domain registration cheats

I don´t know maybe I am being too naive here but it always pisses me off when a new client comes to me for some work and in looking at their site the first thing I find is that the domain was registered (and kept) by the original designer.

I mean they paid their money and trusted a company to provide them with a website ... so what if they were too clueless to state ´Register the domain in my name oh... and by the way, is basic seo included in the package?´ Who in their right mind would pay for a website design if the domain is not their own? It should be standard good practice to register in the clients name, shouldn´t it? Am I right?

This kind of skullduggery gives us all a bad name and I have yet to hear a good justification for it. Grrrr! Did I say it made me mad!

 

I've designed dozens of websites for small/medium businesses and I've often found that getting them to change their nameservers for domains they've registered themselves to be a tricky process. First of all explaining what a nameserver is and does can take a long time for the less computer literate clients, then getting them to make the change or even find their username/password combination so I can change them can take several days.

Of course however, if any of my clients who I have registered domains for would like to move elsewhere, I would happily relinquish their domains.

 

I register the domain to them with myself as the Admin for as long as they are my client. That works for me and the client is the registered owner of the site.

It´s great if you let the client go without a fight but it can and does get ugly sometimes.

 

Both of my first two clients, who I encouraged to register the domains in their own names, got suckered by the Domain Registration of America scam. Now I keep them myself, and as previous posters said, it makes DNS changes much easier.

 

What happens if your client ever wishes to move on?

 

wow, I could NOT agree any more! That is a way of hijacking and possibly blackmailing to try to own the identity of the company you are servicing. It is very, very bad. Some designers will also host the site themselves and build it so that the internal structure is dependant on their own urls, meaning when you transfer to a different host, you will have a ton of dead links within the site which is a pain in the @$$ to fix and a dirty trick, something they do on purpose to ensure the client will stay with them out of fear and dependance rather than being satisfied with the service that they receive.

 

I'm the same way. It's more work than it's worth to try to get a client to manage thier own domain. And it depends on whether or not I've been paid. Once payment is received, I then add them as the owner contact so they can take control anytime they want to do so.

 

I leave it up to the client...

 

..and it is very important to educate a client a little bit as well. I am lol about "manage domains". How hard is it to remember to pay for domain name registration once a year? According to the Google patent it is recommended to pay 10 years in advance anyways.

Sorry, but I don't believe in treating clients like little kids and making them feel dependant on you. But then again, there are different types of clients and different types of service providers out there.

 

mopacfan,

Adding them as Owner Contact after payment is received is fair enough, but not adding them to the registration of the domain at all and then trying to charge the client to buy back the domain when they are ready to move on just is not right.

I end up doing all the domain management (edited: yes, ST, that term is a bit overblown) but I always make sure the client can access the control panel of the registrar.

 

I have seen so many low budget service providers prey on the ignorance of their clients. It doesn't sit well with me when I see web companies blowing smoke in front of their customers' eyes. I do a lot to educate clients and help them understand the world of web development. My clients stay because they want to, not because they are too insecure to leave.

 

IMHO:
There is no longer a good reason to take money from a client and register the domain for them, no matter whose name, or how 'trusted'. Those who register in their own name may be held liable for intellectual property theft, and if they don't mention that they will essentially own the domain, perhaps it is fraud. Promises to transfer it are usually moot. We have lost quite a few customers who could not get their domain back, or could not get the nameservers changed. It ought to be illegal. If the customer is not smart enough to handle the registration or nameserver change, they will likely be a high maintenance customer.

There are good reseller and on-site affiliate programs to give customers the opportunity to register live, and some of the resellers will allow you to credit the account so that the customer can then register the domain in their own name, live. Usually, you can set up the program to add the nameserver information automatically.

I set mine up years ago, when my price was not so bad. Now it is. I can't get a significantly better break or pre-credit accounts with it, so I am looking to change and bring the price down, and be able to bill both at once. Still deciding exactly who I want to go to, since I do not want to change a second time unless I go big and become a true registrar. Just explaining to the existing customers will be a hassle, and as long as they are with me, I will probably have to keep the interface up with a link to it and take support requests on the subject. I can get most to transfer if the price is better, but the email/domain forwarding users will not want to interrupt things.

