Second domain

Yes, yet another question on this I'm afraid.

I have a domain with another registrar who is going to charge me $6 per service (domain, redirection, email) for not having automatic renewals. Plus, handily for them, they don't bother sending renewal email reminders. Plus they charge $100 to move the domain elsewhere.

So, I was going to let it lapse and re-register it as a second domain with DH.

How long after lapse is the domain released for re-registration?

Do DH charge for email and redirection (until I port across to DH) on a second domain?

Cheers

M

In reply to:

---

How long after lapse is the domain released for re-registration?

---

My impression was that it is released immediately (and that this causes lots of problems for people).

In reply to:

---

Do DH charge for email and redirection (until I port across to DH) on a second domain?

---

Assuming you have a hosting plan, you can host (web, email, etc) as many domains as you want.

BTW, regarding the transfer policy of your "old" registrar, it sounds fishy wrt ICAAN's domain registration transfer policy.

What is the TLD for the domain? Dreamhost can only register .com/net/org/info domains.

Thanks for the reply.

Why would immediate release cause a problem?

It's a .org currently with Easyspace but will lapse if I don't pay up soon.

Is it LEGAL to charge $100 to transfer a domain out?

Wholly - Use promo code WhollyMindless for full 97$ credit. Let me know if you want something else!

In reply to:

---

Is it LEGAL to charge $100 to transfer a domain out?

---

I agree that is sounds pretty fishy. It seems to violate the ICAAN domain registration transfer policy, by my reading of it.

Of course they can "charge" anything they want - the question is, can they collect? I'd CERTAINLY look hard at that policy (and maybe let the Dreamhost Ninja's go in and surgically extract that sweet nugget of loveliness from their cold hard hands.)

Betcha they could save you the $100... (grin)

Wholly - Use promo code WhollyMindless for full 97$ credit. Let me know if you want something else!

OK, they might not let me cancel the domain now.

Perhaps they don't think anyone will challenge the $100. Which part of the ICANN policy do I invoke?

Eaayspace is not a small co. I'm in the UK if that makes any difference.

Do a web search for "easyspace domain transfer" and you'll find lots of info about better/cheaper ways of transferring your domain away from easyspace as well as some pretty interesting stories about easyspace.

The comments to this article mention that since you have a .org TLD, you can just transfer it away without involving easyspace at all after you collect your license key as per the following quote:

In reply to:

---

In fact if you log into the Control Panel and go to Domain Management and Transfer Management under the Transfer away option there is a tab to collect your license key.

---

It's slightly more difficult to transfer .uk domains but there's more info out there about how to do it using Nominet. (again, according to the same article)

OK thanks. I see it can be done via Nominet for cheaper.

Actually I think Easyspace are in breach of their T&Cs for not notifying me of renewal and their increased charges. I just want to cancel and re-register. I'm not too bothered about losing the domain, I can use another, I just don't want to pay the renewal charges.

The only problem is that I have another domain with them which I don't want to lose in any dispute.

Then get it out of their money grubbing hands ASAP! You've got to have faith in your registrar and it sounds like they're going at you like a jail house romance.

Wholly - Use promo code WhollyMindless for full 97$ credit. Let me know if you want something else!

Heh! 'Jail house romance' - I've never heard that before.

I phoned them and they'll just let it lapse after 35 days if I don't pay and then it will be available to re-register after 75 days.

Does that sound about right? I'd rather they released it to me now but it's probably too late.

I might just register the .com version with DH instead. Not many visitors to it.

Then I'll cancel renewal before the other domain is due next year.

I've been wary of Easyspace since Iomart took it over a few years ago but never looked properly into moving away.

I read a post saying that someone got them to waive the transfer fee when they said that they never got notified the new fees.

Ah right, thanks.

Did the person have to pay for renewal first though?

I'm in discussion on their support forum with the Customer Service manager.

It seems they have brought the transer fee down to £15. I've no idea when they did that.

M

In reply to:

---

Did the person have to pay for renewal first though?

---

I don't recall.

I'm just reading through various people's posts that I've found via google search. I'm sure since you have a much more vested in interest in this that you'll do a much better job of reading the posts more closely and be able to figure out some workable strategies when speaking to their support department.

BTW, it doesn't sound reasonable to me that they would want to force you to pay for a renewal fee when you want to transfer the domain *out*. After all, isn't the whole point of transferring out that you don't want to renew your domain with them? It sounds like extortion to me.

