Agree totaly with everything you say, Charles.
Now if you can only find a way to convince the public of that.
I agree with Adrian that most of the public only considers price or
considers price first then complains when they find the lack of service that
goes with the price.
But that does not do Tucows any good if those people register with the
company offering the lowest price nor does it do your RSPs any good. Both
Tucows and your RSPs lose when the public does this.
Unfortunately for your argument, some of those that offer lower prices also
are now offering scripts as good as the ones offered by Tucows for domain
name management.
Tucows was the first with the lowest price. Tucow was the first with
excellent management tools.
But Tucows has tried resting on it's laurels or moving in other directions
and allowed the competition to catch up and surpass them by offering a
better price and scripts as good as the ones Tucows utilize.
And at least one of them has surpassed Tucows by offering domain locking,
url redirection and email accounts at a price equal to Tucows for small RSPs
and a much lower price for those who can deal in volume.
In my opinion, and I'm sure you and the majority of the RSPs will disagree
with me, Tucows made a mistake in offering the same price to those who
register one domain name a month that they offer to those who register
hundreds per month. The small RSPs will stay with Tucows, those with volume
will go with the company that offers them the lowest price.
That $2.00 per domain year adds up to a lot of money by year's end, which,
again in my opinion, is why Tucow does not wish to give it up.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Charles Daminato
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2000 12:56 PM
To: Adrian Cooper; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Re[2]: $12 and under Domain Registration
<not speaking as agent of Tucows>
If you have been in the industry for this long, there are other factors to
consider. Price is one of them.
Manageability, support, longevity of the company you're dealing with,
community standards (these lists being part of why I love working here -
it's part of the fun!)...
There are others that have been argued before and are not my expertise to
bring up - but it boils down to more than just a $2 dollar difference. If
you spend several hours per domain finagling with it to make it work due to
poor management tools or lack of real support, that $2 'saving' doesn't
really pay for itself...
</not ...>
--
Charles Daminato
Tucows Product Manager (ccTLDs)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to
time that nothing worth knowing can be taught.
- Oscar Wilde
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Adrian Cooper
> Sent: December 1, 2000 1:37 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Re[2]: $12 and under Domain Registration
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "William X. Walsh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Friday, December 01, 2000 5:40 PM
>
> This isn't about whether domain registration is the entire
> business, or merely a
> subset of it, but one of absolute competitiveness. Having been in
> the computer
> industry for over 20 years, and established three national companies based
> firstly on competitiveness, as well of course as service and
> value generally, I
> think I know what I am talking about based upon hard experience.
>
> It doesn't matter where the service sits in relation to your
> business plan, if
> you are going to do it, them you have to do it properly, i.e
> competitively - or
> not at all - a token effort won't do.
>
> 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
> fact is - if we can't compete, while offering a first rate
> service, we won't
> offer the service at all, because we know for a fact that people
> will go through
> the mags and websites and go to the cheapest source first and
> find out about the
> service later. OK - they might make a mistake, but once that domain is
> registered, they usually have it for good.
>
> 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.
>
> This is all about psychology whether registering domain,
> providing ISP services,
> selling computer hardware, software, whatever - the tendency of
> most customers
> is to first migrate towards the cheapest source, and if 10,000
> customers do
> that, then you are $20,000 per year down if you are too
> expensive. I guess it is
> down to this - would you prefer to have 20% of something, or 100%
> of nothing?
> Holding out for a $2 on principle is all very well - but it don't
> pay the bills.
>
> I am not a cheapskate or anything near - it is just that
> experience has proven
> time and again, that to suceed, especially in something as
> generic as a domain
> name, is to compete effectively.
>
> Cooper.
>
>
>
> > Hello Adrian,
> >
> > I would counter that if any value added reseller is depending on
> > domain registration alone as a source of income, regardless of which
> > ICANN registrar they are using as their supplier, then they are making
> > a big mistake business wise.
> >
> > As a value added reseller, where domain registration is just one part
> > of the bigger picture, the issue of a $1 or $2 becomes insignificant.
> >
> > Friday, December 01, 2000, 9:02:48 AM, you wrote:
> >
> > > Hi:
> >
> > > New to the list, but very long time in the business.
> >
> > > I would like very much to use OpenSRS - but in today's increasingly
> competitive
> > > (and increasingly so) domain registration environment, $10 is looking
> distinctly
> > > expensive, and accordingly not allowing OpenSRS based sellers
> to compete
> > > effectively with sub-$10 retailers.
> >
> > > I would not mention other ICANN registrars on this list for reasons of
> protocol,
> > > but we can register domains now for $8, and a $2 leeway in
> this business is
> > > big - well 20% in fact.
> >
> > > What's the prognosis? Is OpenSRS to stick at $10, or add a degree of
> > > competitiveness and flexibility into the situation?
> >
> > > Adrian Cooper.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > >> RSP's,
> > >>
> > >> I have found several websites that will register domain names for
> > >> $9-$10, but would prefer to register some of my domain names
> > >> with an OpenSRS reseller (because of the manage.opensrs.net
> > >> page which allows me control over my administrative information).
> > >> I am willing to pay up to $12 per registration.
> > >>
> > >> Please contact me off the list.
> > >>
> > >> Thanks,
> > >>
> > >> Lee
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Best regards,
> > William mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >
>
