Originally posted by detagged
I represent www.detagged.co.uk and we run the SnatchBack! service which monitors and registers soon to drop detagged domain names.
I think this may have been more appropriate in a new thread, since its substantially different. Anyway, too late now.
We were the first Nominet member to launch a monitoring and registration service for the .uk namespace. NameTrack has only been live for a few days and so far has only registered a handful of domains for clients. Most of the names that they claim to have obtained for clients on their site are in fact registered in the name of the Managing Director, Martin Reeves.
Nametrack launched their service on 27th August 2002. A selection of names were backordered by the owner, Martin Reeves, *before* the service went live. He has acknowledged this on this forum and also mentions hasn't back-ordered any other names for himself since the launch of his service.
Our service, the clear market leader,
Stop right there if you will please.
I've never heard of you before. Actually I have, but only in the last week, and more on that below. Since I have never heard of you before, I am afraid you are
not the clear market leader as far as I am cocerned. However it's interesting that you claim that you are.
has registered a considerable number of names for clients and our service is 50% cheaper and lasts for an unlimited period of time.
Okay. Would you be prepared to list some of the top names that you have registered for clients, here, for us to see please?
Reeves' service lasts for just one year or the life of his company, whichever is the shorter.
I'm sorry but, personally I would find that a little offensive if I were Martin. Even though I am not, I think you've lost some credibility already by coming on here and posting this sort of thing about an obvious competitor.
The NameTrack team's dubious claim to fame is to have lost many millions of pounds of investors' money in ShopSmart.com that was finally sold to BarclayCard for a price that did not even cover the initial investment. Hardly candidates for the Businesspeople of the Year award.
I wouldn't know. However again, I think that it is highly inappropriate for you to come on here and post that. It's totally irrelevant to the spectrum of this forum and nothing to do with anything being discussed in this thread.
We of course welcome competition and both products do the job.
Funny. I was getting the feeling that someone around here
didn't like the competition at all.
Just to recap, ours is ã29, is long established and monitors your domain for an unlimited period of time.
But does it get results? If so, name them here.
Also, can you beat NameTrack at names? If so, name one you have beaten them too since they launched?
NameTrack costs around 50% more at ã45, has only been established for several days and only monitors your domain for 1 year. Both prices to have VAT applied.
However we've all seen the results. Here are a few:
dictionary.co.uk - pre-ordered by Martin (of NameTrack)
discount.co.uk - pre-ordered by Martin (of NameTrack)
newspapers.co.uk - client
classiccars.co.uk - client
rich.co.uk - client
skill.co.uk - client
steroids.co.uk - client
Some of those were in the last few days.
Show us your results.
and now, with reference to the above where I mentioned I'd only just heard about your service very recently.
Here are a few URLs from your web site:
Your homepage:
http://www.detagged.co.uk/
I'll leave that for others to view and pass comment on, although it lists a few names.
Your service:
http://www.detagged.co.uk/detagged_domain_new.htm
Quoted from the site:
...we now operate the only programme of its kind in the UK to monitor and then secure soon to be released detagged .co.uk and .org.uk domain names.
I guess you'll need to change that now.
Quoted from the site:
The SnatchBack! programme operates by maintaining a database of domains wanted by our clients on a powerful Sun Microsystems dedicated server permanently connected to the Internet. Our automated registration system attempts to register each of these domains on a daily basis with Nominet's Automaton (the name for their asynchronous registration system) and the other global registries corresponding to the desired domain suffix. We have already secured numerous domains for our clients that in some cases were in detagged or on hold status for several years.
You mention 'SUN Microsystems servers' - yet it's only a RaQ4-512. Is that supposed to impress me? I think you'll fool the uneducated but you won't fool me into believing that a rebagged Cobalt raq will make any difference.
Also you mention that your system attempts to register names on a
daily basis. If that really is the case, then I am afraid your service is next to useless for any desirable domain name.
