You have finally decided that you want to have an online presence. It is time for you to get your own website with your own domain name. While you are searching for a domain name and other related services for your business, you will come across some great offers! Yes, I am talking about FREE domain name offers. These days a lot of companies offer a free domain name with their product or service. A lot of web hosting companies and e commerce service providers will offer a free TLD (Top Level Domain) like .com .net or .org if you buy their service. You might be thinking to yourself: “that’s really great. I get to save money on a domain purchase!” Let me stop you right there. Think twice or even more before you take them up on their offer. A lot of companies out there use this as bait.
You must know that top level domains like .com .net and .org are not free. Someone has to pay for it to register. If a company is offering it for free that means most likely they are making up for that cost by charging you more for other services. In other words, you’re not really getting it for free.
A lot of these companies also don’t tell you about the renewal cost upfront. Most of the time, it is hidden in their small print. You must renew your domain at the end of the initial registration period if you want to keep your domain. Some companies will charge you extortionate rate for your domain renewal. Let’s say you have initially registered the domain for a year and you have established your domain name and it is printed on all your business material and you have also built up good online traffic for your site. At this point you wouldn’t definitely want to lose your domain so you will pay the renewal fee, whatever it is. The company knows it very well that you will pay that ridiculous price for renewal to keep your domain.
When you sign up for that free domain, most of the time it is registered under the company name and NOT under your name or your business name. This is one of their best blackmail tools. If your name is not on the WHOIS record as the registrant of the domain then you actually don’t have any real control over that domain. Meaning, you’re not really the owner of the domain. It also means that if you want to cancel their service and take your domain name with you, chances are it won’t be that straightforward. Now you are in a perfect position to be extorted by the company, if they want to. Since you were not the registered owner of the domain in the first place, you would most likely have to go through a change of ownership process. The shady company could charge you a great deal for change of ownership. It doesn’t end here. If you think that you want to move your domain to a new REGISTRAR then they could hit you with a big transfer fee as well! Altogether the company could stall the whole process and continue to rip you off along the way. By making the whole process a big hassle, the company will make sure you remain their customer as long as possible against your wishes.
The moral of the story is you should always register your own domain through a reputable ICANN-Accredited Registrar yourself. Domain names these days are very cheap. You can get a .com name for less than $10 a year. Going for a free domain name is false economy. Virtually all hosting or e commerce providers will give you an option to use your own domain name which you registered separately elsewhere. If you use your own pre registered domain then you can be rest assured that no matter what happens you will always have the full control and ownership of your own domain and you can cancel your hosting or any other service without being ripped off.
Having said all that, if you do decide to go for a free domain offer then read all the fine prints beforehand. Make sure you agree with renewal fees, transfer fees etc. Also make sure that your name will be in the WHOIS record as the REGISTRANT.
Good luck with your next domain purchase.
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Interesting. Now I know who and what to avoid.