Domain Registrars. Does it really matter?

[Kelemvor]

Well,

I have a domain coming up for renewal and am looking around at prices.
Currently with Namecheap and it's like $9 to renew. Godaddy is $7 if I transfer over there. I've seen others for less but don't know if it really makes any difference.

I used to be with Godaddy but changed to namecheap because it was cheap when I transferred over. I guess I can just keep transferring every year to save a few bucks...

 

[Kelemvor]

Anyone have any input?

 

[Mike Gayner]

Change for the sake of $2/year? Why?

 

[Kelemvor]

Why not? That's a McGangBang.

 

[lxskllr]

That's not worth the effort of doing more than clicking the big red RENEW button. My time's worth more than a couple bucks for transferring accounts around.

 

[wiredspider]

Not really worth the effort for $2, if you do it for 10 years at a time, maybe.

 

[Kelemvor]

Well my time isn't worth much at all so it doesn't bother me...

So back to the original question, does it really make any difference who you have a domain registered with?

 

[wiredspider]

Not really, just avoid the skeevy ones that don't let you transfer or make you jump through hoops to do so.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Domains in general are cheap, so I just go with what is easier to manage. Unless it's network solutions, then they'll rape you up the ass, and they'll never let you transfer away from them. I don't even get how they are ICANN accredited since they have VERY bad business measures... but that's another story.

I used to be with it's your domain and they had a nice control panel. They got bought out by tucows and they RUINED the control panel. It was impossible to bulk manage domains, it looked like some kind of kid made school project. It was brutal. So I switched to domainit. For a couple bucks extra per year I find a good control panel is worth the cost.

So bottom line is, the main factors to look at is how easy it is to manage, and what their business practices are. Also it's nice to get ones that send a notice when a domain expires. I always keep my production domains around 5 years renewed, but it's still nice to know you'll get a notice if one slips through the cracks.

Godaddy has a horrible control panel, I would not go with them just for that. Sure they may be cheap, but you're only saving a few bucks per year when you think about it.

 

[Sasiki]

I just use the defacto standard, godaddy. It's too much trouble to change to save 2 bucks though. I went with GoDaddy because I was able to register a .info name for 99 cents.