I have finally made the decision to take the pains of moving my domains away from Network Solutions. Secondly, I am also recommending to and helping clients, family and friends transfer as well. I had been reticent about transferring for various reasons including the worry about sites being unavailable, or transfer issues. However, all of that changed with the latest barrage of email from NSI regarding the special deal of 11.99 per year. It so happens that I received this "Limited Time Offer" during the same time frame that I had many domains coming up for renewal...
After taking a quick look at the ad, I logged into my account and was prepared, once again, to pay (even with this deal) a $3 per year premium in order to avoid the hassle of moving. But as you might have already noticed, and what I overlooked is that this is valid only for new registrations and transfers. That's right, if you are a current customer, or a "Gold VIP" as my account says I am and you need to renew your domains... Well, you are out of luck.
What they want to do is exactly what I had been falling prey to for years: Get you in the door, knowing it is difficult to leave and then keep you trapped with the higher prices.
If you need to renew your domain, you have the honor of paying $34.99 for one year and the various discounts as noted in the image to the right. My question is for what? Network Solutions and Register.com both charge $25+ dollars more per year than Yahoo!, GoDaddy, and countless others. Is there a technical reason that the average small/ medium business, or consumer should pay these higher prices? If there is, I cannot find a reason that is compelling.
I dug in a little more and as I already knew, the higher prices went across the board. You want an SSL certificate for ecommerce? Network Solutions: $129 per year; Register.com/ GeoTrust $149; GoDaddy: $29. There are some slight differences but in the end for the average small/ medium business and consumer, I once again do not see a $100+ per year difference.
Make me an offer I can't refuse
I decided upon a path for transfer, for not one, or two, or three domains, but all of them I control. What I would do first is take one of the expiring domains, for which I can afford some down time on, and test out the process.
The first step involved unlocking the domain (a feature that keeps it from being hijacked). After logging into my "Gold VIP" account, I did just that. During the process of unlocking the domain I was presented with the following notice:
So I call the number and tell them I am indeed transferring and what are they willing to do? It turns out that as a "Gold VIP" account I am entitled to $15 renewals. That is still not in the ballpark of what I am going to pay by moving, and I am no longer willing to pay a premium, not even $7 per domain per year. I ask if that is the best they will do, the answer is yes. Apparently, even though they are offering new registrations and transfers $11.99 fees, they will only go down to $15 if you are there. You can make your own conclusion about that.
As I hang up the phone, it occurs to me: I am entitled to $15 renewals with my type of account. As it turns out, even though my mind was already made up, this just was one more thing to seal the deal. I had apparently been entitled to a special rate like this for at least 4 years. Over that time, there have been many renewals, and not once was I offered this discount. This discount was not listed anywhere on the Network Solutions site, and was not presented at check out. No, the only way a person who is "entitled" (their words not mine) to this discount receives it is by calling in to the special account phone number and placing the order. What this means to me is that I unknowingly was duped out of hundreds of dollars. Network Solutions did not send out a single email telling me about this deal when I was up for renewal - although they are more than happy to send out notice after notice about upcoming expirations. It was only when I finally decided to transfer, years after paying the inflated fees was I told I should have been calling in. I do not believe it is a wise move to make a fool out of customers.
My Solution(s)
Ultimately I decided to take several steps. The first involved price. I was not willing to pay more than $10 per year for new registrations, renewals, transfers or anything else.
Second, I needed to consolidate things into a more logical account order. This decision does not really affect where I go, but was a step involved anyway, as I had been piling up domains in the same account for years, even when they were friends and clients; all so I could easily deal with DNS settings and the like.
Thirdly, I decided to spread the wealth around. I want people to know my experience and perhaps save some money themselves.
This all led me to set up my own reseller account through GoDaddy. For a number of reasons, it made sense to not only move to GoDaddy, but also become a reseller. GoDaddy charges 8.95 per year and offers the following guarantee which I found compelling.
