Is there any advantage to purchasing my domains from an ICANN-Accredited Registrar instead of a reseller? Thoughts and opinions please
A reseller can lock your account and not allow you to change name servers or transfer out. (happened to me twice). Direct registrars usually have less problems.
I would think that any registrar could lock your account. Like Godaddy...they are known to steal people's domains yet they are an accredited registrar. This is more of an issue of dealing with a professional company verses not, IMHO. Thanks for the reply!
Yes, but resellers are usually small, they don't have a reputation to lose. If you have a problem with GoDaddy, a lot of their customers will read about it.
I'll give you a scenario. Let's say your domain name is with a reseller. One day, your website's down. Nameservers are correct, domain name's still paid, contact info's complete. So you contact your reseller to ask what's going on. A day or two later, your reseller replies back and tells you your domain name has been shut down by their registrar partner. However, they can't do a thing about it and ask you to contact them directly. You ask the registrar why they shut down the domain name. They tell you it's because of a spam complaint. The registrar gives you instructions how to reactivate it. You comply, and the domain name's website and email are back online. Now that's just one issue. Imagine the more complex ones, especially legal. Bottom line: resellers don't have the literal and figurative connections to solve certain big problems like their registrar partners do. Not to mention you'll have to deal with a middleman instead of going straight to the source. OTOH, there are a few exceptional resellers who provide at least adequate to even good service. Just a matter of weighing your risks and rewards, just like everything else in life.
Dave Zan, Thank you very much for your input. I read the few articles on your blog and I found it very interesting. You seem to touch on a lot of things that I've personally thought about but never seen brought up before. No one thinks about these things until it is too late. I didn't see that you made any particular registrar recommendations. It think it would be very helpful if you reviewed many of the major registrar's based on their registration contract. Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my most. Rep added
yes u can talk to them directly. you get low prices, if you wana register bulk domain (Like 50 per day) then you need ICANN-Accredited . some new ICANN-Accredited can provide .25$ for a domain. but u have talk directly. thanks
It would depend on the reseller program. Some reseller programs are 'white branded' so the registrant doesn't know who the registrar is. If a registrant has a problem who can they deal with? Directi makes end users go thru the reseller. Enom seems more likely to resolve issues if there is a problem with the reseller. With Enom tho' you can wind up being a customer of a reseller of a reseller of a reseller. To many people with access to my account for my liking. GoDaddy/Wild West resellers have no customer service responsibility and all customer service issues are dealt with by GoDaddy staff. The advantage of a GoDaddy reseller is that they may give better prices than GoDaddy. My preference is to deal directly with the seller. ie: I'll deal directly with a hotel or airline instead of a travel agent.
If you are serious, it is better to get a reseller a/c for better prices. When I had less than 5 domains, I used resellers who created so many problems, that I was wasting a lot of time instead of working on my websites. Direct registrar is better , unless you are going to buy only 1-2 domains or are a non-internet company