Domain registrars: the details that cost you later

Registering a domain is simple. Getting it back, moving it, or keeping control of it when something goes wrong is where registrars differ, and none of that is visible on the pricing page.

Four things are worth checking before you register anywhere. The renewal price, which is frequently several times the first-year price and is what you will pay every year afterwards. Whether WHOIS privacy is included or billed separately. Whether transfers out are supported without friction, since a registrar that makes leaving difficult has removed your main source of leverage. And what the transfer and redemption fees are if a domain lapses, because recovering an expired domain can cost a hundred times the renewal.

Be careful with free domains bundled into hosting packages. They are frequently registered to the host rather than to you, which means you do not control the name and cannot take it with you.

Unsolicited emails and letters about domain renewal or "search engine registration" are a long-running scam that survives because it works. Your registrar is whoever you paid; anyone else writing to you about your domain is not it.