How to Find a Reliable Domain Name Registrar

How to Find a Reliable Domain Registrar?

A good registrar will have the following characteristics:

• established reputation
• no hidden fees (such as a fee for transferring a domain out to another registrar)
• comprehensive administration (for nameserver, mail, who-is, etc. settings)
• reasonably priced registration fees
• accredited by governing body (such as ICANN)

Registrars we Recommend

Examples of registrars that meet these criteria, for specified domain extensions:
Primary extensions (.com, .net., .org, .info)

• fabulous.com - the cream of the crop.  fabulous.com offers comprehensive domain registration, management, and research capabilities and backs it up with superior customer support.  Note: Fabulous offers only .com, .net, .org., .info.
• namecheap.com - excellent registrar, slightly higher priced than Fabulous, offering excellent admin and support as well with no hidden fees.  Namecheap offers more extensions than Fabulous.

European extensions (.co.uk, .de, .fr, .it, etc.)

• inwx.de - one of the absolute best - most functionality, including no-fee transfers, are automated, which is rare for European registrars.  Prices are also by far the best for most extensions.  Only drawback is that the site is German only.
• eurodns.com - EuroDNS offers affordable pricing, intuitive admin interface, and backs it up with reliable support.
• united-domains.de - Prices and administration are not quite as good as EuroDNS, but these folks run a tight ship.  One thing to watch out for is that domains renew automatically and you need to cancel in advance via fax (not unusual for European registrars).

Finding a Reliable Registrar

One way to research whether a registrar you're considering using is reliable or not is to conduct a "[registrar name] sucks" vs. "[registrar name] rocks" type of search in Google.  Replace "sucks" and "rocks" with various synonyms and antonyms to find users' reviews of the registrar.  If neither result returns much, or if the number of results for the search "[registrar name]" is minimal, stay away. 

Web Hosting Reports
Visit Webhosting.info and generate a webhosting report (such as this one for EuroDomains.com).  Notice that in EuroDomains.com's situation hardly any domains are registered.  Furthermore, the number of registrations is decreasing.  This is a sign that this is a very small, and potentially risky registrar.  As it turns out, EuroDomains.com is one of the worst we've ever encountered.  Read on for details on registrars to avoid.

Registrars to Avoid

Avoid registrars that promise rock-bottom prices.  Anything below $6.75/ month is suspect, unless it's a one-year promotion.  While they may honor the lower price, in all likelihood you will either a) have difficulty administering the domain, b) have difficulty canceling it (you will end up with overdue invoices from the domain's registry office) or c) not be able to transfer it out without going through hassles and paying fees.

Avoid registrars with crappy looking sites, poor grammar, misspellings, etc.  A reputable registrar will have the capital to invest in quality web design.

Want an example of a poor, downright fraudulent registrar?  Look no further than EuroDomains.com.  One of the worst registrar experiences we've ever had has been with them.   If the misspellings didn't tip you off upon your first visit, you will know something is wrong when you've purchased domain names and then are unable to administer them.  In our case, Eurodomains.com went as far as to fail to pay their invoices (after we had already paid them), leaving us with a second bill to pay, and no control over our domains without first transferring them out to another registrar (which incurs more costs).  Read all about our experience with them by visiting our Eurodomains.com sucks article.  The article was written to bring awareness to this fraudulent registrar and prevent others from falling prey to their dishonest activities.