What are some examples of what you have come across in domain registration agreements that took you by surprise or killed a deal?
Restrictions on transfers away from the registrar?
Charges for transfers away?
Extra fees "IF" you do something that would be routine?
Penalties for doing what you might ordinarily do with a domain elsewhere?
Ever get a email from your domain registrar that surprised you: "Dear Bob. Please be advised that . . . because you did XYZ with your domain . . and that violates/etc. the domain registration agreement provision . . "
What's out there in domain registration and domain "sale/deal" land that when you finally fully grasped what you agreed to terms your reaction was "I wish THAT was put in bold print somewhere near the beginning of the registration process . . . 'cause I never would have agreed to it if it was pointed out".
PLEASE: For the purpose of this thread just post the current relevant language (not the whole TOS but the operative language) that - when you became aware of the terms - your response was in the nature of "What the #$#^!".
Remember that our focus is educational, so keep it to the facts. I have found that facts tend to speak for themselves, so you needn't embellish the facts with "This is the stoopidest . . . ". We'll know it when we see it. :)
One of my favorite provisions in many online agreements is the provision that says "Now that you have paid, IF we entirely rewrite this agreement you're still gonna be bound by its terms sucka! That's such a lovely proviso, especially if you just moved #### domains to the new registrar at $$,$$$ expense. I can't say that this has been an issue for me, but I've had a few occassions in the distant past where "things changed" that - at the very least - made my operations less efficient.
your recipient of the bills has neither paid the bill for your domain nor replied to our reminder. We therefore request that you pay the due amount immediately or ensure that the recipient of the bills does so.
Should the due amount not have arrived at our account by the appropriate date, nic.tld reserves the right to cancel the domain and to reallocate it. Please not that cancellation of a domain does not cancel outstanding unpaid bills and that the company may employ legal measure to retrieve payment.
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"recipient of bills" = registrar
Letter arrived by mail from the registry (a ccTLD)
- Technical restrictions, such as number of nameservers. For most registries, the limit is 13 nameservers, though some registries limit this to a smaller number, such as 5. But some registrars have their own technical limitations, for example, 2 or 3, regardless of the capabilities of the registry.
It's also nice if they emailed the customer saying "we made changes to this and that. Please click the link below to reaffirm your agreement. If you do not agree to the terms, you must transfer your registration elsewhere blah blah blah."
Of course, no one does that 'coz the end-user won't bother doing that at all...if it gets to their email, that is. :)
But really, registrars are no different from any other kind of business. With some people suing left and right, it only makes sense to print and state their limits their liability to keep their potential losses to a minimum.
All in all, few people just bother to read the fine print anyway. :P
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Just an add-on: WebWork, did you create this thread because of that other one where joeking lost his domain and posted that excerpt from that registrar's legal fine print?
WebWork, did you create this thread because of that other one where joeking lost his domain and posted that excerpt from that registrar's legal fine print?
In part because of that DZ. I somewhat suspected there would be exculpatory language in the agreement.
Just seems like an opportune time to discuss some of the niceties of the domain registration process. :)
Sort of a "consumer awareness" thread, brought to us by those who either have been stung, zinged, or otherwise educated by painful experience.
I went to the registrar's website to do a little domain business, I was using their checkout system, I hit the "pay now" button AND thanks to forgetting to check a certain little box I had a chance to observe that I was about to agree to being (irreversibly?) charged $1,798.50.
Why so?
Well, last time I used their system I was pricing out a managed server package for a year. Guess what? The system graciously reinserted all that price/purchase info into the shopping cart - about 3 days after I had checked out the prices. Talk about getting blindsided.
Thank heavens for a little oversight on my part. Failed to check that little box about "Do you agree . . "
HolyMotherOfDNS! No! I do NOT agree and thank-you very much. :)
Argh! Humanity strikes again.