So, your renewal rates will be no higher than the rate you paid when you initially registered your domain name, or what our registration rates were when you transferred your domain name to us (the only exceptions would be if the price the registry charges us increased, or if you took advantage of a limited-time, special price. And if the registry increases our cost, yours will go up only by the amount ours did, never more).
I also set up a lot of domains for friends, family and clients. Setting up a reseller account made sense as I can provide domains to those who want them, they receive GoDaddy support and I can offer some other services in tandem. So in short here are the prices I receive and accordingly are being offered to anyone that wants them.
I am not trying to shill anything, and as I have openly stated, this was set up for me to use as noted above, and it has been done so through GoDaddy. If anyone is interested however or is curious - feel free to visit ThinkTek Labs Services to receive the discount. I have not fully gotten it set up yet, so some things may change, but it is an option none the less. Support and all of the setting are provided through GoDaddy, so there is no need to worry you are calling my house or something.
Save some money
I hope sharing my experience helps others to save money. There are a lot of discount services out there which provide customer support just as well as the "big" players. Choose whatever service that offers the value and services you need. For years, I had relied on Network Solutions as my registry, and I can honestly not tell you why, other than when I got started on the Internet, they were the only game in town. The town is now a lot bigger and as I have noted, there are other places to be discovered.
Before I sign out, I also want to note a service and domain registry that I have used and been pleased with. MyDomain.com has for years provided me with complete DNS control for free, back when places like Network Solutions charged $50 per domain for these services. MyDomain now sells domains as well, and while I cannot vouch for those services, I will simply throw them out as at least another service provider to consider.
Thank you for reading,
Ben
------------------------------------------
Benjamin Bach
http://www.techthoughts.com
Ben,
Great post. There are a few other was you can save some money that you should be aware of. First you can join Godaddy's affiliate program and earn cash back on your registrations. Secondly, if you have a lot of domains, you can talk to Godaddy about getting prefered status, and then get domains for as low as $6.95 for registrations and renewals.
Good luck!
Posted by: Website Address | Aug 19, 2005 11:28:16 AM
If you purchase another product (the easiest is hosting for one month) all of you domains become 3.99
Posted by: David | Aug 21, 2005 4:14:41 AM
Thanks for the comments. I had looked into the GoDaddy fees and am definately happy with how that has gone.
I was not aware of the $3.99 fee based on other services. I did notice they had offers based on bundling items, but frankly, one of the requirements I had was to simplify things i.e. get rid of adding complexity to game the system. Thank you for letting me know this though - I appreciate it. That does beg the question though as to why they do not lower their rates into the realm of not being insulting.
Ben
Posted by: BenB | Aug 22, 2005 1:06:23 PM
I think Godaddy is going to keep running the 3.99 domain deal on the new TV ads that are starting to run and on Go Daddys download ad page. One of these is called Realtor and one is called Joe Bikini.
Posted by: Jim Elsberg | Sep 10, 2005 2:10:37 AM
I read this article with great interest. Having a few domains registered at Network Solutions, and never hearing of the Gold VIP program, I inquired about the program. The respose is pasted below. It seems that Ben was right on the money in his assessment of Network Solutons. Apparently, the criteria to qualify for the program is a big secret. It will be difficult to entice customers into such a program.
____________________________________________________________________________
Dear Randy Armour,
Thank you for contacting Network Solutions.
We are committed to creating the best customer experience possible and to handling your recent request quickly and efficiently.
Unfortunately, we cannot disclose the criteria to become a member of our Gold VIP program. However, please know that you will be notified once you become eligible to be a member of this select group of Network Solutions customers.
Please do not respond to this E-mail. If you have any additional questions, you can reach us via e-mail by completing our online form at http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/help/service-request.jhtml or by phone at 1-888-642-9675 and provide Service Request ( 1-208779604 ).
Thank you for choosing Network Solutions.
Sincerely,
AZENETTE001
Net Solutions Specialist
Network Solutions Customer Support
(c) Copyright 2005 Network Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
If you are calling from outside the U.S. or Canada, please call 1-570-708-8788.
