What's the difference between cheap and expensive domain registrars?

Question

A few years ago I registered a domain with Network Solutions. In recent years I've been using cheaper services such as namecheap, powerpipe etc.

Every time that I need to renew some of the older domains with Network Solutions I am surprised at how much expensive they are. What is the reason for the price differences between the services? Why should I use a service like Network Solutions if there are so many companies out there that offer domain registration for a very cheap price?

Answer 1

Price differences can be explained for the following reasons:

• Support and customer service. Having people on call 24/hours a day to answer questions, and fix problems is expensive, cheaper hosts don't have the money to offer this support. Redundancy may be better for the more expensive players as well.
• Name recognition. Companies that advertise heavily have to pay for the marketing, but also companies with big name recognition can charge more as people tend to go with brands over no names due to a sense of quality (this may be undeserved!). Put simply if I have only heard of network solutions and no other company I am vastly more likely to become their customer.
• No need to discount. Discounters are trying to gain more customers usually at the expense of existing players. Discounting is a way of entering a mature market. The big names already have prominence and do not need to discount.
• Market. Companies that are primarily supporting large companies can charge way more than companies aiming at small users and personal websites. A company that’s hosting their single domain isn't looking to penny pinch, a guy who wants to host his blog is much more likely to be looking for a deal. Large companies in general are used to dropping large amounts of money on IT costs, and usually look for strong support contracts.

Answer 2

I would nearly always buy on lowest price, but service is important too, so...

To analyze this, first of all, I will lay aside the really expensive registrars and also the really crappy services, both of which I would simply avoid, though others may have their reasons for choosing such services, I can see no point in paying 10 or 20 times the going rate for a domain, and neither can i see any point in saving mere pennies per year while sacrificing a decent registrar interface.

So aside from those providers my reasons for paying more/less within the remainder of the playing field in my opinion would go like this:

The two important things for me are A) quality/style/structure/capability etc of the domains control panel and B) provider support system. If I get a high quality control panel for my domains which has a fair bit of capability and this is backed up with quality support plus a decent help/knowledge base/community then I'd consider that worth extra money, how much really depends on how much time a person spends working with the domains and the capabilities they require ( dns zone, push etc )

That's how it should work ! But I have to tell you that in my experience the cheaper providers often paradoxically give more in this regard, which is why I tend to just buy on price in the end, even though I would still pay more if I had to.

Answer 3

I have been developing and maintaining Web sites for a decade and I have used many different registrars and hosting services.

The best, by far, has been Network Solutions.

The #1 reason they are the best, for me, is their service. You can always get someone on the phone to assist with your inquiry/issue.

Moreover, with NS, you do not have to worry about them shutting down and you losing your domain or the many other issues that can occur with smaller registrars and resellers.

When it comes to registrars, you get what you pay for.