Looking for the right domain registrar is critical to online success. The way your domain is handled is where it all starts. DNS management, transfers, and overall domain services are the initial launch your site. If you choose the wrong domain registrar, you could suffer traffic loss, search engine results positions, and money loss. These are precisely the reasons NOT to use Namecheap as your domain registrar.
As one that has been in the online industry for many years, I have logged into just about every possible type of website, web host, control panel, and a domain’s DNS manager. Many don’t realize that you can have a great server, but the DNS server is your starting point. Slow propogation, slow load, too few IPs to back-up name servers all effect site speed.
In my time, I have transferred more websites and domains than many people will ever even view in their lifetime. No bragging, – it is what it is. This being said, I also know the international laws that govern domain registrars. While very few items are at the registrars discretion, most rules are strictly governed by ICANN. Just a few examples:
- New domains or transferred domains cannot be moved again for 60 days
- Registrars (if a transfer is initiated), have to release the domain after 5 days – however MOST registrars know how critical it is to get a site live again and (I personally) have never waited any longer than 30 or so minutes. Not the case with Namecheap. These guys really don’t care.
- Many other rules….not important for this post
Recently, I had to move over ten domains and live sites for a web hosting client of mine and the registrar was Namecheap. There domain management is awkward and quite frankly, it makes no common sense at all. Setting A records and other items like initiating transfers are like pulling teeth. There is no other word than pathetic, illogical, and unprofessional.
In moving my clients domains, six of his websites are on hold because Namecheap has decided to let their 5 day policy “kick in”. Is this spite for being the losing registrar? Is it laziness? Whatever you call it, the indexed content of some fairly popular sites plummets while this company really doesn’t care. Contact after contact and not a care in the world.
Remember that your domain is your starting place – even before hosting. Be safe, be smart – steer clear of the domain registrars at Namecheap…..cheap is fitting for these guys!
Hi Bryan, thank you for the feedback. I’m sorry to hear about your experience. We are constantly working on improving our services, and if you have anything else to report to our management directly, feel free to email us at [email protected].
Thanks,
Alex
I’d encourage you to give GoDotYourself a try. If you ever have any issues, you know the CEO personally (well, at least through social media). In any case, I’d be delighted to see to it that all your questions are answered promptly, and I always give my personal cell phone number to customers I’ve met personally either in-person or online.
Hi Lester,
I am my own domain registrar and web designer, so I am good on the domain registration. What prompted this post was my consistent frustration transferring domains away from Namecheap and into my domain services. Thanks for reading, Bryan
Sorry, had I known that I wouldn’t have suggested my own. On an unrelated note, I wanted to let you know I’ve linked to BlogInteract from my random topics blog, which if you visit the site you’ll observe is fairly authoritative.
I appreciate all you’re doing!
I just transferred two domains away from NameCheap without any problem. There was an e-mail sent to the administrative e-mail address that had to be clicked and confirmed to expedite the process, though. At first, the wording makes it sound like you can ignore the e-mail if you requested the transfer, but if you read on, you see that you have to click the link to expedite it if you don’t want to wait five days for the domain to be released.
Here is how it was phrased in the e-mail: “If you want to proceed with this transfer, you do not need to respond to this message. If you wish to either cancel or expedite the transfer, please respond to this message before…”
They certainly could improve upon the wording to make it clearer.
Same thing here, transferred domain today from Namecheap and got this email:
Namecheap.com received notification on Sep 7 2012 6:07AM that you have requested a transfer to another domain name registrar. If you want to proceed with this transfer, you do not need to respond to this message. If you wish to either cancel or expedite the transfer, please respond to this message before Sep 12 2012 6:07AM by using the following URL:
http://transfer-approval.com/t.asp?id=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Clicked the link and confirmed transfer without any delays.
Presently, the Namecheap DNS dashboard is cool and servers get updated within few minutes. I have transferred my domains to Namecheap and no regret so far..
I have been customer of GoDaddy for years, for domains and for hosting, and I am happy that I have switched to Namecheap for domains and to Hetzner for hosting. GD was always way too pushy, their support (which I have used on many occasions :0) was very bad (besides canned responses you can expect nothing useful), domain transfer from GD is worse then any other registrar I have used, hosting is below all standards, etc. I agree Namecheap could improve UI, but their support is miles ahead of GoDaddies. Just my 2 cents 🙂
When I moved my domains away from Namecheap (they have a redirect service that is easily abused by spammers and Namecheap doesn’t do anything about it, and doesn’t react to spam reports), they released some of my domains quickly.
But for some, they used the full 5 days. No idea why, may be some automated algorithm.
I agree with you that these guys really don’t care.