networkn:

 

1stdomains are also exceptionally good.

 

Agree. I use them for past 5 years

I've had the same phone call from them too a couple of months ago. I was equally disgusted, and thought about making a thread here about it.

What was particularly bad was they offered the initial service at no charge (six months free), which I accepted, but then tried to charge me for the subsequent registration too. Classic sales technique.

The whole thing was a reminder about how awful they (Melbourne IT) were to deal with when our domain changed ownership, and how I am transferring away to a decent registrar before I have to do anything with the domain ever again.

Turn on my cell today thats listed as the domain contact (its been off for a number of weeks)

And whats the first call I get 4hrs later.. you guessed it. Defo a hard sale

 I had two calls from domains4less with the same thing!

Soooo. Are they allowed to only reach out by phone vs the registered email of said domain register?

Had another call attempt to salespitch me.

I'm due for my .co.nz at the end of the month, would I be better to shift elsewhere from the big 10? I realise I could still get hit up by cold calls for the other variants to be sold due to the details being public but when you don't have a 'brand' to protect its more an annoyance.

/edit

D4L pricing is sharper than the squat price in that case?

Finally answered the call to see how it went.

They appear to have 'secured' the .kiwis until Nov, where we can obtain it for free and then subscribe year or let it go. Has anyone else bothered to secure their domain alternates when its more for an email address holder and not a lot else? I imagine the same as not having the .com and so on

Its not like I'm a major corp or anything that can be badmouthed. So does anyone actually bother to load up their TLDs?

networkn:

 

1stdomains are also exceptionally good.

 

I just want to give thanks for this recommendation; I've just moved a domain across and it all went perfectly. I'd also looked at Metaname but was put off by the almost total lack of information on their site.

Behodar:

 

 

 

I just want to give thanks for this recommendation; I've just moved a domain across and it all went perfectly. I'd also looked at Metaname but was put off by the almost total lack of information on their site.

Total lack of information? What were you needing?

They're designed to be a no-bull domain provider with all the features. Pricing is there, a general rundown of features is there. They've got 2FA and many other features baked into their custom control panel too.

I wanted to transfer my existing domain. There are only two mentions of transfers; one on the homepage stating that it's easy and free (with a "†" symbol that doesn't seem to correspond to anything), and a note on the Pricing page that there is no charge.

I could not find any information about what was involved with transferring a domain. There's a prominent form for registering a new domain but no obvious form for initiating a transfer. I also couldn't see anything about what details I needed (1st Domains immediately told me that I needed an EPP Code, which itself ended up being a bit of a mission to get, but that's unrelated to choice of new registrar).

It's probably fine for people that do this a lot, but as a relative newbie I simply found 1st Domains more "welcoming" as I felt like I knew what was happening all the way down the line.

@Behodar Good point. You need to register an account to get this:

But the process is incredibly easy once you start it.

Ahhh yes, all those .kiwi domains that everyone is always visiting *cough*

Let's check Google.

.kiwi = About 123,000 results

.co.nz = About 107,000,000 results

I know which base level domain I'd be worried about being in.

I see a few people in here recommending metaname, but they seem quite expensive to me (145% the price of domains4less).. what's so compelling about them?

Lias:
I see a few people in here recommending metaname, but they seem quite expensive to me (145% the price of domains4less).. what's so compelling about them?

Been discussed many times in the past but here are the few (top) reasons for me:

1) It just works.
2) Pricing is yearly - who cares about $10 extra a year? It isn't breaking the bank.
3) Great support - I mean, great. Mauricio asked Metaname to potentially support Cloudflare's DNSSEC algorithm and they came back to him quickly saying it is now supported.
4) No bull lightweight control panel, they don't resell your information, you won't get them buying a domain that should be rightfully yours, no spam emails etc.
5) Easy to use with a great range of security features (including 2FA).
6) Can purchase a domain for any time you want (min a month) making it great for testing.
7) Full API even with a sandbox environment for those geeks out there who want to automate things.

Also something they've done for quite a while now is allowed your account to go into an overdraft to prevent your domains from expiring - just got to pay them back in a week. Handy if you forget about a domain that was about to renew (even though they email you) or had a replacement card you forgot to update.

Also noteworthy they support a bit more than domains4less - for example, IPv6 Glue, almost complete DNSSEC support etc. Also, they're a small Christchurch based company and I am all for supporting the locals.

michaelmurfy:

 

Lias:
I see a few people in here recommending metaname, but they seem quite expensive to me (145% the price of domains4less).. what's so compelling about them?

 

Been discussed many times in the past but here are the few (top) reasons for me:

1) It just works.
2) Pricing is yearly - who cares about $10 extra a year? It isn't breaking the bank.
3) Great support - I mean, great. Mauricio asked Metaname to potentially support Cloudflare's DNSSEC algorithm and they came back to him quickly saying it is now supported.
4) No bull lightweight control panel, they don't resell your information, you won't get them buying a domain that should be rightfully yours, no spam emails etc.
5) Easy to use with a great range of security features (including 2FA).
6) Can purchase a domain for any time you want (min a month) making it great for testing.
7) Full API even with a sandbox environment for those geeks out there who want to automate things.

 

Also something they've done for quite a while now is allowed your account to go into an overdraft to prevent your domains from expiring - just got to pay them back in a week. Handy if you forget about a domain that was about to renew (even though they email you) or had a replacement card you forgot to update.

 

Also noteworthy they support a bit more than domains4less - for example, IPv6 Glue, almost complete DNSSEC support etc. Also, they're a small Christchurch based company and I am all for supporting the locals.

 

1. I've never had issues with D4L either

2. I'm tight (I'm of Scottish descent, it's genetic :-P )

3. That's really good

4. I'm not a fan of the D4L interface

5. 2FA good

6. Really good

7. Also really good.

Might have to give them a try.

Lias:

 

 

 

1. I've never had issues with D4L either

 

2. I'm tight (I'm of Scottish descent, it's genetic :-P )

 

 

 

Not scottish, but same. (D4L etc)

I'm not too caring for the interface, only visit it once a year to renew. But was asking for similar gauging here due to expiring in a few days.

Of biggest concern, appears to be their nasty sales pitching right now to their call centre. Where they've nabbed the .kiwis for our 'convenience of brand protection' 'Ensuring first option', then offered them up for a 'deal' instead of you doing it yourself after ignoring the original release special emails (I linked earlier in thread). 

The only worry now, is what do they do with it that we have said not interested, let it release. Does it get let go or into a preference 'great idea' sales pool suggestion to someone overseas to sit on and try squat/ransom us...