Is Godaddy's 99 cent domain worth it?

[enstinemuki]

Have you bought domains from Godaddy?
The 99 cent coupons are really juicy but have you been able to renew for anything less than $14?

 

[Rob Whisonant]

Personally I don't like or will ever use Godaddy... But, at 99 cents + 14 for the second year, that's basically 7.50 a year. Then near the end of the second year, transfer it to a better registrar.

Also, 14 is really cheap. I use to pay $100.00 a year per domain many years ago.

 

[RenderedElite]

Yes, I always take advantage of their 99 cent domains when I can, it's a great deal no matter how you look at it. And for a starter site GoDaddy hosting isn't nearly as bad as people claim. Often, these people are promoting affiliate links for other hosting companies. GoDaddy isn't my first choice, but hey, if you can get a 99 cent domain then go for it.

 

[hynds]

Have you bought domains from Godaddy?
The 99 cent coupons are really juicy but have you been able to renew for anything less than $14?

Yes, I'm having many domains at Godaddy now. And it's really worth if you can buy domain with 99 cents at them. About renewal, after the 1st year, you can use coupon when you need to renew them. It's hard to find renewal coupons from GD nowadays, however you can find it, if that you can save about 20% - 30% of renewal price (~$9-$12)

Good luck to you,

 

[Marc van Leeuwen]

Have you bought domains from Godaddy?
The 99 cent coupons are really juicy but have you been able to renew for anything less than $14?

Yes you can get domain at that pricing but you will need to renew it around $12/ year and Godaddy doesn't have coupon code for domain renewals.

 

[vishwa]

I hardly found any discount coupons on Godaddy domain renewals. I have to renew my domains on regular prices. I think its a Godaddy marketing strategy to lure the new customers to buy the domain names and this practice is done by majority of web hosting and domain registrar companies.

 

[ron13315]

yes go for it, 99cent domain in godaddy locked only for two years, you can transfer your domain after two years, so you dont have to worry about the renewal price /year

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

Wherever you got that information I don't know, but that is incorrect. Any domain registered is only registrar locked for 60 days. After that you can transfer to another registrar if you want. The price has absolutely nothing to do with how long a domain is locked.

GoDaddy might be putting out false information so that you pay the renewal the second year so they recoup their loss on the first year but I doubt that they would do that as putting out false info will hurt their reputation and standings in the domain community.

There is a lot of false information around the internet and wherever you found this is wrong. Don't believe anything you see on a site or elsewhere that is not from a trusted source itself.

Here it is from ICANN directly: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/name-holder-faqs-2012-02-25-en

 

[ron13315]

Its my own experience, godaddy locked my 99cents domain there for two year, I renewed it for $14 then after two years I transferred it in namecheap november last year.

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

You can go into your GoDaddy control panel and unlock them and transfer them after 60 days. You just have to go in and turn off the lock.

It has been this way as far back as I can remember and I have bought and moved thousands of domains from GoDaddy over the years.

If GoDaddy isn't letting you unlock them after 90 days then contact their support because that is against ICANN rules and regulations and they can not do that.

 

[ron13315]

Aww godaddy tricked me, i never thought that I can just unlock it and waited for two years. Thanks for the information sir.

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

You are very welcome. Most of the registrars don't want you to know that you can transfer out after 60 days because they would lose money on the domains they gave to you at a promotion rate.

The last I heard the registrars pay about $7 give or take for a .com registration to the registry so they lose money when they offer promo codes but they make up for it the next year when people pay more than that to renew it.

You used to be able to register a lot of $.99 domains at GoDaddy as long as you used a different code but that all changed when they became a public traded company about a couple years ago.

 

[hynds]

hynds

By default when you buy new domains at any registrar, they're locked until you unlock them (usually for transfer out)

 

[Soulwatcher]

I think it's worth it and Godaddy is a great service and a $14 yearly renewal is not bad at all. That's about 2 big mac combos at Mcdonalds!

P.S. I have been using Godaddy for the last 6+ years and I have been 100% satisfied with them and I have never had a single problem with them and their support is top notch. I highly recommend them!

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

Love that comparison! It puts things into a realistic perspective.

 

[JonathanS]

I'm not affiliated with GoDaddy in any way shape or form. But I personally recommend their hosting services. Before I even heard of GoDaddy, my parents were using their services for domain hosting since 1999. My parents became self-employed in '95 and went online in '99. They had the same domain name for almost 16 years hosted by GoDaddy. But had to change it of recent as the brand itself evolved. Fast-forward to modern day, I'm currently using GoDaddy to host my first affiliate niche site. To date, I've never had any issues with them. Also, any problems I did have were resolved within a few emails sent back and forth.

 

[hynds]

hynds

In domain industry, GD is the world's leading registrar, but they're not in hosting industry. I've been also using many domains at GD since 2010, they're really good. But I haven't try their hosting services yet. Maybe I will try with some of my small sites to test out.

 

[Judas2018]

I've seen 99 cent domains at Godaddy in years past but they're normally anything but .com. Not sure if that rule has changed nowadays or not. But if it has, I am pretty sure you cannot renew them for that price. It's a 1 time offer to lock you into a domain. Then once you have had it for a year you should be in position to renew it at regular price the following year.

 

[David C.]

David C.

Agree with you, whenever you get discounted from Godaddy for domain names, it is a great opportunity to own new domains and starting new websites from them. I got some times discounted from Godaddy and it helped to save more money for me when buying new domain names.

 

[Talaa]

I bought a domian on Godaddy. At the first year, the price is really cheap, but it is becoming higher at the following years.

 

[Marc van Leeuwen]

Marc van Leeuwen

What domain extension did you bought? if it was .com then when you renew your domain for next years, its price will be higher a bit if compared to first year.

 

[Talaa]

Talaa

Yes, the extension is .com. I found a domain registrar company called NameSilo, the renewal price is more cheaper than Godaddy and Namecheap. Did you use it before? I consider to transfer my domain to NameSilo when it is expiring.

 

[Knightrider]

0.99 Cent per domain work only in the case you opt for 2 year plan. So buying a domain for 0.99 and planning to transfer it for the second year wont work. You will have to buy for 2 years to get that discounted price. Second year price will be around 14$ + 0.99 for 2 years in total.

 

[hynds]

hynds

If you're a totally new customer, you can buy domain at $0.99 for the 1st year. No need to pay for 2 years.

 

[Carly Swinson]

You can always buy it work on it for some time and sell it for profit.

 

[ruwaidmalik]

I believe its worth it. I recently purchase two for my blogs.

 

[Marc van Leeuwen]

Marc van Leeuwen

Did you use coupon codes or different credit cards to buy domain names at Godaddy with cheap price?

 

[Rob Whisonant]

Watch out if you try to get around the system with godaddy. No a guy that purchased hundreds of domains using 99 cent coupons. Had multiple accounts, addresses, credit cards and even multiple legal businesses.

They caught him and gave him 2 weeks to move all domains off of godaddy or they would cancel them all. 2 weeks to come up with a ton of money or lose your business.

It's not worth it to violate a tos.