My domains are currently split between the two
Might as well move my stuff over if it means avoiding things like this
[0] https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx...
can you explain what you mean by this? how do you find the "local registrar" for a company, what does that even mean?
NameCheap send out their reminder emails telling you a domain is about to expire in the format: "Your domain <somedomain.com> expires on MM/DD".
Several times I had domains expire or almost expire because, being in Europe I naturally read 'MM/DD' as 'DD/MM' which, under certain circumstances looked like a domain was expiring several weeks in the future, when it was expiring imminently.
I emailed NameCheap customer service on a couple of occasions about this. Pointing out that, for their customers outside the US, their expiration notice emails were liable to be mis-read and I suggested they either use 'DD/MM' when emailing customers in Europe or --even better- just spell out the month name, so there's no possibility of confusion.
The first time I got no response at all. The second time, I got an email back from NameCheap Customer Service saying "We're an American company. We use American date format"
So I thought 'Fuck you then. You'll not be wanting non-American customers, in that case.' and immediately transferred all my domains elsewhere.
I'm currently using gandi.net. Not as cheap as NameCheap but no complaints so far.
Oh. And to address something raised by the OP: there's no way you should have to pay $150 [or anything for that matter] to revive a domain that expired the day before. I'm not sure what the grace period is. But, in the past, I've renewed domains that had expired a week or more previously and never had any problem. Nor have I ever had to pay any 'fine' for doing so.
GoDaddy are shysters. I'm actually surprised someone fitting the HN demographic uses them. I thought their reputation was pretty well known in techy circles and most savvy people actively avoided them.
At this point, there are 5000+ dead Ukrainian civilians. If at this point you are more concerned about Russian citizens buying domains names from one vendor than you are about Ukrainian civilians getting blown up, that's in no way a neutral position. Similarly, you and Namecheap both have freedom of association. Their using it to enhance sanctions against Russia is exactly as political as you using it to boycott them for their choice.
And on that note, Letsencrypt has a helpful list of hosting companies that automate the process for you: https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/web-hosting-who-support-...
Dealing with domain registration nowadays is a dreadful experience. The system is completely broken.
If you actually have a trademark to the domain name then you can try the ICANN dispute process. If your entire claim is that you thought of the domain name but someone else bought it the good luck.
Are there any exceptions?
Yes, we continue to provide services to:
all anti-war media, protest resources and any type of websites that are helping to end this war and regime;
Russian citizens who are not Russian residents and don't support this regime in any way;
independent journalism;
non-profit organizations.
I'm guessing that's a low level person and they closed it with that.
There's a post here where the CEO wrote how they had about 1000 people in Ukraine being affected by the war.
Found it, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30506813
I've stumbled upon them a couple of times before.
It sounds like someone may have gained access to your account or there may have been some other issue. It's usual for them to have ask for video proof that you're the domain owner.
Putting aside the fact that it is just an insecure and undignified way of transferring data. Why not host the 'video proof' site on namecheap domain? so you know who's watching. And why not ask for photo ID instead of credit card? I mean anyone can send an email "go to [whatever] domain and show me your credit card, or I'll stop your [whatever] service" and NameCheap users will be conditioned into falling for this scam. Its reckless and unprofessional.
And i don't know how else to define took some of my money and registered a domain.. then kept it cause that's what happened. You have a deadline to do your cam show, which is shorter than the time their support service takes to answer an email about your concerns; After that you lose some of your money and your domain.