Hi all, I just spoke to a new hosting client about his domain registrar and I'm not sure if what they are doing is even legal or contravenes CIRA's rules.
The registrar apparantly accepts payment for multiple domain years, and yet, does not actually pay CIRA for them. My client paid them for 5 years and I noticed that his expiry date showed Dec. 2001. I asked him about this and when he contacted the registrar, he was told that they had a problem with people registering for multiple years and then transferring their domain elsewhere...therefore they only register one year at a time and the money is held in trust in the meantime. My first thought was what if they went out of business? I know I would not be comfortable dealing with a registrar who did this, but it may be common practice for all I know. The other thing that irked my client was that they openly pass along the credit card fees. They advertise the price as $x.xx but when you are billed, they tack the 4% credit card fee on top! I know that is against my credit card merchant agreement. Makes me wonder. Needless to say, even though I charge $10 more to register domains than this company, my client is using us to register them from now on! Curious to hear what everyone else thinks of these business practices. I also apologize if this is received more than once, I had trouble sending. Heather The Net Now
