This domain company won’t give you any bullsh*it.
There are many paths to growing a business, but domain name registrar Gandi has taken an unusual one: 100% of its business is from word-of-mouth. The registrar has grown to over 40 million euros in annual revenue without spending a dime on advertising. On today’s show, Gandi CEO Stephan Ramoin talks about how the company’s tagline No B.S. (and they actually write it out) has defined its approach to business and what the future may hold.
Also: Domain thief on the loose, GoDaddy and Wix hit customer milestones, PayPal’s domain protection.
Sponsor: Donuts
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:31 — 20.5MB) | Embed
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts to listen to the Domain Name Wire podcast on your iPhone or iPad, or click play above or download to begin listening. (Listen to previous podcasts here.)
Rick Schwartz says
As far as I’m concerned, I have had first-hand experience with this registrar protecting domain hijackers. I think they’re the worst registrar on the planet!!
They were a known haven for hijacked domains for years!
No cooperation whatsoever.
My hair on my neck stands up the minute I hear their name!!!
And that’s no bullshit! Sorry I won’t be wasting my time listening to this crap!
Charles Christopher says
That was the first thing that came to my mind as well.
Gandi == hijacked domains
They were notorious.
Rick Schwartz says
Andrew, I am surprised you would give these domain hijacker aiders and abettors a platform on your site and podcast.
But now that it is, I want to BURY these PRICKS!
They don’t deserve to be NEAR a domain investor.
Matter of fact, Gandi DOES DESERVE a SECTION on Hall of Shame all of their own.
They are NOTORIOUS and much worse. The WORST of the worst when turning a blind eye to domain name hijackings. THE WORST!!
I have to assume they might actually be involved because I can’t think of another explanation.
Can anyone here???
These guys are not to be trusted.
Any PROFESSIONAL domain investor that uses these JERKS deserve to lose every domain they own!!
Andrew Allemann says
I’m not familiar with issues of domain theft there
Rick Schwartz says
Andrew,
Gandi was used as a safe haven for hijacked and stolen domains for years!
They did nothing to stop it or help. They turned a blind eye.
I hope others will continue to chime in with their knowledge.
These guys are NFG!
Charles Christopher says
Andrew,
Somewhere in the Domain Master’s Podcasts podcast’s there is a comment about Gandi that might stun you.
I looked to see if the episode stood out but it did not. I wish there were transcripts. 🙁
It was in effect a comment about hijacking going on in the industry, and whenever it happened is was fair to just assume Gandi was involved ….
Charles
Charles Christopher says
>>Any PROFESSIONAL domain investor
>>that uses these JERKS deserve to lose
>>every domain they own!!
A little too far for me.
I never personally experienced Gandi as I was very happy to use Moniker with Monte Chan emailing me at 3 am (no joke) asking if it was really me transferring a domain out of Moniker. Monte proved great customer service is possible.
I did experience RegFly and was the first to report what they were doing to the folks on DomainState. The owner was stealing customers domains, through manipulation of the whois. I once had yet another registrar try to steal 2 landrush domains as well. Sadly such behaviors are not isolated to any given registrar, even though they might express differently.
I don’t think any professional domainer deserves to lose any domains, that is not something I want to see anybody go through.
I think we all need to work together and make sure we report what we know, and you folks don’t take our word for it. Do your own historical research of the history we are pointing to regarding Gandi and then SHARE IT.
In fact I would add that through the years my best registrar experiances where mom and pop registrars. Literally the owner answered the phone and provided support. Over time ICANN has made registrar complexity such that it is very hard to do that anymore. Very sad.
Back to the point, I don’t want to see anybody lose a domain, for any reason.
Rick Schwartz says
Yeah, you’re right. It was just to stress the point that I won’t have much sympathy when folks have been warned.
I went to Moniker as well back in the day when we finally had a choice.
Until then we were stuck.
Andrew Allemann says
So then you’re talking about a very long time ago, I assume. The only issues I’ve heard about with registrars holding domains that were hijacked were ones at Chinese registrars.
Charles Christopher says
The chinese were the wave after Gandi. This is probably because Gandi had worked so hard to destroy their own rep that it became hard to move domains there == Losing registrars denying them transfers I think. Perhaps it would be fair to say Gandi wrote the book that the Chinese registrars followed …..
