Domain Privacy too Expensive! Complain by email.

[natyayl]

I was about to register another domain to my bluehost account when I noticed that it now costs $4.95/year.

Notwithstanding the debate on whether this is "real" privacy or not (http://www.bluehostforum.com/showthread.php?t=17162&highlight=domain+privacy), I think this is far too high. It increases the cost of having a .com domain by 50%. I'm not entirely objecting to paying - but I think 49 cents per year would be a more reasonable cost relative to the cost of having a domain in the first place.

I wrote an email to feedback@bluehost.com to this effect and I recommend that you do as well. I'm going to shop around for alternative a bit before I suffer a 50% price hike.

[EricJ]

Looking around on the internet.. the prices for domain privacy range from 8.99 (godaddy) to around 15 bucks.. I would say 4.95 is a great price for the product..

[Early Out]

I'm consistently astonished at the high dudgeon people indulge in over BH pricing. How much do you pay for your phone service? How much do you pay for your ISP? How much do you pay for your cable TV? For that matter, how much do you pay for a stinking latté at Starbucks?!

The nerve of BH to charge $10 for domain registration for a year! How dare they charge another $5 for privacy service!!! To the barricades, comrades!!!!!!

:rolleyes:

[poke386]

This used to be free at bluehost. Guess this is just one more example of the changing times :rolleyes:

[siguie]

Well I would have appreciated being told about the price increase before hand but an extra $5 a year in this economy isn't so terrible :rolleyes: So I'm paying the extra $5 for my main domain and transfering my parked domains elsewhere ... it's not like it costs anything extra to do that and if you have a lot of domains it's worth it. :)

[EricJ]

Privacy has said 'Free for a limited time' for about a month now :cool:.. Plus it shouldn't have just started charging you for it, it should have waited until your domain was up for renewal.

[siguie]

Oh yeah sorry I was about to renew two domains when I saw the charge and was just annoyed that I didn't even get an email or a note included in the reminder email.

Seriously though you can't expect people to scour bluehost webpage to see if they are changing prices. Ok I give up I just checked their wepage where is this fee listed?

Anyways, like I said it's only $5 and for one domain it's not a problem ... for a bunch it starts getting expensive but since you can register domains anywhere I'm just transfering them as they expire :)

[bh_WP_fan]

for a bunch it starts getting expensive but since you can register domains anywhere I'm just transfering them as they expire

Be careful here. If you transfer a domain too close to expiration you may end up losing it. On the other hand, you lose nothing if you transfer it in advance. If you are going to transfer domains away, it would be a good idea to allow yourself at least a couple of weeks time just to be safe.

[EricJ]

Registrars won't transfer within 15 days of expiration :D.. same with 60 days right after registration... so once you're within 15 days of expiration, you're pretty much stuck for 2.5 more months with your current registrar.

[natyayl]

I'm consistently astonished at the high dudgeon people indulge in over BH pricing. How much do you pay for your phone service? How much do you pay for your ISP? How much do you pay for your cable TV? For that matter, how much do you pay for a stinking latté at Starbucks?!

Early Out - I'm not complaining about them charging money altogether - I'm saying that the fee they are charging seems way high for simply changing a few data fields to display their address instead of mine. I can't imagine the overhead to do this is what they're charging.

Considering how easy it is to harvest whois info for spam - I think domain privacy is kind of essential. The cost of maintaining each domain has jumped 50% overnight. I wouldn't mind paying $5/year if it was an account-level service and applied to all of my domains.

[Early Out]

Now matter how you wriggle around it, you're still getting your panties in a bunch over five bucks.

[natyayl]

Now matter how you wriggle around it, you're still getting your panties in a bunch over five bucks.

Um - yeah, I am. I try to keep control of the amount of money coming out of my pocket and it's not just $5, it's:

$5 x # domains x # years = more than $5 !

[siguie]

Um - yeah, I am. I try to keep control of the amount of money coming out of my pocket and it's not just $5, it's:

$5 x # domains x # years = more than $5 !

Exactly! :)

I just saved $20 transferring 4 domains and all it took was a few emails and nothing else changes so I don't see the problem. If you don't want to pay the $5 per domain just move it.

Personally I think it's worth doing just to save the $5 :D

[Early Out]

That's fine, right up to the moment at which your new registrar decides to follow the lead of the others, and starts charging a few bucks for domain privacy. ;)

You can waste a lot of time and effort constantly chasing the absolute best deal, like switching hosts every year to get someone's loss-leader introductory rate, then spending a few days moving stuff. Unless your time is worth nothing to you, it pays to pick your battles.

[Kon]

However; As EricJ said..

""Looking around on the internet.. the prices for domain privacy range from 8.99 (godaddy) to around 15 bucks.. I would say 4.95 is a great price for the product.. ""

Really its a GREAT deal for privacy considering Every other host charges and bluehost is the cheapest....

Bluehost Rocks!

[Moonshiner]

I've got 25 domains and I cant afford a $5 increase for each one. Is anyone else charging less or making it free as BH was? I don't appreciate the fact that they make these increases and not even inform us until it is renewal time. What is the reason for this jump in price. From FREE to $4.95? Is this a government takeover?

[felgall]

Is this a government takeover?

No - it is just the sort of economic climate where some income sources fall dramatically and where in order to survive the company therefore needs to increase the prices on those sources that they hope will make up the difference.

[Early Out]

Is this a government takeover?
Yes. Yes, it is. You should immediately head for your reinforced bunker, and start living off your canned food. And don't forget the tinfoil hat.

[poke386]

I've got 25 domains and I cant afford a $5 increase for each one. Is anyone else charging less or making it free as BH was? I don't appreciate the fact that they make these increases and not even inform us until it is renewal time. What is the reason for this jump in price. From FREE to $4.95? Is this a government takeover?

1and1.com has free privacy, and they charge less than $10 for domains too.

[wysiwyg]

I can't actually think of a situation where having a third party spoof your whois information would be better than simply putting false information in yourself.

[felgall]

I can't actually think of a situation where having a third party spoof your whois information would be better than simply putting false information in yourself.

Neither of those is a good idea since if the registrar doesn't have your correct details then they are allowed to cancel your domain when they try to contact you and you don't respond.

The only acceptable privacy options are those offered by whoever you register the domain through where they know your real contact info and display theirs instead. They can then forward any emails etc that need to get to you. This only works when there are only two parties involved - you and the registrar. If you use fake info then your domain is at risk of being stolen or deleted.