(09-13-2020, 02:10 PM)deanhills Wrote: I'm wondering whether any one else has experienced the same recently?  Today when I checked on one of my domains that has a renewal date later in the month, I noticed that the renewal charge was just 3$ I couldn't believe it. I expected something in the order of between 8$-10. It's not a TLD - it has an extension of .review, but still.  For me Namecheap always hits a person hard with renewals, like it's always more expensive.  Anyway, so instead of 1 year I decided to renew it for 3 years and felt I got a great deal for the day.  

Wonder whether there are more good deals at Namecheap.  Like just when I was considering changing to another Registrar, maybe Namecheap has woken up that it's got more expensive than other Registrars?  

Just checked and these are the latest promos on offer at Namecheap.  I just noticed they're now into VPN as well.  Wonder how good it would be.
https://www.namecheap.com/promos/

(09-13-2020, 02:14 PM)sAmI Wrote: Does it happens like when you ever renew a domain on namecheap the renewal is usually high?

(09-13-2020, 11:23 PM)deanhills Wrote: I find the renewal for dot.net compared with the purchase of the domain usually much higher.  Like with my dot.nets it's rare that there is a good opportunity for more than one year at a time.  But who knows, for my .review lower level domains maybe the renewal could have been $5 before, but then at $3 it's still a good deal.  I still feel like ankle clicking.

@ikk157  I still want to try porkbun.  I've heard really great reports about them.  

I notice that Namecheap currently has specials on .com around $8.  But for dot.net a new domain seems to be around 12$ as a special.  With renewals I've been paying around 14$ for the dot.net renewals - they've been creeping up and up.  Funnily enough I don't own any dot.coms right now.  Maybe they're not as popular as they used to be so that's why one can get cheap deals.  I also notice Namecheap has cheap deals with .co although .co has never appealed to me - looks like a chopped off .com to me     I have 6 dot.nets.  3 .review type lower level domains.  And the 3 free dot.tk I've managed to renew for a few years now.  The dot.tk ones have become almost nostalgic, but ironically for Freenom's not so good reputation, my experience has been very positive, including the technical Freenom registrar site and DNS that propagates almost immediately.  Now and then there's a hick up like I have lost the odd domain arbitrarily from Freenom, but for being free for my more experimental type Websites that don't generate any traffic I like Freenom.

I feel quite proud of myself.  I used to have about 25 or more domains, and over the last 2 years have managed to reduce the number to 12 - including 3 free domains from dot.tk. For me it was difficult to do as I really cling to the domains - took lots of self-discipline.  Let's see whether I can let go of some more.

(09-14-2020, 08:59 AM)ikk157 Wrote: As for namecheap providing .com domains for $8, sorry bud, porkbun has those for $4.15 
It seems as though porkbun’s pricing is unbeatable haha (well as of the time of writing this at least).

But holly hell how did you manage the chaos of dealing with 25+ domains.... even the 12 you currently have is still a lot! What do you even use that many domains for?

(09-14-2020, 03:06 PM)deanhills Wrote: $4.15 for a .com sounds like a steal.  I've decided to work through my blogs from Thursday onwards, and who knows, maybe I'll purchase a new domain through porkbun.  Should be fun to do after such a long time.

You're right.  Having so many domains was chaotic.  I use an Excel spreadsheet for my domains.  Arranged by Name of domain, Registrar, Web Host, and Due Date of Renewal.  I arrange it by due date.  I'm more or less OK with renewing paid domains, but every now and then with Freenom, because it only gives you 2 weeks before the due date to renew, I've forgotten.  Sometimes I then got lucky to reregister the Freenom domain, but have lost the odd domain that way.  But since the Freenom domains aren't a big deal for me, I just get a new extension.

I'm aware of their business practices.  I guess it makes sense as that is why the domains are given free.  They want you to build traffic for them in exchange for getting it free.  The part that is very unethical for me however is that friends of mine have built huge traffic, and then when this happened, they weren't given first choice in purchasing the domain. The domain just disappeared overnight without advance warning.  So I'll never use a Freenom domain for a Website that may get traffic.  I used to have a great number of Freenom domains at one stage.  Think it was around 2014 when Freenom was dot.tk, that some bright spark decided to check through all domains.  I then lost a few.  That was the time when I noticed the greatest number of Forum discussions and complaints about their business practices.  I also sent complaints to dot.tk as the domains they removed had been active.  I didn't receive any responses.  But since then complaints seem to have quitened a little.  Also, I only have 3 Freenom domains now and make sure they are always online.

(09-14-2020, 04:59 PM)ikk157 Wrote: I do have to say, having some sort of database (excel in your case) to keep track of all of your domains is quite smart... certainly gets the job done.

I believe the complaints on freenom’s shady tactics have quitened down simply because people now avoid them unless they’re hella desperate to get a free domain name. While trading the risk in for getting the domain free might seem reasonable, it doesn’t justify the fact that freenom doesn’t warn people even before they register their free domains on what could happen if their domain receives enough traffic (unless it’s hidden somewhere in their terms that no one ever reads).

And good luck getting anything productive out of sending complaints to freenom against their own business tactics... they will for sure see it and ignore it.

As for you deciding on working on your blogs, would love it if you could link us to them! Obviously, like myself, you might not want to have people over here looking through your stuff... in that case, it’s completely up to you whether you’d want to share your blog with us or not.

• https://dealsdy.com/
  
• https://www.retailmenot.com
  
• https://www.joinhoney.com