Domain Name Renewal Lessons
or When Not to be Cheap over 70 bucks
by Heferito

In case you aren't familiar with how domain names work, here's a very brief rundown of the basics using myself as an example: There is an organization called Network Solutions which maintains all of the domain names on the internet. This assures us that there can only be one www.heferito.com on the World wide Web. I think we can all agree that one is enough. Anyways, I pay Network Solutions 70 bucks every 3 years to keep the name www.heferito.com. If I were to decide not to pay them then the name would be up for grabs on a first-come first-serve basis.

We have a client here at work that had two domain names for their site, one that ended in .com and one that ended in .org. They have been on the web using both domain names for over 5 years. They have used both names on numerous promotional materials such as brochures and pamphlets.

About a month ago we called this particular client to let them know that the .com version of their domain name was set to expire and that we would be happy to renew it for them at no cost to them other than the 70 bucks that Network Solutions charges. After much deliberation they decided that they did not want to make the investment at that time. We strongly urged them to spend the money because as I mentioned earlier they have used this domain name for many years, and most likely there are still many of their clients and contacts who are using the .com to reach their site. Apparently this was a risk that they were willing to take.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. We received a call from said client and she was close to tears. We tried to coax her into finding out what happened and she said that she was desperately hoping that we would be able to help her out. She said "when I typed in our old .com domain name there were breasts on the screen!"  She also explained that they had gotten a call from a client who wanted to know what was going on with their web site. "What can I do, you need to help me!" Without saying "I told you so" we proceeded to explain that there is nothing we can do at this point. She pleaded "can't we write them a letter asking for it back or maybe try to sue them for copyright infringement?" After a few seconds of research we discovered that the name had been bought by a porn company in Madrid. Something tells me that a letter such as the one she is suggesting would provide them with many hours of cheap entertainment.

The moral of the story, boys and girls, is simple. Be sure to not destroy the integrity and image of your company over something as trivial as 70 bucks.