Now that said:
From memory, the issue related to French law that Gandi was taking full advantage of. I can’t recall the specifics anymore.
I doubt the laws have changed and so dealing with Gandi now still leaves open the likeliness of them being problematic.
Gandi was shameless when it was happening Andrew. Yes it was a long time ago, but it was bad enough that everyone should take Rick’s comments to heart. He’s right!
I wish I could remember which Domains Master podcast it was. If you listened to the part I recall it would end the discussion leaving do doubt how bad it was. Especially when you find out which prominent industry veteran said it.
In fact Gandi’s and RegFly’s behavior were primary reasons why three of us got together and setup our own personal ICANN registrar. It also got us into drop catching as well as we leased out the connections which paid more than the cost of the registrar. There are others that setup their own registrar for their names back then for similar reasons, and I bet every one of them will say Gandi gave them some incentive to do so.
I recall one person with a name so valuable that they setup a registrar and place that single domain in it. They considered their own personal registrar to be the best insurance for that domain that they could buy.
Yes, it was that bad ….. Notorious is a fair word to use.
Andrew Allemann says
Who was it that said something on Domain Masters?
I really can’t find anything about this. It sounds like it was before Domain Name Wire existed. If you can point to anything/any case concrete, that would be helpful.
Charles Christopher says
>>>It was just to stress
My blood boiled to when I saw the email, I truly understand how you felt.
Charles Christopher says
Sorry, let me reword that:
>>>It was just to stress
When I read the DomainNameWire email, my blood boiled when I saw the name Gandi, so I truly understand how you felt.
My blood boils anytime I see their name or hear them mentioned.
Drew Platt says
Comment removed for invalid email address
Emeka says
GandiJackers.Domainers beware.!!!!
Drew Platt says
Don’t ever use GANDI for your business.
It is run by a prick and their business is shady.
Rick Schwartz is absolutely correct.
Stephan Ramoin says
Rick, Christopher, Drew,
I have never heard about anyone having a domain Hijiacked by us or because of us.
What you describe is exactly the contrary of what we have worked so hard to establish these past 15 years and you are putting in danger with these deliberate attacks. Gandi being shady ? Seriously ? We are recognized at the other side of the spectrum !
Gandi is known to protect our customers; we never bought a domain for us, we never did any speculation on domains, we have been choosing the good, honest and transparent path all the way … we are know for that, not what you accuse us of !
Insulting is the cherry on the cake.
Stephan
Rick Schwartz says
Well I think that’s bullshit! You’re hearing about it now. You guys were notorious for harboring hijacked and stolen domains. If you say otherwise you’re bullshitting everyone.
So please don’t insult our intelligence. We were there for the event. It happened enough times That Gandi developed a reputation for being the go to registrar for stolen and hijacked domains Because they would do nothing. Except turn a blind eye.
Gandi was like an underground tunnel for stolen and hijacked domain names.
You guys are disgusting!
Are we all lying or are you lying?
Observer says
Rick,
If all this is true, then can’t you at least provide any articles/links that support all of these allegations?
It’s not reasonable for us to just “take your word for it” without some kind of evidence/details.
Stephan RAMOIN says
850k customers since 20years don’t lie. We don’t do advertising, we don’t buy customers so since 20y so how do you think we’ve reached 50m $ revenues with 12$ each domain ? Because we have been honest, transparent and investing in the service rather than anything else. Why do you think we are recommended by our customers?
Once again, maybe you have been experiencing an issue with opponents 20y ago, but please leave us out of it. We have never – and never will – supported such practises.
We asked for evidence, emails, domains involved dates, anything that could help us understanding what really happened, even if it was a long time ago. If we’ve made a mistake back then, I’ll recognize it here.
Drew Platt says
Domain hijacking is shady IMO.
Benoit says
Rick, Charles, Drew
Gandi doesn’t hijack domains nor participate in any domains hijacking.
Even though the alleged concern you mentioned seems to be two decades old or so, you can easily understand that we would like to get to the bottom of things.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us (communication@gandi.net) to share with us any elements you may have and clarify this out.
Charles Christopher says
“I have never heard about anyone having a domain Hijiacked by us or because of us.”