I do remember that various posts have said that their motivation with the new junk fees is to discourage people from transferring and that there's otherwise no real reason for the fee. Do you feel that other people are taking advantage of some offer or incentive and making them lose money on registration? Did you actually have to put money out for this domain registration originally?

BTW, don't forget that people have said that the fees were supposed to be for transferring a .uk domain and that a .org or a .com are supposed to be transferrable for free.

Cheers

Well, still quoting their own T&Cs back at the Easyspace Customer Services guy and others have joined in so we'll see what happens.

M

I just want to make a small comment here, you might not want to cancel registration on your domain or let it expire. I had a domain with network solutions and they don't notify you of when renewal is coming up either so by the time I remembered it was too late. They wouldn't let me pay for the domain because someone had backordered it and its been a few years but I have not been able to get it back.

The Insane Cabbit
Blog: http://www.sounanda.com
Store: http://www.marciesgifts.com
PM for CMS or forum install.
$97 Off with promo code pixiedust

Thanks, I guess I know the dangers.

I like to think it's a fairly obscure domain with a small fanbase. If someone takes it, which would surprise me, I'll register the .com instead of the .org and mine will still be the recognised one, anyway.

Can I transfer a .org or .com without involving Easyspace even though I have not paid for renewal in the last 2 weeks?

Ta

M

How is "even though I have not paid for renewal in the last 2 weeks?" involved in this?

It all depends on the domain's status. Is it already registered? Has is expired? Is it in the "grace period"?

If it has *completely expired*, and it is still available, then sure .. just register it. If any of the other conditions are true, and EasySpace was the registrar, then you may well end up having to involve them.

Assuming, of course, that I understood your question correctly!

--rlparker

Yes, it was already registered but Easyspace failed to remind me to renew and slapped a £3 charge for each service that was not renewed so I just want to transfer away without paying them anything.

The domain no longer shows up on my control panel so presumably it will expire in the next few months if I just leave it.

In reply to:

---

..Easyspace failed to remind me to renew and slapped a £3 charge for each service that was not renewed so I just want to transfer away without paying them anything.

---

Well, if you have already let it expire, you probably will not be *able* to "transfer" it away, I don't know about EasySpace in particular, but most registrars will *not* xfer a domain that is in expired status. Some will let you "redeem" it and renew it during the "grace period" after expiration (sometimes for an additional fee) while others just pass it on to their "backorder pool". At the end of the grace period, it should be returned to the available pool ... though with backorder systems and stuff, it may never be.

In reply to:

---

The domain no longer shows up on my control panel so presumably it will expire in the next few months if I just leave it.

---

It's either expired or it hasn't ... and it may or may not be in "grace period".

If you did not pay EasySpace for a renewal unitl it "expired" with them, you are probably going to have to "redeem it" with them from within the grace period, or just wait to see if it becomes available for general registration again.

If it does become available for registration again, then there is no "transferring" involved at all ... just register it with DH or any other registrar.

BTW, you should *never* rely on *anyone* to "remind you" to renew your domains. (but I guess you have figured that out already).

--rlparker

And I'd be really leery of anyone letting go of a site once registered. "People" (and I use that term loosely) like to set up spam farms on expired domains because they often have "street cred" with the search engines.

Wholly - Use promo code WhollyMindless for full 97$ credit until 12/11/07.

Thanks guys.

Right, they've agreed to pay to renew the forum themselves and let me transfer. I want to go with DH.

What steps do I have to take and in what order? Do I have to pay Easyspace their $30 fee to transfer?

Ta

M

* Domains must be "unlocked" at their current registrar or the transfer will fail.
* You should do any nameserver changes (e.g. to ns1.dreamhost.com, etc) before transferring!


So, is it ns1.dreamhost.com and ns2.dreamhost.com I change it to? What are the IP addresses?

Anyone know how long the transfer process takes and what the POP3 address for new emails will be?

Ta

M

In reply to:

---

So, is it ns1.dreamhost.com and ns2.dreamhost.com I change it to? What are the IP addresses?

---

From the wiki:
ns1.dreamhost.com 66.33.206.206
ns2.dreamhost.com 208.96.10.221
ns3.dreamhost.com 66.33.216.216

In reply to:

---

Anyone know how long the transfer process takes and what the POP3 address for new emails will be?

---

It can vary, but if everything is in order when you initiate the transfer and there are no problems it could take as long as 5-7 days (though it is often less).

You email address will be what ever you set them up to be @yourseconddomain.tld

--rlparker

OK, thanks for that.

