Thursday, September 16, 2010

If your prices suck, hide them - seems to be register.com's policy

One of the websites I host used register.com to register their domain name. I wanted to ask them to allow me to transfer their domain name over to my godaddy account because it makes things easier for me if everything is in one location. Plus if I have admin access to the domain name it makes things easier if I need to make any updates - I don't have to bother them to do it or try to figure out some other registrars processes.

I went to register.com to check to see what they charge per year for a domain name, only I couldn't find any price listing on their site for just domain registrations. I went into their help and searched on 'price' which did give me the link i wanted - only that link just redirected me back to their home page.

So I opened a chat session with one of their support reps. I'll post the entire chat conversation below, but the short version of it is that they say they don't post the pricing for domain registrations because they don't want to 'confuse' anyone by giving too much information. Apparently they don't have a problem displaying the pricing if you want to host a website with them. But for some reason, they think it'll be too confusing to have a single page that just tells you how much it'll cost to register a domain name. I wonder why they think it'll be 'confusing' to tell you they charge $37/year to register a .com name. I'm sure that they charge more then 3x what godaddy and many of the other registrars currently charges to register a .com domain name has nothing to do with them hiding - i mean simplifying their website. Those poor godaddy users - they must be all confused with a link right on the home page that lists all their domain registration pricing.

Even if their pricing were just a few dollars more then godaddy's, i still wouldn't use them. If a company can't post their prices, then they are hiding something and it's not worth doing business with someone like that in my opinion.

I've removed the name of the chat session agent since I'm not trying to get any single support rep in trouble, otherwise, the text is unchanged:

<Agent>.: Hi, my name is <Agent>.. How may I help you?
<Agent>.: Hello Ian. My name is <Agent>. I will be your Chat Representative. How are you today?
ian : Can you tell me where your pricing is for domain registration? i can't find a link on your home page and the link i found in your support section just takes me back to the home page.  http://www.register.com/about/pricing/general.rcmx
<Agent>.: I do apologize Ian, but our site does not have the pricing, because we offer several different packages, and discounts for services.
If you can let me know what you are looking for, I can certainly help you.
ian : I just want to know the pricing for registering a domain name - i'm not interested in any packages or other services, just registering domain names
<Agent>.: Is it a .com domain name? This would help determine the price as well.
ian : yes - you don't just have a listing of domain name registration pricing? But yes, right now i'm looking for .com
<Agent>.: No, unfortunately we do not have it listed online.
.Com domain names are $37.00/ year.
ian : i know this isn't your fault and I'm not trying to blame you - but i think it's a pretty crap thing to do not to display your prices. If your prices aren't good ($37/year is not good) then lower your prices. Hiding the prices just seems like a dirty business practice to me. Again - not trying to blame you I know it's not your decisions. Just maybe you can pass it along to someone. thanks for your help
<Agent>.: We do not "hide" our prices, but because we offer so many other services, and domain extensions, etc, we do not display them so that they are not confusing.
I appreciate your suggestion, and will pass it along.
ian : sorry but i disagree - you do hide them. what you just said is an excuse. i dont think it's confusing to just have a page which displays the price of registering a domain name. thanks anyhow