I won't go into what else is on that page.
A page about your competitors
http://www.detagged.co.uk/other_outfits.htm
entitled 'Why not to use "domain monitoring" outfits'. Hmm. I don't see any other drop catching service world wide saying that on their site. I'd have thought that it would be better to cover
all bases myself.
Anyway you list reasons why not to use other services (clearly you are referring to NameTrack):
1/ Most of these outfits have sprung up in the past few weeks or even past few days. We have been in business for 19 years. We will be around in another 19 years, will they?
This is irrelevant. I don't care how long you've been around. All I care is whether you can get me the domain name I want.
2/ Anyone can design a fancy website and make bold promises but do they have the technical competence to do what they claim they are doing? We host thousands of websites for clients all over the World and have our own servers in data centres in London, Nottingham and Dallas, US. One of our servers is the very latest Sun Microsystems RaQ4-512 server that runs the SnatchBack! system and is permanently connected to the Internet and interfaces directly with Nominet's Automaton to attempt to register your desired domain name every single day, 365 days a year.
Anyone can design a fancy web site? You appear to be unable too, if you don't mind me saying so.
The rest of the stuff is bordering on embaressing from your point of view. As I said above you might impress the domain name illiterate, but you won't impress me with that.
3/ With the one exception mentioned above, none of these outfits are members of Nominet. Nominet is the body setup by the UK Government that handles the registration and renewal of all .co.uk, org.uk .ltd.uk plc.uk and sch.uk domain names. Only Nominet members who are also "tag holders" can interrogate the "Automaton", Nominet's central domain registration system. Anyone else has to rely on Nominet's publicly available whois that is sometimes up to 24 hours out of date. A particularly desirable such as shopping.co.uk will almost certainly be being tracked by several Nominet members simultaneously. So even in the highly unlikely event that your low price monitoring service does everything that it claims and sends you an email advising that your domain is now available, it will probably already have been registered by a Nominet member like us 23 hours previously!
So who are these other outfits that aren't Nominet members?
4/ Even if you do get the email and no-one else has beaten you to it you still have to find a registrar to register it for you. You could go to NetNames and pay their ã100 charge for the privilege or even worse find a lowball service like UK2 who would claim to register it for "2 pence" and then pay hidden fees of hundreds of pounds over the course of the year. Our one low price includes all registration fees for the first 2 years. With our service, as soon as the domain is available we register it for you in your name. Immediately. No messing about with sending you emails to say that it was available as of 23 hours ago. When we send you an email it will be to say we have registered your domain and where would you like it to point to. No messing around, no fuss, we just get the job done.
You can also use a host of other UK resellers such as Clicknames and 123-reg who are great for UK domains. NameTrack includes 2 years of registration with any name they snap.
Summary:
Your whole attitude, both in here and on your web site, makes me
not want to have anything to do with you.
I'd been briefed on your web site just over a week ago and hadn't heard about you until then. When I read through your site I was astonished that someone offering a commerical service would stoop to the level you have done with what you have published online.
You should
not be slatting your competitors in the way you have so obviously done. What you
should be doing is competing with NameTrack and the rest through the results of your service. I have to tell you that the names you have listed at the foot of:
http://www.detagged.co.uk/detagged_domain_new.htm
are unimpressive to me. However those that NameTrack have grabbed do impress me.
I'll tell you and everyone else what I think. I don't think you can compete with NameTrack at all. I think you know that and I think it will be obvious to everyone else that you cannot either.
Martin's launched a service which whips yours and you know it. The only thing your service has going for it is it's called 'detagged.co.uk' which will draw people in on that merit alone.
If your service was any good, we wouldn't be seeing this appauling display by yourself, on here and on your web site. We'd be seeing your excellent results.
So I suggest that you think about your entire P.R. strategy and post your results on here. If you cannot compete with NameTrack then I am sorry, but that is business. In this game you compete and get results or you disappear.
