A few questions...

[amplify]

1. Domain hijacking is an apparent risk with all registrars. What security measures do you have in place to prevent this from happening? Could the domains be locked from transfer until there is a verbal confirmation? Is there a double login method available (text to phone a second password or some other method) or scan and send in a photo ID?

2. How does your user interface work? Is there a demo that can be seen? Is there a way to organize domain names into separate portfolios by using folders, etc.? Can you organize domains by expiration date, creation date, etc.?

3. I notice that you have 7.99/5.99 domain names if they are there for 5 years. Is there a catch to this such as upselling webhosting? Does this pricing apply for transfers as well?

4. Do you provide domain privacy? If so, what procedures do you have in place to reveal the owner to the party requesting the information? (I.E. do you contact the owner to inform them that there’s been a request and if it’s ok to reveal the information, if it’s a trademark domain release it, if it’s from a lawyer release it, etc. as Moniker freely released my information to a lawyer with no grounds to do so on one domain just because the email said they would release in 7 days if no response was made, which coincidently landed in my spam folder and cost me quite a bit of trouble).

5. Do you support multiple users on the same account with different permissions (I.E. Top-tier can control everything, second can change name servers, third can view all domains and expiration dates, etc.)

6. I notice that you have domain parking. Do you have criteria for domains that can be parked (I.E. traffic, etc.) or can any domain be parked? What ad feed do you use? What cut does the end user get? Do you have multiple styles that can potentially convert? Any examples of them? Do you have custom clipart? Can you add unique content? Do you have no click, 1 click, 2 click, search portal?

7. Is domain forwarding free? Is it simple to setup or take dozens of clicks to get it done? Is it an automatic update or does it take minutes to reflect changes?

8. How long does it generally take for a support ticket to be answered? Are they generic responses or do you look at the problem in depth and try to fix them?

9. Lastly, are you going to have “Cosmotown” girls frequently? Are they visible inside the user interface? Some eye candy is always good. I’m getting bored of G-D girls. :lol:

 

[jpaik78]

Hi David,

Thank you for all of your questions .. I hope I can answer them all. We are a relatively new registrar in the States (our parent company holds our accreditation, and is publicly traded in Korea). But as a new company here, there a lot of the things that we are looking to implement in the near future ..

1) All domains can be locked. We do not currently have a double login method available. I think that is a good idea, and is definitely something that we can look into.

2) Our UI is pretty straightforward. You can sort your domains by expiration date or alphabetically, but not by creation date or into folders currently. The sorting into folders is something that we are working on, and should be implemented within a month. You can also consolidate your expiration dates, so they all expire at the same time of year. I can email/PM some screen shots of the UI if you like.

3) No upselling. No catches, no ICANN fees. Those are our rates .. Our business model is based on straightforward, transparent pricing. We don’t offer low intro rates, and jack them up the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] year. I believe we’re the only registrar that actually lowers our price, the longer you sign up with us. We actually don't offer hosting or email at the moment. So the price is not contingent on any other product purchase.

4) We provide domain privacy for free on all domain purchases (not just for first year, like many companies). We will not release any information to anyone without your consent.

5) No, although that is something that we are looking into. It will probably be awhile before this gets implemented, as we are working on quite a few things currently ..

6) We do have domain parking. There is no criteria .. BUT we do not use an ad feed, although we are looking into this as well. We have several pretty generic templates to which you can add some content (you can change the message, title, add an email address, call to action). But there is no custom clipart, and you cannot currently add any pics. We are looking at enhancing our parking feature with more customization, better templates, and an ad feed. Delivery time is probably 2 months.

7) Domain forward/masking is free. It’s very simple to do. It updates in real time.

8) We try to answer your questions within 2 hours or less. We really do look into your problems and try to fix them. Because of that, it can take up to 24 business hours to respond depending on the level of question, and time of day/week, but 90% of questions are responded to in 2 hours or less. No generic responses, all real responses from real people.

9) I’m glad you like the Cosmotown girls. We do have some more pics of them on facebook.com/cosmotowninc. They are actually friends of mine, and we will update them every once in awhile, and/or perhaps change girls too (depending on feedback from our customers). I’m sure that most men find them attractive, but we don’t want to turn women off. So we are trying to do it in a tasteful and respectful way.. We really wanted to show that anyone can own a domain, even young diverse women. No Cosmotown girls inside the UI. Our UI is pretty vanilla. We wanted it that way so that it simple to navigate ..

I hope that answers your questions, please let me know if you have any others. JP

 

[angel69]

I suppose we can call that the vetting of a new registrar lol, and jpaik78, it looks like so far you pass w/flying colors, man ....we appreciate the info ..... I look fwd to eventually trying your services and ......... you guys actually have friends who look like the woman in the main pic ? geeee .... I didn't think those existed in real life, I'll be checking your FB stuff too....
:blush:

 

[jpaik78]

I suppose we can call that the vetting of a new registrar lol, and jpaik78, it looks like so far you pass w/flying colors, man ....we appreciate the info ..... I look fwd to eventually trying your services and ......... you guys actually have friends who look like the woman in the main pic ? geeee .... I didn't think those existed in real life, I'll be checking your FB stuff too....
:blush:

Hi Angel,

Actually the woman in the main pic is not my friend. The other 4 in the other banner are, but we've actually have taken that banner down.

