Domain Registrar Buying Guide

The process of selecting a domain registrar can be quite complicated. There are a lot of things to consider, and, unfortunately, many registrars complicate matters by making it difficult to find information and some even engage in deceptive tactics. We have done our best to provide a list of things to consider when you are choosing which registrar to give your business. These items are in no particular order, and some may not apply to your situation. Please let us know if you can think of topics we have not covered.

1. Make sure you understand the actual cost of key services
   Unfortunately, many registrars make this seemingly simple question very hard to answer. Many have hidden fees, advertise one price only to actually charge something much higher, require purchasing other services you do not need to qualify for a price and much more. It is very important that you determine the real price you will pay before completing a transaction. Ask the registrar, or get all of the way to the final step in the transaction process before committing to determine the actual sales price of a domain.
   
   You should also find out upfront the cost to renew the domain when it expires. Some registrars charge many multiples of the registration cost, or their advertised price. It can be a pain to transfer domains so many people find themselves locked into outrageous renewal prices to avoid the hassle of changing registrars. Nearly all registrars will raise their prices over time as the wholesale rates they pay to the registries and ICANN increase, but the renewal fees they charge you should not be much higher than what their increase is. Most people register domains with the intent of having them for a long time so also consider registering for multiple years to lock in current pricing.
   
   We have tried our best to provide a total cost of ownership for each registrar using what we call "price index". This is the sum of the cost of registration, transfer, renewal and WHOIS privacy. While not perfect, it is a good indicator of the pricing competiveness of each registrar. Most people do not like having domains at lots of different registrars so understanding the cost for all key transactions is important to consider.



2. Understand what other fees may be incurred
   Many people find out once it's too late that their registrar charges considerable fees following an initial registration. Ask any registrar you are considering using if they charge for any of the following:
   • Transferring to a different registrar
   • Change of ownership
   • VAT
   • ICANN fees
   • Transaction fees



3. Service offerings
   Determining which services to use your registrar for is a very important topic for consideration. Many registrars offer a gamut of related services such as hosting, site building, search engine optimization, SSL certificates, DNS, email addresses, etc. There is no right or wrong answer for everybody regarding which, if any, of these services to use your registrar for, but here are a few things to consider:
   
   It is convenient to have many different services from the same provider, so bundling services with a registrar may be a good idea for some people. However, in many cases, separating responsibilities can have its advantages. The biggest reason is that the more eggs you have in one basket, the harder it is to leave that basket. More specifically, if you have critical services with your registrar, transferring to a different registrar can be cumbersome and put your online ventures at risk of downtime. Many registrars will attempt to get you to sign on for various services as a way to qualify for the lowest domain pricing, but once you begin using those services, it is very hard to leave. A good recommendation is therefore to only use supplementary services from registrars that can be continued if you choose to transfer your domain to a different registrar. There are almost invariably other options for each key domain-related service offered by registrars which do not require having your domain locked into any particular service provider. While it is not as convenient, the additional flexibility of not relying upon your domain registrar for key services is worth its weight in gold should you ever decide to change registrars.



4. Customer support
   Many registrars operate with slim margins in order to be competitive. Unfortunately, many times their customer support suffers as a result. It is a good idea to check to see what options your registrar offers for support. Here are a few good things to consider, especially if you have critical services such as hosting through your registrar:
   • What are their hours of operation?
   • Do they have a telephone number?
   • Do they offer online chat?
   • What is the experience of others as reported on third-party blogs, message boards, etc.?
   • What forms of payment do they accept, and what is their return policy?



5. Determine your technical proficiency
   Some registrars are better equipped to deal with customers who are slightly more clueless from a technical standpoint. Likewise, some registrars offer a better experience to customers who know what they are doing and what they want. While we all like to think that we are technically proficient when it comes to this stuff, it is best to just be honest with yourself since you will be happier in the long-run if you make the right choice from the beginning. Here are some simple yes/no questions to help you figure out where you belong:
   • Have you ever created a DNS record before?
   • Have you ever dealt with a hosting company before?
   • Are you comfortable configuring software to integrate with 3rd party services, such as an email client (i.e. MS Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc.)?
   • Are you aware of what WHOIS is and its privacy concerns?
   • Do you handle web development tasks?
   If you answered yes to most of the questions above, you are on the more technically proficient end of the registrar customers spectrum. Likewise, if you answered no to most of the questions above, you are less technically proficient than some other users (nothing wrong with that though - we all have our areas of expertise). Now that you know more about where you belong, lets look at some things to consider that affect your specific genre of customer:
   
