Amazon Becomes Domain Name Registrar 159
prostoalex writes "Internet's largest retailer is setting up a domain name registration business. Wall Street Journal recently found out that in December Amazon.com got approved as domain name registrar. According to people from ICANN, the registration included rights for .com, .net,. org, .biz and .info TLDs."
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:amazon... (Score:1)
Re:amazon... (Score:5, Funny)
Clean Underwear from Target
Latex Gloves from Target
Stainless Steel Speculum from Target
New Patent! (Score:3, Funny)
It will be good for innovation. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It will be good for innovation. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It will be good for innovation. (Score:3, Funny)
can't wait to see the patents (Score:4, Funny)
One great thing about boycotting internet retailers like Amazon.com : you can shop there, read reviews, compare models, pick out what you want
Re:can't wait to see the patents (Score:1)
The process of:
1> Using Amazon to search for things you want to buy.
2> Buying from a different site.
Hrmm.. I bet this could come in handy with other things as well... I bet nobody does this with travel sites either
Re:can't wait to see the patents (Score:3, Insightful)
How long until... (Score:1, Redundant)
Check out this report. (Score:5, Informative)
And in other news (Score:5, Funny)
Sneaky Bastards..... (Score:1, Funny)
Low margin (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Low margin (Score:5, Informative)
That's why they keep adding products to their line, To offset the losses the previous line racked up.
So a line with *any* profit margin at all will be a valuable thing to have come the next stockholder's meeting.
KFG
Re:Low margin (Score:5, Insightful)
If only the could have one of those... Amazon just sold $1.43 billion in merchandise last Xmas, and couldn't get 0.25% of that in true profits...
This means that as far as businesses are concerned, your savings account is a more successful business model than "man of the year" Bezos' Amazon.
Re:Low margin (Score:3, Insightful)
See, Amazon isn't a blue chip that decares its profits and then hands it out as dividends. Instead, it invests its profits from profitable lines back into expanding the business. The expansions so far have been mostly sucessful, so they contribute to the value of the company which gets measured in the stock price.
Bottom-line profit is an important metric, but it isn't the only one.
Re:Low margin (Score:2)
Re:Low margin (Score:1)
Except, of course, they don't have any profits. They've had 2 profitable quarters so far, a few that were 'pro forma' profitable, and the rest couldn't be cooked to profitability. Amazon has survived from venture capital, an IPO, and loans, not rom reinvesting profits.
Stock price valuation is a funny thing, though. In theory, it should reflect future profits. But the last few years were like a freshman college chick binge drinking to excess, having he time of her life, then vomiting on herself, getting gang banged, and ending up with her head in the toilet wishing she could die.
stock prices (Score:2)
stock prices show the value of the company's stock as measured by demand for that stock, not the value of the company.
Re:Low margin (Score:5, Funny)
As older divisions turn profitable, they are funneling most of those profits into setting up new businesses on their site so that they can repeat and profit again. The result is that the overall operation is hovering around break even, but the value of the stock should theoretically increase because it now represents a bigger company. (Actual stock milage will vary due to the the external factors that send the whole stock market spinning at times.)
Look at Microsoft's breakdowns when they have to file their paperwork. Their domanant businesses of Windows and Office are profitable, but then Microsoft turns around and spends money trying to break into the businesses that it doesn't dominate such as its MSN web properties. Still profitable, but how much more profitable would they be if they gave up the ghost on MSN?
Re:Low margin (Score:1, Flamebait)
Some of them have even proven quite successful in founding and managing complex multinational corporations while amassing millions, yea, even billions, in personal wealth.
Who would have thought that of independent intelligent people good with abstract concepts, math and technology.
Lord, we all expected the football players with D averages to to rule the business world by now.
Oh, wait, those were the venture capitalists the smart people raped of their fortunes.
Go figure.
I'm familiar with concept of using profits to fund expansion. I've even successfully applied it myself.
Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places but I've certainly seen no evidence of this in Amazon.
What I have seen is a man who has, repeatedly, gone to the venture capitalists and stockholders and said, "Sure, we're losing money, but if we had more capital to expand eventually we'll be the big boy on the block and profit."
Rinse and repeat.
KFG
Re:Low margin (Score:1)
Re:Low margin (Score:2)
If you're making a loss on every unit, then the more you sell, the more you lose! "Making it up on volume" just puts you out of business the quicker.
