Hello Adrian,
> As it is - the main component of this particular business is Internet messaging,
> but we intend to offer an extended domain registration service as well. But - it
> just won't do to say to customers "by the way - we will register your domain for
> you, providing you will pay a $2 premium for it" - they tend to say why?. The
Adrian, if you are offering a premium service, $1 to $2 isn't going to
make a difference to the decision of the customer to do business with
you. Many value added resellers absorb the cost of the domain
registration, for instance, as a part of their overall business
package.
> Let us also not forget that we are not merely talking about $1 or $2 in
> isolation here, but that amount every single year, and if a person has a domain
> for very many years, and you have very domains registered - that is alot of
> money to gain in accumulation.
It really isn't. And if these customers are going to make a decision
on your service based on the difference in price on one component in
that service being $1 or $2 more, then chances are they weren't too
keen on your offer in the first place.
If you provide a quality service, the small difference in price
doesn't really matter. This is based on real world experience.
I have people who have come to me and transferred their domains away
from those cheaper registration services, simply because they
recognize that you get what you pay for. These are people who are now
paying almost twice what they could have paid through one of those
lowball registration services.
There are extensive discussions in the archives of the
[EMAIL PROTECTED] list on the price issue. You will see that many
of us, myself included, do not see the price issue as being of that
much importance. We are much more concerned about OpenSRS continuing
to innovate in this arena and providing us with a quality service we
can continue to interface to and offer to our customers.
As someone else said, if price is that much of an issue, you probably
shouldn't be dealing with any registrar, but should become a registrar
yourself. Why? Because you will never be the lowest price for domain
names. NEVER. There will always be places that are selling domains
at cost or just above, or even just below, as a loss leader. There
are many places offering domains at $5.99 or $6.00 or $6.99. There
are places that have run 2 week specials for $1 for one year, and
other places that are giving them away for free.
If you are trying to compete by offering the lowest price, its a
hopeless battle, and one that many of us would much rather not see
OpenSRS get involved in. The sacrifice would have to come from
somewhere, and if that involves quality of service and development
areas, that is unacceptable.
--
Best regards,
William mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
