DomainsNext.com - Warning! Anti-competitive practice

[frank hagan]

I've been pretty happy with DomainsNext.com, and was considering becoming an affilliate with them (in fact, I signed up). Then, in doing my research on affilliate programs, I decided to change the registrar on one of my domain names to track the progress of the OTHER registrar.

I found out that DomainsNext, sometime in the last 6 months, has changed their Terms of Service to include restrictive requirements and fees to change registrars. I don't believe this is legal and binding, although they have not responded yet to my inquiry.

They now require a $15 fee to change registrars, plus a notarized letter ($10) and the payment must be by cashier's check or money order (another $2 or so). You must include the last 4 digits of your credit card used to originally register the domain, or a picture ID. Besides the time invested, if I wanted to transfer all 11 of my domain names from them, it would cost me nearly $300.

I believe these policies are not intended to prevent transfer fraud, but simply are a means to prevent customers from leaving. As such, they are anti-competitive and may be illegal under the laws of the state of California.

If you registered a domain name before 6/5/2003 with domainsnext.com, you registered under the old TOS, which did not have these fees. I don't know when they changed their TOS, but the 'Net Wayback Machine at http://web.archive.org has the 6/5/2003 copy archived (and does not yet have the new version archived). That leads me to believe this is a very recent change.

In the interests of fairness, domainsnext.com is a reseller for the accredited registrar ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM, but itsyourdomain.com does not have the fees in its TOS. I suspect this is something being done just by the reseller, domainsnext.com

[swiftdomain]

I would complain to itsyourdomain.com. NO REGISTRAR should restrict you from moving away from them. Perhaps the netsol free transfer promo hit them hard

[frank hagan]

I complained to ICANN and itsyourdomain.com ... domainsnext.com might be in violation of their affilliate/reseller agreement with itsyourdomain.com; there is some language that they can't change the terms of the program.

So far, no one has responded to me, and the domain name is still not transferred. I'll keep everyone updated, but until then, don't use these guys!

[swiftdomain]

Does not suprise me with icann, they are rarely helpful.

[frank hagan]

So far, only ItsYourDomain.com has responded to my emails. They have been very nice, but not very helpful.

After mentioning that I thought DomainsNext.com was violating their TOS posted for their resellers, they asked for clarification. Here's my email to them, and their response:

Hi Brian,

Thanks for your response. Here is why I think domainsnext.com is violating the terms of their affilliate agreement with you:

------------------ begin quote --------------------------

6. Policies and Pricing
Customers who register domain names through the Program will be deemed to be customers of ItsYourDomain.com. Accordingly, all of our rules, policies, and operating procedures concerning customer applications, customer service, and sales of our services will apply to those customers. We may change our policies and operating procedures at any time. For example, we will determine the prices to be charged for ItsYourDomain.com domain name registration services and other domain name services sold through the Program in accordance with our own pricing policies. Service prices may vary from time to time.

----------------- end quote -------------------------------

I believe the phrase "all of our rules, policies and operating procedures" is inclusive, and includes your policies concerning registrar transfers as part of your overall customer service.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Brian Toon of ItsYourDomain.com responded:

DomainsNext is one of our major resellers and they have a different agreement with us other than the general agreement posted on our website.

We understand DomainsNext has certain provisions regarding transfers, but unfortunately, ICANN does not have a policy regarding registrar transfers and they do not govern Registrar Resellers. The fact is, you did not purchase through us, did not pay us, but by purchasing through DomainsNext you have agreed to abide by their Terms Of Service. We are hoping you can handle this issue directly through DomainsNext as we have not done any
business with you directly.

I thanked Brian for his responses (at least he responded, something DomainsNext.com has not done yet). I told him, with a copy to DomainsNext.com that I understood his position, but that DomainsNext was trying to apply a new policy to a name I obtained when their TOS matched the ItsMyDomain.com TOS. In the email, I mentioned that I will start the process rolling to see if the state Attorney General feels the practice is anti-competitive enough to rise to the level of unfair competition.

In the meantime, I will have to renew one of my domain name registrations by giving the DomainsNext.com the fee. Its a shame I'm forced into a business relationship with people with questionable policies; I certainly would not associate with them voluntarily. And I will do my best to warn people about their practices.

[Chicken]

Good luck, I dealt with a registrar which is ICANN accredited (totalnic), and their transfer policy is ridicuous and ICANN wasn't willing to do anything about them so I'm not sure where that leaves you. Itsyourdomain is correct in saying that your beef is with DomainsNext, though it never hurts for people to write the registrar (Itsyourdomain) and put some pressure on them.

I've talked with some very helpful people at Itsyourdomain, however I honestly don't think there's much they can/will do in this case.

[frank hagan]

While ItsYourDomain.com denies any responsibility, the FAQ at Internic and ICANN states that in regards to resellers like DomainsNext.com:

Some of these accredited registrars offer their services through resellers, which may provide assistance in completing the registration process. Your registration contract, however, will be with the accredited registrar and that registrar will maintain your contact information.

