Namecheap jacked up the price on a domain name, can you explain?
Namecheap just quoted me $24 for registration of a domain name, multiple times. After attempting to add it to my cart, each time, it failed to add to cart. Now when I search for the domain, it quotes me $1.5k.
I've never had this happen before with Namecheap. What gives? I'm trying to assume the best. What is an explanation here that is not malicious intent?
I don't think this is malicious, registrars often have to use third party top domains like for example .tech which reserves common words as premium domains, but you are unable to see the price until you make a request for buying it. So in this case, Namecheap would show the default price, but when it tries to process it, they would receive the premium domain price - thus, since it's no long matching the cart price, they have to update it to reflect the actual price.
I'm sure they could do this more informatively though, but they're not alone in not doing that..
Not saying they are doing this, but what you're describing used to happen with shady registrars. It was called "domain tasting"[1] where there was a loophole path for registrars to squat a domain for a short period of time. That allowed them to dynamically sense interest in a domain, squat it, and mark up the price.
I'd be very surprised if a big name like Namecheap were doing that today though. Probably just a coincidence that someone else bought it while you were deciding.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting
Sounds like a premium domain that they didn't know was premium until they checked the price for real rather than it being the standard tld price, at which time it cached and started showing the real price
Guessing you tried to register a dictionary word on one of the new tlds?
Been got by it too "Ah. That would be why this gem of a domain was still available"
When I asked why NameCHEAP still used their name, despite no longer being cheap, I was downvoted. It seemed as if I was implying that I could buy apples from Apple. Ironically, some people have been referring to OpenAI as ClosedAI lately.
BTW, I am a Namecheap customer for 20 years now :D
I stopped using GoDaddy because it seemed like they would squat the domains I'd search for, find, not buy immediately, and then come back to buy a day or two later. Maybe there's some innocent explanation of the behavior, but as a consumer the experience sure felt malicious. I wound up switching to NameCheap after that.
It would be such a bummer if my brain wasn't just finding patterns that didn't really exist in the noise of consumerism and NameCheap started taking on dark patterns like this. Vetting and switching registrars is a headache.
What tld? It’s likely premium but they don’t get that info back until they call into the registry. Comparing prices between registrars is good practice as well.
FWIW, I had TERRIBLE experience with Namecheap. Somehow, they managed to mangle the email address attached to my account, and went into a "prove my identity" situation. Yet I couldn't, since the email on file isn't what I used (pro tip: yes, it was).
After a run around with support, I switched to another provider. What's silly is the domains were for my own use only (some VPS servers). I frankly would never recommend Namecheap. Despite their popularity, they're terrible in my experience.
Namecheap is now a shit company to do business with.
Also had the same experience, I even complained to their customer support about it. The cheap price is already in my cart then when i try to pay it, it doesnt proceed.
Keep in mind this happened to me already over the course of many years, just as what other users have experienced.
I saw a premium domain listed for sale at $60 and went to grab it.. and when I tried to add it, it wouldn't let me. I emailed them and they said it was already taken. So why advertise a domain that is already taken? Definitely annoying.
They don’t check whether it is available until the last second. They take it even further than this too, they’ll literally charge your card for a domain they haven’t even checked is available. Then they refund you after. It’s ridiculous.
If I had to guess, I'd probably say the XHR call that tells them when a domain is a premium domain wasn't resolving. Also kinda helps explain it not being in your cart.
Sounds like it's a premium domain or it's being sold through their marketplace
I want a free sub-domain name. Can anyone help me? pls