digitalFAQ.com Forum - Purchase domain name at Namecheap vs. Godaddy?

I wanted to reply to this question as quickly as possible, to save you from making a grave mistake! :mad4:

Should I use Godaddy? --

When you buy a new domain, you're generally blocked from transferring it to another registrar for 60 days.

So you'll be under the control of a potentially problematic company for several months, minimum. And then there's always the hassles associated with moving away from them, as some make the outbound transfer process a hellish time-consuming nightmare, with Godaddy being the most infamous of all registrars in that regards. Tucows and Network Solutions are the other big well-known problem registrars.

Trusting Godaddy long-term with your domain is pretty much gambling, as they have very anti-consumer policies in regards to everything they do (see also: SOPA). At least 99%+ of their support desk responds by robotic copy/paste from scripts, so you'll go in circles, often being referred to "other departments" that re-refer you elsewhere. It's a loop of stupidity.

Should I buy based on pricing? --

Think about the price of a domain -- and the fact that if you lose it, you usually cannot get it back! :depressed:

Is it worth saving $1, $2, even $5 per year, if you have to deal with an unreliable company? :2cents:

After everything is considered, it's negative economics.

Your best bet is to use a company that has an impeccable reputation as a registrar. Notably DirectNIC or Namecheap. Every domain I own is registered through those two companies, and I've never had anything but excellent and responsive support, for those infrequent times that it was even needed. For the most part, everything works, and in that $8 to $15 annual pricing range.

Buy domains for 10 years? --

The length of time that you can register a domain for varies by TLD (.com, .net, .org, etc). It also varies by registrar, based on what I've seen in the past. Some TLDs even have to be purchased in multi-year lengths of time, not single years at a time. All of the .co.uk domains owned by The Digital FAQ had to be bought for two-year increments.

Those discounts you see for registering a new domain almost always only cover the first year. So if you try to register for 10 years, you'd get the special price for one year worth of time, and full price for the rest.

While you can buy domains for that long, I generally suggest domains not be bought for longer than 5 years at a time.

Conclusion! --

Just buy yourself a domain from Namecheap.com and call it good. Whatever price they're charging, it's a bargain, given their reliability and low pricing. It'll be a low-hassle pleasant experience that you won't get from Godaddy, or whoever else is advertising discounts.

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