Category: Domain Names

Sticking with the big brands is often a very effective way of establishing instant trust. How many times have you paid a bit more for something just for the secure feeling that big brand provides. However, the big brands will invariably design their product/service range around their ability to provide in a way which fits their business model and this can often restrict the options for the customer. In fact – in the domain registration and web hosting business, some of the really big brands don’t even do it that well.

The biggest challenge with using less known brands is establishing trust – there are a number of checks which can be done to mitigate the risk of paying for a product or service which does not materialise, but the first simple check is to read the company information on the website and get on a whois site or app and check when the website domain name was registered.

If the website is representing the company as having been in business for a number of years and the domain was registered a few months ago – alarm bells should start ringing.

Scammers will generally not utilise domain names for which the purchase information leads back to them. Once a scam is exposed the police will contact the registrar and obtain registrant details. Once the registrar is contacted – the domain name will likely be removed from service, as illegal activity is in breech of any acceptable use policy. Hence, domain names used for scamming rarely reach a significant age. Of course the business could be legitimate and may have rebranded – however, in todays modern world that approach is risky.

However, if an organisation claims to have been in business for decades and the domain was first registered decades ago – then the story becomes more credible.

To check the age of a domain name – enter it below and click check. Then click whois. You will not only be able to see the created date, depending on the whois server functionality – you may be able to see nameserver details, registrant contact details and DNSSEC delegation/status:

The zone-reg.com – domain hyper-market site is primarily designed for customers who want to find a set of domain names which eu/usa individuals and organisations generally look for in addition to a few interesting generics, all in one place and quickly.

Like most web services businesses – over the years we have utilised the traditional approach to domain registration and provisioning systems. However, with the advent of highly secure, feature rich content management systems and e-shops round every corner, we have been waiting for someone to design a WooCommerce style front end enabling available domain names to be identified and registered swiftly. We waited and waited and waited and in the end we did it ourselves.

Links to the domain registrars and pricing feeds are still handled in the more traditional style, but the zone-reg sites are all WordPress based WooCommerce sites leveraging the simplest, most secure and efficient means of searching for available domain names, selecting them and getting them to the shopping cart where you can choose from your favourite payment engine such including Apple Pay and Amazon Pay to make the purchase.

The customer can then get on with their lives and leave the rest to us!