My domain registration was $8.00 last year. It was my first year. To renew the registrar is now asking $35.00. Is it common practice to increase the price this much once it has been established as belonging to a specific business?
Depends on how long you wanted to renew your domain name. is the 35$ fee for one year's worth of registration?
BTW, you can renew from another registrar if you want.
In general its a good idea to start comparing prices and making arrangements to renew and transfer if necc. about a month before your rights to the domain name expires.
Sometimes there's a transfer fee, but some companies will forego that if you committ to paying a fee for one or two years at the same time. Its worth it to transfer to a business that has a reputation for reliability, accessibility and fairness (including not escalating the prices once you've signed up with them.) Google is your friend.
Another piece of advice that I usually see being repeated is to use different businesses to register your domain name and to host your site. Don't use the same business for both.
which service are you using?
That is really helpful. What registrars that you would recommend? I picked a nationally known company but I guess they are not as good as they would like me to believe. I don't have a good knowledge base for this so your input would really be helpful. Thanks
I have heard good things about 1and1 also for web hosting.
I think the reason some people say not to use the same business for both web hosting and domain registration is for the same reason people say not to put all of your eggs into one basket. What would you do if a dispute came up?
But obviously not everyone agrees and it is an individual choice.
I just googled "domain name registrars review" and went by the reviews. I don't know a lot about this, but I did spend a few hours reading reviews and web sites about what the rules are for domain name registration renewal. Last time I went with Cheap Domain Names Registration, Domain Transfer, SSL Certificates, Free DNS, Privacy Protection • Namecheap.com
Thanks for spending so much time on this. I do appreciate it very much. I don't know a lot about this stuff either obviously. I am just grateful I can ask here and usually get some pretty good advice.
Oh, I'm nice, but I'm not that nice! I spent the time researching when I needed to renew a domain name. The research took me awhile, but passing on what co. I decided to go with only took a few seconds. I realize my 2nd post in this thread wasn't that clear.