– Stephan Ramoin, President & CEO at GANDI
“Even though the alleged concern you mentioned seems to be two decades old or so”
– communication@gandi.net
Which is it? 🙂
Charles Christopher says
https://semi-nerdly.ca/2017/07/24/gandi-net-stole-my-ca-domain-name-and-i-may-never-get-it-back/
Stephan Ramoin says
Ok right so an ownership issue. Never heard about this particular case, but I’ll dig with the team to understand. If we blocked it without any good reason (other than protecting the owner of the domain for example), I’ll say it here loud and clear.
But once again, we are not doing things like that to hijack anyone domain. NEVER. Don’t you think that if that case was “shady” with a rogue Registrar the Icann or the Registry would have done anything ?
Charles Christopher says
>Don’t you think that if that case was “shady”
>with a rogue Registrar the Icann or the
>Registry would have done anything ?
I own an ICANN accredited registrar and have been in this industry since 1999, you do not want to go there with me. 🙂
As I noted very clearly above, I became an ICANN accredited registrar housing my own domains *BECAUSE* of the shady activity that ICANN ignored.
But I’ll throw the readers 1 bone in response to your comment:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2007/march.htm
A class action lawsuit had been filed against Registerfly, eNom and ICANN. The lawsuit (Anne Martinez v RegisterFly, ICANN et. al.) was filed by Attorney E. Clarke Dummit of the Dummit Law Firm in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The suit alleges that RegisterFly has systematically defrauded its customers who attempted to register or renew Internet domain names, causing them to lose their domain names, finances, and even entire businesses.
Dummit said “The lawsuit was initially sealed due to fears of retribution by RegisterFly.com towards plaintiff Anne Martinez for filing the suit, but since then other concerns have become more pressing, and the case was opened to the public.” In a press release issued today, Dummit said “It was clear that RegisterFly was in trouble, and the accreditation agency of registrars, ICANN, knew it, but ICANN did not perform its duty to protect the public and continued to accredit RegisterFly and allow it to perform as a registrar.”
“In fact, ICANN, which collects a fee for every domain sold through its accredited registrars, did not give notice of termination of ICANN’s accreditation of RegisterFly until the day AFTER attorney Dummit served ICANN with this class action lawsuit. This provides further evidence that it is time for the American Legal System to step in and reign in this outrageous, illegal behavior that has already harmed many people around the world, and threatens to damage many more,” Dummit said. eNom was named in the suit because Registerfly was an eNom reseller until eNom dropped them earlier this year.
Posted March 28, 2007
Stephan Ramoin says
Christopher, I respect your background and appreciate that you own a Registrar, but you are talking about RegisterFly, not us.
We never owned a single domain (other than related to our brand or work of course), either the company, any affiliate or parent company, nor myself as individual etc.
We’ve never been sued or even put in question by any Registry or the Icann. We’re even commonly seen as a solid representant of the virtuous Registrars out there. Since 1999.
These are facts, not rumors or allegation related to a third party. Once again, we will investigate any real case thrown at us and recognize if we’ve been overprotective or something like that. But there’s no conspiracy of any kind here …
Benoit says
On a final note regarding the case you mentioned we confirm that the domain has never been hijacked by anyone, and remained the property of the client all the time.
As Stephan promised you will find below the details of what happened:
At the time of the incoming transfer of the domain name at Gandi in October 2013, our system detected that the contact information declared by our client did not correspond exactly to the owner’s data published in the whois. This discrepancy in the owner’s contact information usually happens when someone impersonates the owner and tries to steal the domain.
In order to protect the domain owner against a potential domain theft the domain name was therefore put on a temporary technical account, the time for our client to confirm us its right to access the technical account. The email address associated to the technical account is an address that was automatically filled in by Gandi since it was not possible during the incoming transfer to retrieve the email address as registered in the leaving registrar database.
The technical account was associated to our client’s account. The client felt aggrieved by the redirection of his domain to this technical account different from the account he created with us.
Our exchanges with our client, therefore, aimed at confirming his right to access the technical account by asking him to provide documents justifying his contact data, in compliance with our contracts and the rules of the registry.
Although the domain remained on this technical account for several years, following our client’s refusal to provide the supporting documents, our client remained all the time in control of the management of his domain, as shown in the screenshot. Our client finally transferred out his domain in October 2017.
We regret the misunderstanding despite many exchanges with our client. We should have explained better at the time to find a solution that satisfied him. Our goal was and is still the protection of our clients’ domains.
We hope everything is clear now about what happened and regret the confusion it obviously caused back then until now.