I actually could think of more reasons why not to use Godaddy.com but let’s start with this:

1. Absolutely clueless about spam

Now don’t get me wrong. I hate spam as much as anyone but I also happen to manage large email lists.

One particular list had over 150K subscribers. These were all buyers mind you that completed a purchase with a credit card over a 2 year time span. We had 1 spam complaint from 150,000 emails and here is what Godaddy threatened us with:

“We present to you the following solution to resolve this issue:

First, reply to abuse@godaddy.com with a statement that you (or your employees, affiliates, 3rd party marketers, etc.) will no longer send messages to individuals that did not ask to receive information specifically from your domain name.

Second, include in this statement authorization for GoDaddy.com to charge a $199 non-refundable administration fee to the credit card on file for your account (you may want to log into your Go Daddy account and confirm that the card on file is valid and has not expired).”

$199 non-refundable admin fee? Come on Bob – you can do better then that.

Needless to say, we immediately moved that domain to Namecheap.com who forwarded a few complaints over the years but understood how/why with 150K subscribers, 1 spam complaint is no reason to kick us out or try to charge us $200 Buckaroos…

Apparently I’m not the only one who had that issue. In his Butterfly Marketing course, the famed online marketer Mike Filsaime also strictly recommends to stay away from Godaddy.com like the plague. Go Mike. If you haven’t hear of Mike Filsaime yet, where have you been? Check him out here.

2. Godaddy Expiration Period

When a domain expires, you have a 60 days redemption period. If you happen to renew during that period, Godaddy.com allows you to renew that domain. It’s conveniently put in the “Recover Expired Domains”.

Now what your Godaddy rep will tell you is that there is a minimum of $19.99 per domain up to $80 per name depending at which point you redeem the name. This number happens to be negotiable. We’ve renewed and spent hundreds of dollars getting those names reactivated. The “Negotiable” should have been a warning to investigate further. Come to find out, you can simply transfer your domain to let’s say Namecheap.com and only pay the annual renewal fees. No BS courtesy recovery fee for those expired domains. What a rip off! What’s most aggravating is that at the $80 fee we let some names go that didn’t warrant the expense while we could have simply moved registrar for $7 a name…

Now guided by a dedicated account rep with whom you’ve worked for years and you have a quite a stench left in your mouth.

3. Grab, Hold, Stall, Stalk…

Well if Bob Parson’s lets an old girlfriend go like a domain, he might get cited for stalking her.
To add insult to injury as you’re trying to pull your names away to the new registrar, instead of conveniently letting you batch the process, Godaddy.com makes you unlock all the names (that you can do at once) but then request the EPP code to transfer your name to be done one by one… Nice… Add a 5 day transfer period. As a matter of fact Godaddy is the only registrar that locks your domain down anytime a change is made. STALKER…

4. SLOW

Yeah they did build quite a nice interface and you have to give it to them. They mastered the pushy upsells like no one else business. But all that flashiness makes it sluggish… Let’s face it there are more interesting sites to browse then the Godaddy.com admin, for real.

If you’re still convinced that Godaddy.com is the perfect registrar for you, I’ll be adding my affiliate link shortly so I can make a buck from your decision.

I do recommend Namecheap.com – I have been using them for a while. The rates are competitive. And when I started using them they were so behind the 8 ball that they had no way but up. They’ve improved, the interface is basic, loads fast, allows bulk editing on the fly and transfers without restrictions. They give you the Nameguard for free for the 1st year and throw along a SSL Cert so it’s a great value.

If you have rants or praises about Godaddy.com or Namecheap for that matter, please share the wealth.

I hope this post was informative and will guide you in the right direction when choosing your domain name registrar.

I will be testing the Godaddy auctions soon and update this post as well.