Posted by: Randy Armour | Oct 18, 2005 6:33:08 PM
Apparently Network Solutions,LLC., is the mastermind behind the obtuse and strategically unavailable world of eBay administration as well. If you would like to complain directly the people to contact are:
Registrar Name: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Address: Network Solutions, LLC 13200 Woodland Park Road, Herndon, Virginia 20171, US
Phone Number: (703)668-4600
Email: rgyxfr@networksolutions.com
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: www.networksolutions.com
Admin Contact: MacKenzie . Frady
Phone Number: 703-668-4988
Email: mfrady@networksolutions.com
Admin Contact: Josh . Shleien
Phone Number: 703-668-4949
Email: jshleien@networksolutions.com
Admin Contact: Dan . Whetzel
Phone Number: 703-668-4936
Email: dwhetzel@networksolutions.com
Admin Contact: Michael . Voslow
Phone Number: 703-668-5300
Email: mvoslow@networksolutions.com
Billing Contact: Bill . Gore
Phone Number: 703-668-5290
Email: tld-billing@networksolutions.com
Technical Contact: TLD Technical . Issues Group
Phone Number: 703-932-9858
Email: mcocozza@networksolutions.com
Technical Contact: Michael . Cocozza
Phone Number: 703-932-9858
Email: mcocozza@networksolutions.com
Technical Contact: John . Kersse
Phone Number: 703-668-4879
Email: jkersse@networksolutions.com
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Posted by: K.M.Lake | Nov 2, 2005 12:54:21 PM
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I was also getting tired of getting charged a lot by NetSol right around the time you posted this. I started buying domains from Yahoo! because of their dead low first year rate. Well, Yahoo! is just another company that lures you in and tries to traps you.
I had two domains (of the 8 total just with Yahoo!) up for renewal. The only option available to me was a one year for 9.95. Not horrid, but I was already getting a better deal at NetSol because I'm a plain ol' VIP there. So I call the tech number, and find out, that's my only option--at this time.
Not only that, but I also inquired as to higher status if I moved my other domains from NetSol to Yahoo!. I was told no such higher status existed, but if I wanted to move my hosting to Yahoo!, all I had to do was...
Yes, that's right, my hosting. "But I have my own server, I don't need hosting, just to move the domain name," I explained...and on and on. The person on the other end of the phone did not know the difference between hosting and domain name ownership! I had to explain the difference to him as I search for the page on Yahoo!s site that would answer my question. I finally found the page (20 minutes still on phone with him) and read it to him, as well as the fact that you can not move a domain name to Yahoo, still. (I had looked into this a year ago.)
Disgruntled, I called the VIP number for NetSol. I moved all 8 over at no cost to me, other than a one year renewal fee per, which, if I had time left on Yahoo!, they would roll into that time.
VIP Gold was mentioned on the phone (you can't find it on their page--I tried, not even when logged in), but when I asked specifics, I also got the run around, although I was told that since I was moving 8 over, it would probably bump me over, even though he could not give me an actual cap. (In total, I'll now have 20 after the transfer goes through within that particular bundle.)
I'm going to sit on this for the time being and see what happens. If NetSol tries to pull a fast one, I may just finally head to GoDaddy afterall. They've been around long enough now that I'm not worried they'll get bought out in a week.
And, nowadays, the transfer is seamless--no downtime for someone like me who has hosting completely separate from domain seller companies. (I'm my own webmistress, so I'm not losing any services at all.)
Anyway--in case you're wondering why I'm responding almost 1.5 years later--I googled "network solutions vip gold" after I got off the phone with them about 10 minutes ago, and this post came up. So I thought you might like to know what has and hasn't changed. :)
Posted by: lilyofthevalley | Feb 5, 2007 4:56:53 PM
Joe Bikini GoDaddy ad now shows up on national tv
again. Will Bikini Joes and GoDaddy make up and be friends again now that Bob Parsons is running GoDaddy Girl contests at Bike rallys in his latest Bob Gone wild on girls trip
Posted by: Jim Bob | Mar 17, 2007 10:33:23 PM