Two reasons I put it up in the first place:
1. Make it obvious we will not register in our own name.
2. Give customers a place to register a new domain and a hosting account in the same site. (To avoid them heading off to someone who offers both)

Domains are not what we push, but something I could not exclude. I would prefer customers who already own a domain and have hosted before, but are looking for better quality service, support, etc. We have won a few customers just because my monthly price is really monthly, you don't have to sign up for X months minimum. Some I have seen never mention you have to buy 6 months or a year of hosting (they offer no monthly, quarterly plans) until you have input your name, domain, etc. Kinda scary, really. Bait and switch, if you ask me.

 

I think it is simply bad manners. I have had absoloute horror stories with this crap. In three cases this year we have been left with NO CHOICE but to register new domain names as the webmasters REFUSED to release the domain rights to the actual owners. In 2 of these cases the domain name was the same as the company name. It's a load of crap and I'm sick of dealing with it.

On the other side of the coin, buyer beware. Why don't clients that hire these clowns question this? I have a few customers that think money buys anything. They believe that they can hire and trust a web developer to do a honest job and really are not interested in anything else. To me, that's just silly and the real crux of the issue. Clients need to be more proactive in the development of websites, PARTICULARLY when it comes to ownership rights.

Interesting read

 

Yes, we´ve had to get a new domain this time too. Not only was this cowboy hanging on to my clients three domains (a .com, .co.uk and .de) he was also charging an insane amount to renew them - Euros 156 for the three per year. Hosting was a ridiculous Euro576 a year and then there was the actual design fees, maintainance... He was probably charging her for the electricity he used while looking at her site on-line.

 

Those 2 cases probably have a good intellectual property case. They should consider legal action. The third might, depending on the name.

A call to the local PD of the company/person who did this, a little explaination, and a request to call the person to investigate further should scare them straight. Worked for 2 clients of a host in Florida that had moved to me. Complaints to the actual registrar might.

As for why, customers do not understand the importance of owning a domain. Most I have seen did not realize the problem until they need to change something. We as an industry need to help educate the customer base as to the value of a domain. It is independent of hosts, designers, etc. and should be treated as real property, with real value.

 

Absolutley. The fault does lie in the clients but also the "service" providers preying on their ignorance and putting unjustified fears into them. Many people will just fall asleep and put out their credit cards which is a shame. The funny thing is that many of our new clients come from people who have done the whole "let us worry about it so you don't have to" scheme and they are all very confused and misinformed. None of them has ever been satisfied with their previous companies but always been too afraid of leaving the confort and certainty of minimal results but maximum pampering. No one should decide to hire someone because they are being told what they want to hear. Some clients are more likely to go with a babysitter and those are not the easiest ones to handle. But since this is a webmaster forum, it is important to let those who shop around know, that there is a lot of scamming going on and having a web developer register a domain name in their own name instead of yours can be a strong indicator that there may be a lot more trouble ahead if you hire someone like that.

 

Ahh, the days when the technical contact could make dns changes. I remember when they could. I haven't figured out how with dotster where a friend of mine has a couple of domains that I host. We got around it by him giving me his dotster password so I can change dns if needed. I am listed as technical contact for his domains but have not figured out any way other than logging in as him to do dns changes.

 

I know that persistance, aggression and perhaps legal action will remedy this situation. But who has that kind of time? My client doesn't. I don't, and that's usually what it comes down to. The current webmaster has to pick up the peices and the (rightful) owner, again doesn't seem terribly interested in what is going on.

My customer is out all funds paid to the shady webmaster and now I am asking for my hourly rate including picking up the peices. I am sorry, this certain type of customer is thier own worst enemy especially when they start pointing the finger at me and all I'm doing is picking up peices. More often than not I have choosen to simply walk away. Nothing gained, nothing lost.

I know that may considered by some a bad attitude, but some customers just don't get it

 

For the few times I've done web design for other people I have always given them full access to the domain and made sure the registrar information was in there name too, but explained the potential pitfalls.