"Goodbye GoDaddy" promotion | Hacker News Reader

"Goodbye GoDaddy" promotion

dnsimple.com

First thanks to everyone who has provided or will provide feedback, comments, etc, even if they're negative towards DNSimple. I'm one of the two guys behind DNSimple and I just want to take a moment to explain what you get and why I think that DNSimple is worth considering for domain registration and management.

First of all, the price of the domain varies from TLD to TLD. For a full price list of the supported TLDs you can take a look here: https://dnsimple.com/tld-pricing - the price list includes prices for registrations, renewals and transfers.

Second, our core business is really hosted DNS. You can use DNSimple without registering a domain through us. Some of you may say that either a.) I can use my current registrar's DNS service and it doesn't cost me anything extra (which is true) and b.) I can host my own DNS (which is also true). If price is your primary motivating factor then by all means go for the lowest cost provider for registration and DNS services. If, on the other hand, you want good, no-hassle service with a REST API and developers who actually give a damn about you working to solve DNS and domain problems you have, then I would hope you would consider DNSimple.

Finally, I just want to say that while I would love to be able to give out free domains, that simply isn't a realistic way to do business. For domains transferred out of GoDaddy right now I'm offering the domains at cost with the understanding that I'll be making some profit from the hosted DNS services. I won't apologize for wanting to stay in business and help people with their DNS, which is really what I want do.

Thanks again for the feedback, and please keep it coming. Feel free to tell me I suck or just walk away, it's all good. In the end I am confident that DNSimple customers will be thrilled with what they get and will know that they are getting something that is well worth the small amount they'll pay each year.

I guess you're not a direct accredited registrar? Who are you reselling for? (I'm sorry if this is mentioned on your website. I didn't have the time to look for it.)

DNSimple uses Enom as it's accredited registrar.

I think that advertisement needs to sell people a little better on why they would want to switch.

What specific pain does this promotion address, and why is it worth $10.50 + $3/mo to switch to your service?

Thanks, that's a good point. I've updated the promotional page a bit to discuss the specific pain points that I've experienced with GoDaddy that I am trying to solve with DNSimple. I'm open to suggestions for more though. :-)

Quick note: "happiness" is spelled with two 'p's.

Doh! Thank you, I've just pushed the fix.

I'm pretty confused about this. Are you guys trying to compete against GoDaddy's domain name registration service, or something more like EasyDNS's managed hosting?

If you're doing the latter, then perhaps you should focus on explaining what the benefits are.

What does "Easy Billing" mean? Other DNS or web hosting services are really easy to pay for. Is this even easier some how? Why are you even emphasizing this?

And again, why is domain registration emphasized on the home page, if this isn't your core business?

Take a look at the homepages of Slicehost, linode, prgmr.com, Amazon S3, DNS.com. They all have different designs, but one thing in common -- they have way more information density than your site, and I only need to scroll up and down that one page to get a great idea of what it is that they do.

Edit: I read the other comments, and have a better idea of what you're doing. It looks cool, and the developer API is a great idea. If you're targeting developers, then you could definitely do with de-dumbing-down your site a bit.

Thanks for the feedback, you make some good points. I'll reconsider some of the selling points that I am currently making and see if I can improve it for my target audience.

Also, I like the term "de-dumbing-down". :-)

You'll definitely be getting 3$/mo from me. I've assumed there was such a service but hadn't found it yet. I probably have domains registered in 5 different places and definitely need a single way to manage them.

2 bits of advice:

Put the "Get Started" button on the homepage. Probably help converstion alot to have a call-to-action there.

Let people register without a credit card, give them their 30 days, and then tell them the account will be shut down in 2 weeks if they don't activate it. Moving/setting up DNS is not something people want to do often so if they like your product they'll gladly activate it. Is there a reason why/how people could abuse the service that is driving the credit card requirement?

I take it that you mean put the "Get Started" button from the home page on the promotional page? Agreed and done.

