Network Solutions Support: N/A Network Solutions Product: 2/5 Network Solutions Usable Features: N/A Network Solutions Pricing: 1/5  In Conclusion You can see there's more to the domain investing game than just your registrar of choice. There's domain brokerages that own registrars, there's registrars buying the competitors, and there's plenty more ambiguity, even for seasoned domain investors and even with veteran registrars.
I hope this review is a call to our intimate community of #domainers to just do better. Communicate with people in the industry and also outside of the industry. Be nice, listen, and show respect. Yes, one word .com's get an unbelievable amount of lowball offers due to the public's general ignorance about the shockingly high value of domains that is shown by investors and end users. And yes, online entrepreneurs in charge of these behemoth's need to improve their processes to improve the industry as a whole. I feel sorry for my friend, on behalf of the industry, and I sadly even relate with him, due to my awful experience of acquiring handshaking.com from GoDaddy, who bought it after I registered handshakin.com with their registrar, and then refused to communicate with me unless I made the minimum offer. The one thing we all have in common is that we're all online investors and entrepreneurs, so let's work together to make the 'world wild (wide) web' a place comfortable for new investors and businesses to play fairly and get involved! Well, that's it--I don't have anything to sell you. Just be patient with our industry if you're entering it for the first time. We have lots of room for improvement despite the tremendous amount of wealth we've created as a community. Feel free to contact me with any domain name questions and I'm happy to help or refer you. |
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