> Unfortunately, according to ICANN mandate, all the information has to be
> correct and verifiable - or you may lose the domain for compliance
reasons.
> Sad, but true.
BUT I think I have heard somewhere on this list that ICANN permits
Registrar
to conceal customer's info, based on customer's preference. Then the
Registrar would disclose it based on request (WHICH WOULD ELIMINATE
99% of domain related SPAM, since a spammer would find it too costly to
retrieve
customer's data one by one request per domain)
I am actually considering this feature as an extremely valuable add-on to
standard
offering - many of our customers requested this feature.
In the world of 8.95 retail domains we need to be able to stay on forefront
of
innovation of value added services where it would make sense to our client
to
pay more in retail price in exchange for special features they cannot obtain
from
a discounter. Most of us are web hosts and web designers, working hard at
low margins to attract domain customers who if served well by our customer
service - would become our hosting clients when they are ready to start a
new
site - so something like BizLand spam to everyone of the folks who
registered
the domain with us and very undesirable to say the least.
We are planning to implement the PRIVACY FEATURE where customer actually
submits correct data, but if they choose privacy feature, their contact info
will be
cloaked by our standard protection contact info, such as
ORGANIZATION NAME: disclosed upon request at www.webadress.com/contactlookup
DITTO for the rest of the info
Plus our email /phone contact
(email cloaking prevents spam to the client, however at renewal time may
generate
bit of manual work to trigger reminders)
The web address would then contain link to a database where anyone can look
up the actual info in exchange for providing THEIR info.
The only thing that is stopping us from having it actually online is
'overworked-underpaid'
syndrome as we need to program logistics of creating a local database,
connecting
it to OpenSRS plus the requirement of being able to communicate to the
customer
at renewal time via automated method....
Anyhow... what do you Guys and Gals think? Is anyone willing to chip in and
then we
can all share the code? Or perhaps OpenSRS development team can help? In
my
humble opinion a single feature such as this one will increase our sales,
will promote
customer retention, will separate us from the rest of the pack of the domain
sites, will
protect us the resellers from most of the unwanted SPAM and will give
customers the
level of privacy they desire, not mentioning we will be offering something
no one else (
except very few sites).
We heavily advertised .TV and .UK domains for past few months - our stats
show an average
of 10 .TV years registered per 1000 domain years total, UK sales are
similar.... so in terms
of us joining on other exotic domains such as .VC or .whatever - probably
not... As programing time
at OpenSRS is allocated to each new adventure, I would like to propose and
perhaps hear
fellow resellers feedback on this PRIVACY feature. I think protecting our
customers's privacy
would definitely bring in more revenues than 10 .TV years per 1000 years
registered, give us
some ADVERTISING messages to shout..... huh... I am repeating myself....
Have a great holiday weekend everyone
Cheers
Genie Livingstone
Magi Inc
http://www.eyeondomain.com