On the second one, it's a good point. Originally we required a credit card even before trying the service, which obviously turned some people off from it immediately. We then moved the credit card requirement to the point where DNS services are activated. I'd like to be able to move a step down, however there is potential for abuse if we start serving DNS records with no payment (it would require a small amount of work on the part of the abuser, but it can definitely be done).

We also can't really allow people to register and transfer domains without some sort of payment on file since there is a cost associated with those actions that are essentially irreversible.

Thanks for the suggestions, we'll keep thinking about how to improve the sign up and payment flow to encourage people to try and eventually register for DNSimple.

I don't see a "Get Started" button on https://dnsimple.com/. There is one on https://dnsimple.com/plans. If the homepage read "Manage All Your DNS, From Any Registrar, In One Place -- Get Started" you'd get alot of converstions off of your homepage. Maybe I'm missing something.

I understand you can't transfer domains free of charge--but what is your per-user incremental cost to set up DNS for a few domains? I guess your major expense is bandwidth? You can probably do a little math and figure out if it would be worth it.

I'd scratch the domain registration altogether unless it is a major source of revenue. To me it's a distraction from the core service.

I just got a call this morning from a client asking about a charge from "AETRION LLC." for $3 on their company credit card. I was about to tell them I had no idea until I saw this post and remembered I started this DNSimple last month as a test for them. Note to DNSimple: Don't make me guess about credit card statements!

Sorry about that. I'll see if I can get the information on the charges changed to include DNSIMPLE.COM. I hope it didn't cause you too much trouble.

The point of this isn't the price - it's that GoDaddy frankly has a lot of distasteful and often quite raunchy advertising, which turns people off to them.

I haven't used dnsimple - any current users care to comment on their admin interface and service quality?

Personally, I use joker.com. The fact that it's not located in the US adds an additional legal impediment to others in case there's an issue with the any domains I own.

I'm not a user yet, although I will definitely use it for my next domain transfer. I am interested for these reasons:

- it has an API (https://dnsimple.com/documentation/api) while my current registrar doesn't provide an API and I'm tired of manually configuring this (I want to write reusable recipes) - it apparently has templates for Google Apps configuration (from the /plans page)

Icing on the cake: there's an iphone app to manage the DNS, too.

That's so funny. I just transferred 2 domains over to Godaddy from Tucows. The transfer cost + 1 year hosting was $7.67 per domain. On your site you offer the same deal for $10.50. Thanks - I'll pass!

No worries, if you're aiming for lowest price then DNSimple is not for you.

Domain registrations for $16 a year? Perhaps they should change their promotion title to "Hello GoDaddy".

No no, you're wrong. It's $10 with the promo, but with an additional $3/month for the DNS service that's free in GoDaddy. A grand total of $46/year, hands up!

At least it is for 10 domains, but that doesn't make it worth moving to them. Give me 10 domains for free and you may have a deal.

I am thinking about switching to Hover. TWiT has been pimping them lately. I don't see that hidden expense that this place has.

My understanding is that domain buying is not the primary goal of dnsimple; rather, it's an API to make it easier to deal with DNS.

See the screencast here: https://dnsimple.com/intro

And API doc here: https://dnsimple.com/documentation/api

While you will see any and all expenses before you are able to transfer (since you have to select a hosted DNS plan before you can transfer) I agree that I should make it a bit more obvious. I've added a note to the promotional page indicating that you will need to subscribe as well, with plans starting at $3 per month.

Regarding free domains, if I ever get to the point where I can sell domains as a loss-leader then I'd consider it, but almost every domain has a base cost, including ICANN fees and then markup from accredited registrars who offer reselling, and giving away something for nothing just doesn't make much sense to me unless there is a massive upside.

2 DNS servers does not a DNS service make.

We'll be adding more before this year is done. I think it's reasonable to expect additional redundancy for hosted DNS. I've run many, many services just fine on two name servers but I can appreciate the comfort of having more.

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