By: Domain Name Wire » News » [UPDATED] Oversee.net Lays Off 18% of Staff - The Domain Industry's News Source

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:18:15 +0000

[...] employees. NameMedia trimmed its workforce near the end of last year, and domain registrar Tucows cut 15% of its staff in [...]

By: Mansour elseify

Mansour elseify — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:01:15 +0000

The action by WADND to strip Tucows registrar of their seal of approval could only be interpreted as a self-serving action to influence registrars like Tucows to join other registrars auctioning their domain names through Snapnames, Namejet and others.
As the value of domain names commands sometimes 6 and 7 figures, many registrars have used every trick in the book to make it difficult for domain owners to renew their domain names, sometimes by not accepting their credit card for payment for one reason or another, and other times not properly sending renewal notices to their customers, only for one goal and one hope, that the customer will not renew the domain name and on the 30th day, the domain name becomes available for auction to the highest bidder. And that is the real reason for all of the fuss. It is not because Tucows is doing something unscrupulous, but rather that Tucows puts their main loyalty first to their customers, and second to their investors and resellers. I personally own several thousand domain names with Tucows along with many other thousands that are owned by my customers, and I have not found that one domain that Tucows has acquired for their portfolio is subject to any complaint or an appearance of wrongdoing. As far as I know, Tucows is the only company that sends six renewal notices to the registrant before the domain name goes to “Pending Renewal of Deletion”. This phase takes 30 days, where the customer can still renew his domain name without paying any redemption fees which most registrars impose. After the 30-days period, Tucows allows another 30 days for the redemption of the domain name, where the registrant pays $100 as a redemption fee to reclaim the domain. In the meantime, Tucows takes some of those domain names after the 30 days for its own portfolio. In many instances, the customer is late to recognize that he did not renew his domain name(s). 100% of the time, when the customer sends an email stating that he or she did not renew their domain name for one reason or another, Tucows generously gave the domain name back to the customer without any charge. In many instances, the domain name in question was expired for many months.

Looking at the decision taken by WADND, to suspend Tucows from the Registrar seal of approval, we have to examine who is the winner and loser here? The winners for Tucows are their domain owners, since they have a long period of time to get their domain names back after expiration; their stockholders since the domain portfolio owned by Tucows increases the value of the company’s assets, and Tucows resellers since they are able to acquire the domain names back for their customers, which makes the customers happy. The losers here are those who make their living out of the secondary market, either brokers or domainers. To conclude, I must say that all of the storm against Tucows is fabricated by those special interest groups, and Tucows should not need their approval or disapproval to conduct their business. I am hoping that the decision will not to be taken serious by Tucows resellers or customers and investors, to whom Tucows has their allegiance, and WADND will reverse there decision.

By: FizWho » Downsizing at Tucows

FizWho » Downsizing at Tucows — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:05:32 +0000

[...] [via DomainNameWire] [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:04:26 +0000

Brett- they’re losing their three biggest email customers, but I’m not sure that that’s related.

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:36:44 +0000

Hey Elliot–didnt your blog have a whole explanation of your recent email system meltdown? How is that impacting business?

By: Karan Goyal

Karan Goyal — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:07:03 +0000

I have been with OpenSRS as an RSP for over 8 years. I love everything except the price, but still use em.

By: Anonymous Coward

Anonymous Coward — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:30:34 +0000

What elements of this downturn are unique, Elliot?

If what you sell is like bread and milk, then why are you affected by this downturn enough to lay off all these people?