So if our contracts are really with the accredited registrar, can the reseller enforce a TOS that is not the same as the contract we entered into?

The FAQ isn't a legal document, but I think I'll raise this issue with ICANN and ItsYourDomain again and see what they think.

[bd9816]

I just got done writing some interesting emails about this to icann etc. I guess there is nothing anyone can do about this.. I thought I was carefull when it came to internet, but I guess the "Terms may change anytime without any prior notice" got me. If anyone thinks anything can be done, let me know. I will do the best i can.

[frank hagan]

So far, all I have found is that DomainsNext can get away with this. The only recourse we have is to either pay what they say and then sue them, or live with it.

I have to renew the domains, but I'm actually doing it at ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM, which uses the same backend. The renewal happened when I paid them instead of DOMAINSNEXT.COM, so I'm hoping it at least takes the renewal money away from DOMAINSNEXT.COM. I'm paying a few dollars more, but if it keeps the crooks at DOMAINSNEXT from getting any money, its worth it. I'll let several of my domains expire, but I have two or three I have to keep.

[bd9816]

I will renew at itsyourdomain.com then. At least it won't be a complete defeat to me. and somehow I can explain to my ego that it is still alright. btw, I wrote a pretty stupid email to domainsnext and they had a detective call me this morning and go FBI and homeland security on me (he was vary understanding though).
no need to stratch this anymore though, at least for me.

I guess I got the last laugh

[frank hagan]

Well, I initiated another transfer for the same domain name that I renewed through ITSYOURDOMAIN rather than DOMAINSNEXT. The registrar of record is ITSYOURDOMAIN now, so I'm hoping the domain name change goes through.

[Chicken]

Sounds like you have a good shot at it. Let us know if that works.

::crosses fingers::

[frank hagan]

Here's the latest. I initiated a transfer for the domain name I renewed directly with the accredited registrar, ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM, and recieved the form letter from DOMAINSNEXT.COM along with their new standard anti-competitive clause to prevent free and open competition:

If the domain name is eligible for transfer, the registrant of the
domain name must provide us with the following:

1. The domain name to be transferred, correctly spelled.
2. Your DomainsNext.com user name.
3. The last 4 numbers of the credit card you used to register the domain name, or a valid picture ID.
4. A letter of intent to transfer the domain name naming the ICANN registrar you wish to transfer your domain name to (SIGNED AND NOTARIZED)
5. Processing fees of $15.00 per domain in the form of a money order or cashiers check, made payable to DomainsNext.com.

I responded with this message, and sent a CC to ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM:

This is not your domain to refuse. It was registered at ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM, and my credit card was billed by ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM under their TOS.

I expect this domain transfer request to be honored. If I have to pay your anti-competitive and ridiculous fees, I will and then sue you in small claims court in the County of Ventura, where I live.

Brian Ford from ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM, who has always been a gentleman by at least responding to my emails (something DOMAINSNEXT.COM has never done), responded asking for clarification:

If I understand your situation correctly you registered your domain through Domainsnext.com. As such, you are governed by the terms and policies of Domainsnext.com. We do not and cannot control the business agreement between you and them. In order for the transfer to be completed you must contact Domainsnext.com directly. If you feel that ItsYourDomain.com is in violation of the registrar agreement please direct me to the appropriate provisions and I will gladly forward this to our legal department for review.

My response to him is as follows:

Hi Brian,

Check your records. On January 14 I paid $13.95 to renew the registration on ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM, and ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM is the registrar of record. Since the transaction was done at your price through your website, I believe the registration move is yours to deny or approve.

You might want to review the posts at sites such as http://www.webhostingtalk.com, http://hosthideout.com/ and others in their respective "Domain Name" forums. While I have been careful to note that the policy is DOMAINSNEXT.COM and not yours, you are being linked to the anti-competitive practices of DOMAINSNEXT.COM. Many seem upset that you are not honoring the spirit of what ICANN's faq says at http://www.internic.com/faqs/domain-names.html :

"I have seen advertisements for domain-name registration by companies not in the accredited registrar directory. Are these legitimate?

Only registrars accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) are authorized to register .aero, .biz, .com, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, .net, .org, or .pro names. Some of these accredited registrars offer their services through resellers, which may provide assistance in completing the registration process. Your registration contract, however, will be with the accredited registrar and that registrar
will maintain your contact information."

There are several of us who will continue to exercise our First Amendment rights to relate our experiences with DOMAINSNEXT.COM, as well as your refusal to intervene on the consumer's behalf.

If I have to pay the unfair charges being imposed by your reseller, I will, but I will in turn consider filing suit against DOMAINSNEXT.COM and ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM in small claims court to recover all associated costs. It is obvious from the format of the change in DOMAINSNEXT.COM's TOS in January
of this year that the extra paperwork and charges are intended solely to prevent fair and open competition, which is a violation of California law.

So, we'll see what ITSYOURDOMAIN.COM's response is. I can't seem to get one from DOMAINSNEXT.COM, yet another reason they certainly qualify for the Hall of Shame.