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Re:Domain registrar Gandi gets bought out, screws existing c... by cortic on Thursday March 09, 2023 @03:23PM (#35086170)
As an ex-customer, I'd avoid namecheap. They are expensive and have given me no end of trouble.

I currently use porkbun and namesilo with very few issues so far (about 3 years). You will need to unlock your domain and get an authorization code (EPP Key) from Gandi and then go to your new registrar and select Transfer Domain. Its fairly straight forward.

Re:Domain registrar Gandi gets bought out, screws existing c... by Alupis on Thursday March 09, 2023 @07:17PM (#35088793)
You might need to elaborate on what problems you experienced with Namecheap before promoting two relatively unknown registrars. Although, my only experience with Namecheap was for SSL certs back in the day.

What happened that drove you away?

Re:Domain registrar Gandi gets bought out, screws existing c... by _carbyau_ on Thursday March 09, 2023 @08:01PM (#35089150)
Recently moved to Porkbun. Can confirm positive impressions so far. Reasonable pricing. Straight forward webforms. 2 factor. No trying to slip extra bullshit in.

For me the purpose of a registrar is to register a domain. Porkbun might have other capabilities, but for this purpose it was wonderfully singleminded for me.

Re:Domain registrar Gandi gets bought out, screws existing c... by srik on Thursday March 09, 2023 @08:32PM (#35089338)
Could you share what troubles you had with namecheap, in vague terms at least if you don't want to be specific?
Re:Domain registrar Gandi gets bought out, screws existing c... by chillfox on Thursday March 09, 2023 @09:33PM (#35089739)
+1 on the issues with NameCheap.

1. They routinely fail to auto renew domains despite correct billing details and auto renew being on (I lost some domains to this).

2. They support premium domains, so you can be struck by lightning and randomly have the price of your domains dramatically jacked up (had to drop a domain due to this).

3. The name (NameCheap) no longer checks out, they are not cheap anymore.

They stopped being good about 2 years ago.

Re:Domain registrar Gandi gets bought out, screws existing c... by InGoodFaith on Thursday March 09, 2023 @10:47PM (#35090138)
> 2. They support premium domains, so you can be struck by lightning and randomly have the price of your domains dramatically jacked up (had to drop a domain due to this).

Do you have an example of this as it is against ICANN's rules IIRC.

The only instances I have seen about this were the posts here on HN when someone didn't read the registration price being at a discount compared to the renewal price thereafter.

If there is of course a legitimate instance of reclassification into a premium domain after the fact, you have a big case on your hands.

Re:Domain registrar Gandi gets bought out, screws existing c... by andreareina on Thursday March 09, 2023 @11:31PM (#35090410)
Maybe a premium domani the whole time, but with an "introductory offer" so it's not clear at the time?
Re:Domain registrar Gandi gets bought out, screws existing c... by chillfox on Thursday March 09, 2023 @11:50PM (#35090517)
I did not take screenshots at the time so I can not prove it.

But I remember that I specifically spent effort/time to pick a name that was not marked as premium and double/triple checked before registering. Then about 3 months after I had registered it, it all of a sudden showed as premium in my account.

From my perspective it doesn't really matter much if they made it premium after I had registered it or if it was always premium and they hid that fact and gave me an invisible discount. The end result is the same.

Re:Domain registrar Gandi gets bought out, screws existing c... by CyberShadow on Sunday March 12, 2023 @02:58PM (#35124569)
I use NameSilo but am 50/50 on it. Their control panel does not send a "Content-Type" header, which is effectively mandatory, and the support team flat out could not understand what I was talking to them when I was trying to point it out to them. It "worked" in Chrome and Firefox without add-ons and that's as far as their concern ended.