The web’s cheeky scammers

Yesterday I received a note claiming to be a renewal letter for an internet domain, the part of a web address that appears after the ‘www’ or behind the “@” in emails. The kind offer was a mere four times the price that I’ll be charged by my current domain registrar when the time to renew the address arrives.

This little scam, which almost every internet domain owner has encountered, is one of the quaint but profitable rorts that make the online world so interesting. Just as the web has opened up massive opportunities to new businesses, it’s also given birth to a new generation of cyber-swindlers and conmen.

Part of the problem is the cult of free we’ve allowed to develop on the internet. By giving away goods we’ve trained our customers not to pay for stuff they find on the web. Where we can get customers to hand over their credit cards, many businesses find thin margins as shoppers are buying on price.

The domain registration business is a good example, it’s a tough game being a domain registrar, the margins are tight and, being a transactional business, they offer a fairly generic service. Many tend to offer add-ons, such as web hosting and design, to pad out the margins, and for many registrars their domain registration service is a loss leader for more profitable products.

As a consequence for domain holders it’s worthwhile shopping around as the prices vary dramatically, particularly if you choose not to take up the registrar’s offer to host your site or design your pages.

Sadly you don’t always get what you pay for and before changing registrars I always make quality checks on the Whirlpool website where I look in their Web Hosting forum to see what people have to say about the registrar’s service.

One thing that often pops up is why the heck are local registrars so expensive? With the bigger Australian registrars a .com domain costs between $20 and $75 a year, while the US providers are delivering the same for almost half the price. The .com.au domains are nearly double the price for the .com equivalent.

I can understand the .com.au being a bit more expensive given the charges imposed by AuDA, the Australian Domain Authority, but the discrepancy seems a bit on the high side.

Every business should have their own internet domain registered, partly to improve website search engine ranking, but more importantly to protect their trading name, so all of this is relevant to almost every proprietor or entrepreneur.

When you do register a domain, note who you’ve registered with and when the domain expires as even the legit registrars have a habit of invoicing very early for renewals.

The domain registration business can be likened to a shark tank, fortunately for the business owners who are forced to swim in it, the sharks are the relatively harmless gummy types compared to some of the others like hackers and fraudsters prowling the net.

With a bit of knowledge and attitude you can keep these predators from nibbling your toes.

Paul Wallbank is one of Australia’s leading experts on how industries and societies are changing in this connected, globalised era. When he isn’t explaining technology issues, he helps businesses and community organisations find opportunities in the new economy.