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Your domain name is a valuable asset. If you
are marketing your business effectively, your domain name appears
everywhere your phone number and address appear... on your business
cards, stationery, Yellow Pages ad, etc. You spent a lot of time,
energy, and money marketing your domain name, right? So the last thing
you want to have happen is to have your registration lapse, freeing up
your domain name for someone else (possibly your competitors?) to
register and use it as their own. So, of course you want to make sure
that your domain name registration remains current.
There are several companies in the world
that handle domain name registrations. These companies (referred to as
"registrars") offer you the opportunity to register a domain name so
that you can use it as your website address. In order to register a
name, you must do so through an accredited registrar. Until recently,
Network Solutions was the only accredited registrar. However, ICANN, the
governing body in such matters, opened up domain name registration to
competition in 1999, and now there are literally thousands of registrars
who would like you to register your name through them. (An
appropriate analogy would be the case of AT&T. Several years ago, AT&T
lost their monopoly on long distance telephone service and other
providers such as MCI and Sprint entered the scene, giving customers a
choice of plans and prices)
This deregulation leads to the
possibility of unscrupulousness. Much like the long distance carriers,
these competing registrars want nothing more than to convince you to
switch your registration from your existing registrar to them, offering
lower prices, etc. There have been two disturbing trends in recent
months. While they are both legitimate on the surface, they are
potentially misleading to you, the domain name owner. If you get one of
the following notices, please make sure you know what you are agreeing
to before you commit to anything.
Domain name "slamming" - You
receive an official looking bill notifying you that your domain name
registration will be up for renewal shortly. By paying the renewal fee
you retain your name for another year (or varying period of time). Upon
reading the fine print, what you will find is that you are authorizing
the transfer of your domain name from your existing registrar to a
different one. If you are presented with this opportunity, research the
potential new registrar to make sure that they are accredited and will
service you in the manner that you require.
False competition - You receive
notification, usually through e-mail, that since you are listed as the
owner of the domain name "www.yourdomainname.com", you are being
notified that someone, possibly your competitor, is in the process of
"stealing your identity" by registering the domain name "www.yourdomainname.net"
or "www.yourdomainname.ws" or something similar. Of course, since you
had the dot com name first, they feel obligated to offer you the new
name first so that you can protect your identity. The reality is that no
registrar has the authority to offer this kind of deal. More likely,
they checked to see who owned the dot com name (you) and are hoping to
make a quick buck by scaring you into buying additional names. In truth,
there is no "competitor" about to buy the name. Of course, there is no
harm in securing additional domain names, but if it is presented to you
in this way it is most likely a scam. |
