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Comment by kwanbix | Hacker News Reader

You are mixing domain registration with shared hosting.

Did you ever have a problem with domain registration?

I have. I bought a great name from them, after which they voided the purchase and made it a $1,500 premium domain. Obviously, I will never buy domains from Namecheap again.

That's on the registry, not the registrar. Point your anger at whoever owns that TLD.

So does your response mean (1) "take it easy on Namecheap because this kind of bait-and-switch is common among registrars", or (2) "take it easy on Namecheap because it was unintentional incompetence"?

I'm saying take it easy on Namecheap because it's out of their control, and would have happened regardless of the registrar you used for that particular domain. The incompetence is on the part of the registry, for not having properly identified the given domain as premium until post-registration.

> I'm saying take it easy on Namecheap because it's out of their control…

If we assume that Namecheap is incapable of malice, then it means Namecheap's systems and/or processes are broken. (Registry agreements don't allow registries to retroactively reclassify domains as "premium".)

> Registry agreements don't allow registries to retroactively reclassify domains as "premium".

On what do you base this? Registration agreements allow quite a lot in favor of registrars and registries.

I've had a problem with domain registration when I purchased a .com and they asked for all kinds of business licenses and asking what the purpose of the domain is. Obviously I was shocked as they have no right to ask for the purpose of the domain and I explained that this was not for a business but for a privately administered website.

My registration was being denied again after back and forth with support, without a refund as well. I eventually had it escalated to their legal team and they were able to clear the issue up and offer me an extension on the registration for the hassle.

I'm happy that they corrected their errors and there hasn't been issues since, but that type of process was beyond what I'm willing to go through as a customer. I then registered a very similar domain name using one of the largest providers without any incident.

Edit: Does anyone have a recommendation for a registrar that just completes the registration and doesn't "flag" domains or ask silly questions?

Did you accidentally register as a business instead of an individual?

I can't imagine why that happened, but I can say that my registrations have never been flagged and have always been straightforward.

No, not a business.

My guess is his domain name contained a phrase that triggers US sanctions alarms. Things like "NICO" etc (don't put that in the reason for a bank transfer or it will get blocked)

The phrase shouldn't have triggered sanction alarms as the words in the domain are common and no acronyms. Although anything is possible.

>Did you ever have a problem with domain registration?

Recently, I painstakingly created a five-letter domain name, and researched extensively to see if it was already taken [I don't use registrar lookup and advise you not to either]. I verified that it was totally free and unpublished.

When using the namecheap control panel to register it, I was advised that it was a "premium" domain [why thanks!] and that, therefore, I would have to pay a corresponding amount.

Summary: My beautiful domain was simply hijacked and if I'm ever to register it I will have to participate in an auction. I was able to register the corresponding domain without problems, on equal terms with all other competitors, through Registro.br[0] - although it can't be as cool as a pure .com domain.

Would you consider this a problem?

The domain registration industry in the United States is completely prostituted and I'm not happy to say it.

[0]https://registro.br

I'm not sure what you're claiming here.

Namecheap has asserted continuously that they do not front run domain registration, and they only charge premium prices for domains when the registry demands it.

> When using the namecheap control panel to register it, I was advised that it was a "premium" domain [why thanks!] and that, therefore, I would have to pay a corresponding amount.

The registry sets those premium prices, not the registrar (aka Namecheap).

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