We are opening a web hosting company and would like to register domain
names for our customers. What I would like answered is:

Where can I register domain names for less then $8 per year (own) with
little or no upfront payments (most resellers want a "setup fee" to
get such a low rate.

If at all possible the company should have some sort of non-branded or
co-branded template, script which we can include on our site so as our
customers may check availability and either order themselfs or submit
to us for ordering.

Thanks in advance!

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Clarification of Question by dslus-ga on 14 Jun 2002 10:11 PDT

Also if anybody has used olm.net for reselling hosting I would
appriciate any input on how you thought the service (as a whole) was
or is.

GKG - http://www.gkg.net/domain/alliances/partner.html

GKG has pricing that meets your specifications, but only if you
register over a 500 domains per year.  This is your best bet for
meeting your pricing guidelines.  However, I have personal experience
with GKG and I would not recommend them.  That was sometime ago though
and you may have a better partnership with them than I did.  There is
no mention of a setup fee on their website.


Dotster - http://ir.dotster.com/home/index.php

The price is $12r, but I know for a fact that if you can promise them
a large volume of domains you can get that down to or slightly under
$8.  If you are not planning on registering a large volume of names,
you will not get a lower price.  They are currently waiving their
setup fee.  Dotster does have template system.


GoDaddy - http://registrar.godaddy.com/reseller.asp?isc=&se=%2B&from%5Fapp=

GoDaddy offers a reseller program, but there is a $99 annual licensing
fee.  Their price would be $8.70 per domain.  If you are registering a
large amount of domains, you maybe be able to bring that price down. 
They also have the ability to customize the look and feel of your
website.


eNom - http://www.enom.com/resellers/

eNom has a reseller program, but they also charge various annual fees
and their price per domain is higher than you have requested.  Again,
their pricing is flexible if you have a large amount of domains.  The
bulk of major domain resellers use the eNom program.  Other companies
may have more actual resellers, but more domains are registered using
eNom's reseller program.


For examples of low-cost domain resellers, visit these websites:
http://www.bargainname.com - Dotster Reseller
http://www.registerfly.com - eNom Reseller
http://www.namecheap.com - eNom Reseller

Note that these websites have tens of thousands of domain
registrations per year.  That is why that are able to obtain such low
pricing.  If you are not planning on registering that many names, I
suggest going with GKG.


Too summarize, I would recommend either Dotster or eNom, but GKG
better meets your pricing specifications.  Almost all of these
programs allow the use of templates or custom modifications to some
degree on their reseller websites.  I do not have any experience with
olm.net so I really can't comment on them.  I've dealt with all of the
companies except GoDaddy in the past so I'm speaking from my personal
experience.  For more specific information on these programs, I
suggest you contact the companies directly.

Thanks for the question and if you require more information, don't
hesitate to ask for clarification.  And if you find this answer
satisfactory, please feel free to rate it. Thank you!
      
xemion-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by dslus-ga on 15 Jun 2002 03:04 PDT

I really appriciate all the info but most of it was stuff I already
know. To answer the question you must answer

"Where can I register domain names for less then $8 per year (own)
with
little or no upfront payments (most resellers want a "setup fee" to
get such a low rate."

---

Clarification of Answer by xemion-ga on 15 Jun 2002 09:31 PDT

GKG is your answer for resellers.
http://www.gkg.net/domain/alliances/partner.html 

If you're not looking for resellers, I suggest DotRegistrar.  They
have the cheapest prices on the internet for the least amount of
domains.
http://www.dotregistrar.com/

xemion-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by dslus-ga on 27 Jun 2002 22:51 PDT

Did anyone truely answer this question. We were forced to go with a
company that charges $12.00 per name. Thanks, but no thanks.

---

Clarification of Answer by xemion-ga on 29 Jun 2002 15:00 PDT

GKG.net met all the demands set out in your question.

Is this yet another unanswerable? :-)

hi there,
have you looked at stargateinc.com? they charge slightly over what you
are looking for at $8.85 per domain name but if you become a bulk
buyer, they will charge only $8.

stargateinc do charge a setup fee. you'll need to look at this:
http://www.stargateinc.com/Pages/stargateSRS.htm

but if you become a reseller, its free and you can make a buck off
your customers each time they register a domain name:
http://www.stargateinc.com/Affiliate/affiliate.htm

Yes, StargateInc is another option.  They do not, however, have a true
reseller program (which is why I did not include them in my above
list).  They only have an affiliate program.  You place a link on your
website and get paid $1 for every person who buys a domain name from
them after visiting their website through the link on your page.  A
reseller program actually sells the domains on your website (or
atleast makes it look like that's what it's doing).

I have personal experience with Stargate as well and they can be a
pain in the butt sometimes, but again, you might have a different
experience if you do business with them.

xemion-ga

I mispoke above.  Stargate does have a reseller program AND an
affiliate program.  ranma was correct.

http://www.stargateinc.com/Pages/stargateSRS.htm is the reseller
program link.  Please note that they only offer the program through a
COM object which will be very hard for you to do unless you (or your
programmer) have experience using COM objects and own your own server.
 The other programs use frames and templates and are easier to use.

xemion-ga

I would also suggest you check out OpenSRS (www.opensrs.org).
They have full reseller support, and charge $10/yr per domain; which
is slightly more then you were asking.
The good part is that they don't require any real fees.  You put in a
deposit of $250, and as you register domains, this deposit goes down.
I've done some searching, and for ISPs, this seems to be the best bet
so far.

-Mike

I am currently using http://affiliate.outstanding.com
It is a total trasparent affiliate program. Only my Brand shows.
They give your total control of price, design and layout of your
reseller account.
And they pay you every 25th of every month if you accumulate $50+ in
your affiliate account.

I am happy with them and there is no set up fee.
read their Faqs for more info
http://affiliatefaq.outstanding.com

Outstanding.com is not an icann accredited registrar.  They are a
reseller for ItsYourDomain.com:
https://secure.onlineaccess.net/iyd/users.php?IYD=1

Greetings !!!

http://www.getwebdomains.com would charge you USD 9.00 for domain
registration and they would offer you Complete DNS Control of the
domain on their server as well.

They also have a domain branding option, wherein you could have a
frontend, on your website and you could use their backend.

There is no up-front fees, however they charge USD 9.95 per month as
branding charges.

The are basically reseller of a domain registrar, but I guess all is
well till the time you get your price :)