I would much rather be able to get an actual socket to the SRS during
the crucial times so I can get my own expired names without paying
Snapnames $49 / per.
Many of the resellers on this list have the technical expertise in-house
to do exactly what Snapnames is doing but are limited only by their
ability to get a socket during the crucial times.
Further, the "back-order this name" deal is IMHO bordering on vapourware.
Yes, many domains are not re-registered but the odds of any specific
name not being renewed are actually quite small, yet snapnames will
"back order" it for their fee, essentially collecting money on a service
that they will simply never be called on to provide in many cases.
NetSol is putting the "back order this domain" on their whois lookups
and it seemed typically NetSol-ish to us, especially since the domain
we looked up at the time was one of our own domains that we had registered
via NetSol, who were then pimping their own customer's domains out the
expiry channel. We remarked on how sleazy that felt.
If OpenSRS wants to get in on the expiry game, you might do better
to look at building something to compete with Snapnames and Namewinner
that you can then push downstream to your RSP's, at a premium price
and help level the playing field a bit.
I'd pay extra for some guaranteed sockets during the drop times, but not
$50 per domain.
My 0.02
-mark
On Tue, 28 Aug 2001, Mason Cole wrote:
> Dear TUCOWS Reseller:
>
> Several substantive conversations with TUCOWS' Elliot Noss and Tim Denton,
> specifically about the changing nature of registration services demand, have
> developed into working ideas about what SnapNames can bring to registrars
> and their resellers to increase conversion rates. TUCOWS has asked us to
> forward our thinking and seek your input.
>
> As everyone knows, it's very hard to register a .com name because any
> sensible word or phrase has been taken. New registrations have fallen from
> their all-time high of over 60,000 per day to about 30,000. That's why, on
> average, only 3% of customers who came to register a name actually succeed
> in doing so. To the other 97% of ready-to-buy customers, credit card in
> hand, no sale is made -- everyone is dissatisfied.
>
> Meanwhile, the number of daily deletions has risen from only about 1,000 per
> day last spring to nearly 30,000 today. What that says is there's just as a
> big a market in connecting customers with about-to-expire names as there is
> in registering new names for them. And we've confirmed that customers will
> pay substantially more to get an about-to-expire name. By operating at the
> customer's point of greatest frustration (the failed WHOIS search results),
> SnapNames' partners achieve over 9% conversion (it grows along with
> awareness) on a back-ordering service. Next to the text that says, "Sorry,
> this name is taken," partners can put a link saying, "Back-order it now". A
> lot of customers do. Our partners' revenue per clickthrough often exceeds
> US $1 per visitor.
>
> Additionally, SnapNames is the most efficient and scalable solution to the
> problem the Registry is reacting against -- we have great confidence we'll
> be a major part of the long-term solution.
>
> Our question is this: Would you be interested in OpenSRS offering SnapNames'
> back-ordering services to you, and, ultimately, to your customers?
>
> Please let us know your thoughts. We'll answer more specific questions as
> they arise and as you wish.
>
> Regards,
>
> Cameron Powell
> Vice President -- Business Development
>
> Mason Cole
> Director of Corporate Marketing
>
>
--
mark jeftovic
http://www.easydns.com
http://mark.jeftovic.net
