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Economics of Membership

Discussion in 'Business Discussions' started by bonusmedia, Jul 14, 2016.

  1. bonusmedia

    bonusmedia Well-Known Member

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    Has anyone done an analysis of how many .uk domains you need to make having a tag worthwhile since the price hike?

    I've a feeling Edwin did but looked through several hundred posts and can't find it, the fu is weak today.

    Also can anyone comment on how easy it is to manage domains directly, is there much more involved than there would be with a registrar with a decent control panel.

    I've thought about this before but wasn't sure if I'd keep half of the domains I have. With the new prices it might be worthwhile anyway?
     
  2. Domain Forum

    Acorn Domains Elite Member

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  3. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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  4. baldidiot United Kingdom

    baldidiot Active Member

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    We got a tag a few months ago and I'd say it's definitely worth it. I can't remember the break even point but was definitely better for us. Even more so since the price change as the difference between nominet and registrars is bigger now.

    Control panel is fine. Bit more of a faff for certain things, but less than some registrars.

    Only thing to be aware of is nominet don't offer any kind of DNS service - most of the time you'll just use a hosts nameservers for a site, but if you're doing anything else (eg: redirecting a domain to another one, mapping a domain using using cname records etc..) then you'll either need your own nameservers, a DNS service somewhere or pass it through your host.

    ---

    Quick beer mat maths:

    Nominet Domain price - £3.75 + VAT
    Elsewhere - £6.99 + VAT

    So £3.24 a year cheaper (+ VAT).

    Costs - £400 + VAT and £100 + VAT / Year.

    So you need 31 domains to cover the annual cost in savings. If you have over 125 you'll also cover the cost of signing up for membership in your first year.
     
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  5. anthony United Kingdom

    anthony Well-Known Member

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    £400+VAT seems a lot just to join up, at this stage in Nominet's existance it would have no effect matching that to the annual renewal rate.
     
  6. monaghan United Kingdom

    monaghan Well-Known Member

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    The value of membership is more than just financial though. Factor in the costs of doing the domain management and dealing with 3rd party systems.

    With membership you have complete control over your domains, no 3rd party to mess things up, it does of course put the responsibility on your shoulders though.

    Yes you need a DNS service for any domains you are not hosting or parking on sedo (or other parking) platform, but you can put that on a cheap VPS.

    If you want a simple to use management system with EPP client, you could get WHMCS (some VPS's will come with it bundled).
     
  7. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    Most of us deal with ICANN registrars or sometimes their resellers when we register gTLDs and other ccTLDs. Many of those are also perfectly capable .uk ccTLD registrars too.

    That doesn't seem very smart to me. I don't entrust the DNS of my most important domain names to my own DNS on any VPS despite feeling I'm fairly competent in that area because things can go wrong requiring me to fix it and fairly quickly to likely avoid data loss.

    Thanks. I must take a look.
     
  8. monaghan United Kingdom

    monaghan Well-Known Member

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    You wouldn't think so by the regular XXX company lost my domain threads here and all over the place

    Perhaps you should re-read what you quoted! I did state DNS for non-hosted or parked domains, naturally if there is anything of value, it naturally wants to be on a "proper" system.
     
  9. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    Fortunately with respect to .uk we possibly have one of the best registries for directly solving customer related issues.

    It seems probable that any registrar can make an error, not withstanding ones own mistakes when trying to do it oneself. Same with web hosting firms. More often than not most receive a satisfactory experience.

    Operating a competent Nominet registrar is not as easy as signing up for a registrant or reseller account with another registrar in my opinion. I've witnessed some in this forum simply not understanding the differences between registrar and registrant with respect to what they were trying to do in WDM, probably having signed up because they felt they wanted the absolute cheapest price (a saving of pence per name). I continue to stress that it isn't a "super Registrant" service.

    Yes. Thanks! :)

    I have two questions I'm going to put to Daily, a registrar that charges pence above wholesale when bulk credits are purchased (see my first post).

    1. Do they charge for either registrant change or registrar tag change?

    2. Do the credits have an expiration date, and if so how long after purchase?

    I shall report back.
     
  10. Admin

    Admin Administrator Staff Member

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    How many .uk domains do you have? Personally, I like having a tag and would recommend it. The control panel doesn't require any specialist knowledge and although I do have frustrations with certain aspects of it, I would never surrender my tag and recommend it for anyone with a decent number of domains (like 200+)... this is not based on hard maths though.
     
  11. pberry4032 United Kingdom

    pberry4032 Active Member

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    Do you have a vested interest in Daily as you mention them and their domain deals a lot?
     
  12. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    If I did why would I be asking them questions?
     
  13. pberry4032 United Kingdom

    pberry4032 Active Member

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    To make it look like you're not involved [emoji849]
     
  14. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    Why would I want to do that? You're being very silly.
     
  15. pberry4032 United Kingdom

    pberry4032 Active Member

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    Serious observation to be fair. You mention that one company a lot so only fair if I ask if you have a vested interest.
     
  16. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure you'd believe me whatever I said so perhaps contact Daily.co.uk and ask them. :)
     
  17. pberry4032 United Kingdom

    pberry4032 Active Member

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    Only asking. No need to get so defensive.
     
  18. bonusmedia

    bonusmedia Well-Known Member

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    Thanks all, very helpful.

    Invincible, are you now or have you ever been in league with the lizard people?

    Some say he is forked of tongue, of course he'll just deny it
     
  19. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    :) I mention Daily where it's relevant to the thread and I'm not currently aware of any other registrar that offers substantially discounted domain name credits. I've never had an account with them or domain name with them but other members here have done. If I didn't mention it where relevant it's possible nobody else would. I don't post about them otherwise, as far as I am aware.

    Perhaps I should pop along to "the bar" and join in with the non domain name relevant discussion instead.
     
  20. pberry4032 United Kingdom

    pberry4032 Active Member

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    Fair reply, that's all it required although not the little bit at the end.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  21. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    I have received a reply from Ray Supple, Operations Director at Daily.co.uk. I met him earlier this year at a Nominet event but otherwise we've never communicated until now. He was happy for me to republish his answers. I myself have never had, or logged into, an account with or had a domain name managed by Daily.co.uk.

    Q1 (Me) - Do Daily.co.uk charge for .uk domain name registrant changes (since you are an accredited channel partner so have the ability to change registrant name details directly)?

    A1 (Ray@Daily) - No, we don’t charge for legal registrant changes – all done in the customer control panel as well.

    Q2 (Me) - Do Daily.co.uk charge for registrar tag changes out to another registrar?

    A2 (Ray@Daily) - No, no charges for tag changes away either.

    Q3 (Me) - How long do bulk credit packs last (e.g. 250 and 1000 credits) for .uk domain names? I haven’t been able to find details of any expiration dates.

    A3 (Ray@Daily) - There’s no expiration date (that’s one of the selling points really, as a good way to protect against any price hikes from the registries).

    I calculated the figures here previously and still believe they are correct. It appears to be well over 1,000 domain names under management to justify the financials alone, disregarding other pros and cons of being a registrar.