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Network Solutions
A perfect example of why monopolies are a bad thing. Back in the early days of the Internet, when the National Science Foundation was in charge of how domain names were registered and managed, the NSF awarded the contract for that particular task to Network Solutions. That put Network Solutions front and center during the Internet explosion of the 1990s. While the Net was growing faster than Louie Anderson at a Las Vegas buffet, Network Solutions was there taking an annual fee from everyone that wanted in on the action. A good gig if you can get it for sure. While the Network Solutions monopoly over domain names was ended by the year 2000, 7 years of almost unlimited monopolistic cash flow can really do wonders for a company. Here we are in 2011, and Network Solutions is still large enough that it thinks it can charge $34.95 for a service that can be had for $15 or less virtually everywhere else.
Here's how it works. One of our customers has a domain name that has been with Network Solutions for a very long time. Its time to renew, so they asked if we could save them a few dollars since they realize that $34.95 per year is a bit steep for a domain name at this point. We're an OpenSRS partner, so the short answer is that we can help. The customer logs in at Network Solutions and requests the EPP code for his domain (needed to transfer the name to another registrar). Within seconds of his request, he has email from Network Solutions informing him that they've locked his domain (preventing any transfer) due to "suspicious activity" on his account. At Network Solutions, "suspicious" is another word for "customer that wants to leave because they know we're gouging them". A phone call follows, wherein after 15 minutes of sales babble our customer is finally told that they'll drop the price on his domain to $15 per year to keep his business.
The moral of this story is that Network Solutions is more than happy to overcharge any customer that doesn't know any better. Is that a company that cares about its customers and providing real value? Not really. That's a company that will only examine its value proposition when forced into it by an educated, proactive consumer. There's something flawed about a business that has nothing to do with innovation or customer service and everything to do with taking advantage of the fact that many of its customers are somewhat ignorant about exactly what they're buying. Don't get me wrong, we'd love to own a business where we can charge twice as much as any of my competitors for the same service, but we'd hope to do that because our customers feel that we're providing value for that price, not because they just don't know that we're overcharging.
Domain Registry of America (DROA)
If you own a domain name, odds are you've opened your mailbox (the one with the actual paper envelopes in it) at some point and seen a letter with a very official looking American flag and bald eagle on it, looking every bit like something the IRS might send you, proclaiming that you'll lose your domain if you don't fill out the enclosed form and send it back with a check. If you did that, you transferred your domain name to Domain Registry of America, a private company with no affiliation whatsoever to any governmental agency of any kind. We've dealt with literally hundreds of customers over the years that have had domain name problems resulting from an unintended transfer to DROA. When you don't know who your registrar is, there's every chance that your domain will expire without you knowing it, and we all know what happens when a domain name expires.
DROA is so bad that even the toothless Federal Trade Commission took action against them in 2003 for doing really bad things. Ten seconds on Google will turn up thousands of cases where people where mislead by DROA. Its not a pretty sight by any means. How ICANN continues to let DROA operate as a registrar is a mystery to many in this business, but they do. You have to laugh at a business based entirely on intentionally misleading and deceptive sales tactics, but I'm sure the folks behind DROA are the ones laughing - all the way to the bank.
The bottom line is that if you ever get anything from DROA, do yourself a favor and toss/burn/eat/shred it immediately. You want no part of those guys.
GoDaddy.com
GoDaddy isn't a scam. They do provide a real service, they appear to have reasonable customer service and they do have insanely low prices on just about everything. They just get a special mention for having the most polluted, cluttered, difficult to navigate web-based sales process EVER. Try to register a domain name at GoDaddy. You can do it, but only after you wade through pages of "please buy this too!", all of which completely overpowers the timid little "no thanks" button at all time. It borders on deceptive only because its so visually confusion and overwhelming, but I really don't think that GoDaddy is trying to do anything bad. They have such a razor thin margin on everything that they REALLY need you to buy more than just that domain name, so they give it the best shot they can to get you to do that.
Domain name registration should be a simple affair. Get the job done, do it at good price, and provide good service when your customer needs it. Sadly, as in any business, some manage to get there, some veer off into the seedier parts of town. Keep your eyes open and be sure you know what you're getting, who you're getting it from, and how much it should cost. As always, we're here to answer questions, so don't be shy about asking!
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