   More technically proficient customers:
   • Does the registrar offer a domain management interface that allows you to easily manage lots of domains and perform operations to multiple domains at once?
   • If you manage domains for some of your customers, does it allow you to create sub-accounts for different customers to allow them to maintain basic upkeep over things like their contact details, etc?
   • What sort of security does the registrar offer? Since many times your domains (and the sites they are associated with) are very valuable to you, does the registrar offer security measures beyond simplistic password logins?
   • If you use the registrar for DNS (which can be a bad idea), how robust is the DNS infrastructure? Do they use Anycast routing or at least have their DNS servers in different data centers?
   • Does the registrar offer an API that allows you to programmatically control your domains to do things like manage DNS records, update contact details, change name servers, etc.?
   • Does the registrar disable your domains when they receive unsubstantiated abuse complaints, or do they contact you first and work with you to get to the bottom of any supposed abuse issues before pulling the plug?
   • If you deal frequently with inbound domain transfers (transfers coming into your account), how robust/flexible is their transfer management interface? Can you easily determine where each transfer stands and what, if anything, needs to be done to get the transfer to complete?
   • If you need support, how easy is it to get to someone who actually knows what they are doing? When we say "knows what they are doing" here, we mean just that - not someone who is just reading prepared verbiage from the customer troubleshooting CRM tool. Do their techs know how DNS works for example? Are they able to troubleshoot real issues or are you stuck waiting for tier 2 support every time you actually need something?
   • If you have a large domain portfolio and possibly even sell domains from your portfolio, does the registrar allow expedited outgoing transfers (so you can move domains quickly) or do they make all outgoing transfers take the standard 5-6 days?
   • Do they charge extra for any of the above or does it come standard?
   Less technically proficient customers:
   • Does the registrar offer all (or most of) the services you need under one roof? While this is not a requirement, it can often make things easier for people who are not familiar with everything. However, there is a reason that the old mantra reads "jack of all trades... master of none" - if there is a really great hosting provider out there that fits your needs perfectly, you should use them instead of your registrar's hosting solution even though it isn't all under the same roof. There is actually a whole world out there of service providers offering all sort of solutions tied to your domain in a competitive marketplace - take Google apps for example, they actually offer good free email hosting for your domain assuming you have less than 10 users. The only thing standing in the way of you utilizing this marketplace to your advantage is a few DNS records.
   • Can you get someone on the phone quickly if you accidentally tweak a setting that brings your email and web site down?
   • While more technically proficient users generally don't like annoying upsells constantly being thrown at them while logged into their registrar, they aren't all that bad of an idea for less technically proficient users. A nicer way of putting this is does the registrar make you aware of additional services like WHOIS privacy which may benefit you?
   • How user friendly is the registrar's interface? Is it visually cluttered and confusing or did they take the time to make things intuitive? Do you feel like you can get around it comfortably?
   • How good is their support documentation? While some of us like to call someone every time there needs to be a change, others just prefer a help button to be on every page (no waiting on hold with a help button that pulls up the right documentation for the task at hand).
   • In the event you do have to go in and make DNS changes, how easy do they make it to integrate with common 3rd parties (like Google apps for example)? Are their additional instructions to help guide you?
   • Are they a real registrar or just a reseller? Dealing through a reseller brings some additional risks; for example, resellers don't have to make substantial investments to get into the game of selling domains and therefore, they tend to come and go with more frequency. You want someone who will stick around - especially if you are using them for more than just domain registration. This is a bit less of an issue for technically proficient users since many tend to run their own DNS and have hosting elsewhere - so switching over to a different registrar is easier for them.
   • Are they nickel and diming you? Many domain registrars have a tendency to advertise a low price and then when you actually get through checkout, right before submitting payment on the review your order page, the price is now higher somehow - either that or they just give you good pricing for the first year and then everything doubles once you are locked in. Make sure you are dealing with a registrar that is not misleading you to try an get as much money as possible - if they do it in the beginning, it is usually a safe bet they will continue to do so.