JP

 

[Johnn]

Why do you put the picture of my girlfriend without her or my permission?

 

[jpaik78]

Why do you put the picture of my girlfriend without her or my permission?

Whaaa? She told ME I was her one and only!

 

[south]

Why do you put the picture of my girlfriend without her or my permission?

Or John's wife's permission?

 

[amplify]

Whaaa? She told ME I was her one and only!

Annnnd a registrar with a sense of humor.

I'll slowly be making a switch if 1 and 5 are implemented. It is important for a double login or some sort of stiffened transfer security to be implemented. For me, it would be nice to have "permission" accounts to get reports on expiring domains and have the ability for someone else to renew them.

More girls is important too, right in the UI. In my face. Why else would I login if there are others that can do it for me?

 

[jpaik78]

Annnnd a registrar with a sense of humor.

I'll slowly be making a switch if 1 and 5 are implemented. It is important for a double login or some sort of stiffened transfer security to be implemented. For me, it would be nice to have "permission" accounts to get reports on expiring domains and have the ability for someone else to renew them.

More girls is important too, right in the UI. In my face. Why else would I login if there are others that can do it for me?

We'll work on it David. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Biggie]

Annnnd a registrar with a sense of humor.

I'll slowly be making a switch if 1 and 5 are implemented. It is important for a double login or some sort of stiffened transfer security to be implemented. For me, it would be nice to have "permission" accounts to get reports on expiring domains and have the ability for someone else to renew them.

More girls is important too, right in the UI. In my face. Why else would I login if there are others that can do it for me?

David, you must have some "top flight, creme of the crop names" to secure.

seeing as how you're looking for double logins, photo scans, second passwords and all that.


while the getting is good, maybe add blood samples, dna tests, fingerprints and retina scans to the list.


but how secure can a platform be, if you want ability for "someone else" to be able to renew them?


unless i'm reading incorrectly....seems like that would defeat purpose of #1

 

[angel69]

lol (biggedon).....

But serious, of the best known registrars I only know of Fabulous (and they're still far from accepting everyone who wants to use them), Go Daddy (they just began this in Aug 2012 I think) and Name.com, which all offer double-authetication at log in (with Name.com you do pay for their Verisign add-on as a one-time, Fabulous has the 3 security Qs for free if they even take you as a customer, Go Daddy's feature is free) Moniker charges just too much for the Domain or Portfolio Protection add-on

Does anybody know of any other good registrars that offer this two-way verification at sign-in ? It's always harder to pull off a transfer out of a registrar than a push that's not authorized, and many times domains have been stolen during illegal pushes within a registrar, the onus being on the losing registrant to prove he didn't do it and/or that it wasn't done from one of his usual locations

........... you must have some "top flight, creme of the crop names" to secure.
seeing as how you're looking for double logins, photo scans, second passwords and all that.
while the getting is good, maybe add blood samples, dna tests, fingerprints and retina scans to the list.....

 

[angel69]

I'm sure Johnn, our beloved mod here, doesn't need permission from his wife, or his girlfriends, or his lovers, for anything.....if he wants to get some on the side, he just goes for it ... !
:evil:

Or John's wife's permission?

 

[amplify]

David, you must have some "top flight, creme of the crop names" to secure.

seeing as how you're looking for double logins, photo scans, second passwords and all that.


while the getting is good, maybe add blood samples, dna tests, fingerprints and retina scans to the list.


but how secure can a platform be, if you want ability for "someone else" to be able to renew them?


unless i'm reading incorrectly....seems like that would defeat purpose of #1

What does a double login have to do with someone else renewing domain names that remain in my account?

Permissions would be the best and first that I know of implemented at a registrar. Lowest level could be just organizing by expiration date. Then there could be a monthly report done including renewal costs and generated revenues by someone else. An accountant perhaps?

Another level could be renewing for 1 year with saved or unsaved payment method.

Another could be updating nameservers.

Etc. Some people do have a need and use for this.

 

[Biggie]

What does a double login have to do with someone else renewing domain names that remain in my account?

Permissions would be the best and first that I know of implemented at a registrar. Lowest level could be just organizing by expiration date. Then there could be a monthly report done including renewal costs and generated revenues by someone else. An accountant perhaps?

Another level could be renewing for 1 year with saved or unsaved payment method.

Another could be updating nameservers.

Etc. Some people do have a need and use for this.

what if that "someone else" forgets to renew, will those names remain in your account then?

not trying to cut como's biz, but using a registrar (enom reseller) that allows pre-deposit of funds for renewals/registrations and setting your names to "auto renew or not" should be sufficient. they also allow password setting on individual domains, you can add sub accounts or retail accounts, set your own prices for those under you.
free forwarding, url redirect nameserver changes, free domain registration site, multi-year registrations, etc. etc.

some add-ons include acct verify mgmt

i truly understand your concern for security, however the majority of stolen and hijacked names i've seen reported, originate from gd
and most of them occur during/after those phake icann emails are sent out, that appear to come from gd

other mainstream, long standing organizations rarely have such occurances.

again not trying to steer you in any direction, just pointing out what already exisits and some additional info.

hopefully that will put you in a better position to compare what services you can get/have, dollar for dollar.

may even provide more leverage here, to get the line items you're seeking

imo ....