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Namecheap.com is sneaky

Posted by Heidi on June 1st, 2008 · View Comments

I transferred a bunch of domains to Namecheap . com last year in part because there was no extra charge to protect my contact info through WhoisGuard.

Now that some of the domains are coming up for renewal, NameCheap wants to charge me for renewing the privacy as well. Sneaks!

To quote from their list of “features“:

Optional WhoisGuard Privacy Protection WhoisGuard Privacy Protection

  • For a limited time, we are providing WhoisGuard Protection with every new domain registration or transfer.
  • This option puts our contact information in Whois, and helps to keep your contact information private.

I think they tried to leave themselves a loophole: WhoisGuard is provided on registrations and transfers… but they don’t say that it’s included with renewals.  I would argue that they imply WhoisGuard is included for the life of the domain at NameCheap.

Any input from the court of public opinion, since I don’t have the cash to get a ruling from the court of the land?

Tags: Hosting · Rants

  • Jeff

    Not sure what it said a year ago, however it clearly states the whois is free for one year only. It applies to transfers and new registrations.

  • Heidi

    Jeff, I wouldn’t call it “clearly” stated, since they don’t come out and say “for the first year.”

    You’d think it’d be a selling point to get people in the door for them to say “FREE Whois Guard for your first year!” But they never even use the word “free.” They merely state that it is provided. To sound sneaky about what would otherwise be a selling point tells me that they’re being intentionally vague.

  • Heidi

    P.S. Here’s question that I would like to know the answer to: If you register a new domain name at Namecheap and choose the duration as 5 years, does the protection provided “with every new domain registration” last for all 5 years — or does it still stop at one year? If it still stops at one year, then I would dare to call it false advertising. But like I said, I don’t know the answer.

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