Sorry, I forgot about the Wiki as a resource :-(

In reply to:

it could take as long as 5-7 days (though it is often less).


According to Easyspace, changing the nameservers means that any of their sevices will stop working.

So, potentially that means 5-7 days without email?

If it takes 5-7 days, I suggest you find out the IP address (or actual hostname) of your current POP server. That way, you can keep checking mail there until the trickle stops.
Once you set up your email accounts here, set your client to point to MAILSERVER.mail.dreamhost.com and it'll start catching mail once you change the nameservers. Get the MAILSERVER name from the panel by clicking Account Status in the upper right corner.

-Scott

OK, thanks for that. They told me (in addition to mail.mydomain) pop.easyspace.everyone.net

Does that help or should I insist on the IP address as well?

Cheers

M

sdayman wrote:
> once you change the nameservers

But Dreamhost's instructions are to change the nameservers BEFORE initiating the transfer process. At which point all of Easyspace's mail stops working until the transfer is complete 5 or so days later (including forwarding which is what Easyspace suggested). So, now I have no mail.

This one is a dress rehearsal for transferring my main email account in a couple of weeks and I can't be without mail on that one for 5 days.

Any ideas how to manage this correctly?

Well, as you know, hosting and registration are two separate things. The first thing to do is to set up hosting and email services here at Dreamhost. That way, once the nameservers are changed - either manually or through domain registration transfer, mail will be processed correctly at dreamhost.

Use promo code 50DISK50 for 50% extra disk and $50 off
More Dreamhost coupons

But can I set up the email service at Dreamhost before the transfer has completed?

Or should I have left the nameservers as they were at Easyspace until the transfer was confirmed?

Seems a bit of a Catch 22, no? If it isn't then I'm not getting any of the right answers from Dreamhost or Easyspace.

M

Well, we're just relating what we think to be the totally optimal minimum downtime order for doing things in. Not everyone is as anal retentive as we are - there are many ways of skinning this cat.

You can set up email here before any mail gets set up. It's just like building your mailbox before you set up your address with the post office.

Dreamhost probably doesn't recommend it because:
1. There's no way of testing it until you change the nameservers or transfer the domain
2. It's only a few hours of downtime if you do it the other way and your mail gets held and retransmitted anyway so there's little downside to doing things in the order recommended by support.

Use promo code 50DISK50 for 50% extra disk and $50 off
More Dreamhost coupons

< your mail gets held and retransmitted anyway

Ah, OK that's fine then!

In fact the transfer took about 24 hours and any test mails I sent during the downtime got delivered eventually. Now I have the site redirection and email set up great.

Thanks for your help!

For my main domain, I think I'll redirect mail to the other one and practice with the spam filtering before I do the final transfer.

Cool! It's good to confirm that things work in any order.

Glad things worked out great for you and good luck with the transfer of your domain!

Use promo code 50DISK50 for 50% extra disk and $50 off
More Dreamhost coupons

One thing, though.

If I paid $10 to transfer including one year's renewal why is it showing only 10 months left to the 2008 renewal anniversary?

My main domain is due in June - how do I time the transfer so that it renews to June 2009?

Ta

I know it's low $$s but I just wonder what "Each domain registration transferred to DreamHost costs $9.95.. which includes renewing it for one year" means?

Ta

In reply to:

---

I know it's low $$s but I just wonder what "Each domain registration transferred to DreamHost costs $9.95.. which includes renewing it for one year" means?

---

It means that your registration will be extended for one year beyond what your previous expiration date was.

Regarding your original question, if you indeed did have several months left and just transferred the domain this month, you should have >12 months left until renewal. If you think something is in error, contact support and I'm sure they'll be able to sort it out. Let us know how it goes!

What are 50DISK50, 3DOM50, and 1IP1DOM50?
They're Dreamhost coupons!

Thanks Lensman.

Raised a ticket and they said 'I've taken a look and it appears that the registration transfer was only for one year.'

I replied that the assumption of the reg. page text I quoted above is as both of us interpreted it transfer PLUS one year.

I replied to support@Dreamhost.com but the reply isn't showing up in my Support history and no response yet.

Still no response.

I'm just about to transfer another domain with 5 months remaining.

Will I get 5 or 17 months for the $10?

I believe 17. The deal reads like you pay for the transfer but you get the next years registration thrown in free - so it makes up for the $10 or so you're spending in the first place.

Yep, thanks, support just confirmed that.

Except that the domain I transferred on 5th January says it expires in Nov 2008 rather than Nov 2009 so I'm trying to get that clarified.