What Amazon are doing is trying to become the "one stop shop". If you want anything, go to Amazon to buy it, and because you trust them (because they've always delivered in the past) it is easier for you to just click "buy now" than go hunting for a better price elsewhere, especially if the choice is dealing with half-a-dozen different suppliers, or just one. When they've got that - and they probably have by now for books, CDs and DVDs - then they can start to make a margin.
Amazon want to be to retailing what Google is to search. If you listen to idiot Slashbots, you would think that all Amazon did was issue patents, but the fact is their execution is superb. Order from them, and it'll show up when they say it will, and if it doesn't, they'll replace it or refund you some money. They're in a completely different league from the typical dotcom.
Re:Low margin (Score:1)
Eyeballs, of course! Go look through the Amazon SEC filings and other places... they get a lot of revenue from the little ads they sprinkle around their site. Even if this just breaks even, there will be that many more people cruising around their site, looking at ads they get paid for. Heck, some of those people might even buy something!
Already taken... (Score:4, Funny)
It wont be long until.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It wont be long until.. (Score:2, Funny)
I can see it now.... (Score:4, Funny)
And then muscle everyone out of business even Verisign!
Sad thing is, I'm not sure which is worse.
Three Cheers! (Score:1)
Re:I can see it now.... (Score:1)
Verisign/NSI is worse. Alot lot lot worse.
Amazon.com is a blessing incomparison !
The utter fucking shit i had to deal with that is NSI... its unbelieveable....
They are the scum of the universe!
D.
Recommendations (Score:5, Funny)
"People who registered "cowsex.org" also registered: "grandmasex.org" "verbalsex.net" and "mbate.org"
Re:Recommendations (Score:3, Funny)
"Who moderates the meta-moderators? "
A secret cabal known only as the "Illiterati."
KFG
Re:Recommendations (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Recommendations (Score:1)
Re:Recommendations (Score:1)
More power to them... (Score:5, Funny)
I do wonder what they have planned for this... with the addition of domain name registration to their list of products I can imagine them introducing some sort of turnkey affiliate web site product.
One thing you don't want to see when browsing domain names:
Re:More power to them... (Score:2)
No, that's not good enough. I have stopped dealing with Amazon about a year ago, and I am proud to say I have not purchased anything from them since. They tend to have the pretty unfriendly and unhelfpful customer service. Returns and order changes require a miracle to happen. (Ignoring the patent issues and such).
Of course they do tend to have relatively low prices... The "negative margin" busness entry approach explains that...
Amazon security (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Amazon security (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Amazon security (Score:2, Insightful)
umm ok (Score:5, Insightful)
the joke is dead.
it died after the first time it was posted. repeating it in a different form 3
Re:umm ok (Score:1)
18...19...20...submit
Re:umm ok (Score:1)
But... but... It's a One-Click Joke(R)!
Re:umm ok (Score:2)
I despise Amazon (Score:1, Troll)
Fuck Amazon.com
Re:I despise Amazon (Score:1)
1) Go to cdnow.com
2) Select "Music" in the search box
3) Type in the über-trendy album or artist you want to impress your friends by owning (e.g., "Mass Romantic")
4) Hit enter/return
5)
6) Profit!! (well, for Amazon at least)
Re:I despise Amazon (Score:1)
Could it be that Amazon had the page for what I was looking for fucked up? Yeah, that also sounds reasonable. I bet that's it. They need Terry Tate, Office Linebacker working for them. I bet he could get that page fixed in no time.
I could have been more eloquent in my complaint but it hardly calls for sarcasm. I went there looking for something (and no, I don't really give a shit what my friends think of my listening taste, once you get past 30 or so that becomes less important to you) and got a screwed up page. I then went looking around and found the new arrangement much less useful to me than the previous setup.
First impressions. If you don't think they're important (and you happen to be Amazon,com) then watch and see how many items I purchase from your website in the future.
And I'm a friggin "Troll" for posting my experience dealing with Amazon? Go figure?
Re:I despise Amazon (Score:1)
Re: musical taste -- there are a few people whose taste I respect enough that I'm curious to know what they think of mine. They may suggest other stuff I might like (like the aforementioned New Pornographers CD, which was the last CD I bought from Amazon). They might challenge some of my choices, which might make me re-evaluate them (like Avril Lavigne's CD, which I think is surprisingly solid). However, I wouldn't make changes just to fit in with them. I'm 31, so I've felt this way for about a year now. ^_^
And yes, I could probably get the page fixed. However, the last (and first) e-commerce site I made had a nasty bug where it assumed your credit card's approval number would actually be a number. (I blame the merchant system's API.)
Re:I despise Amazon (Score:2)
Not rebuild their site. But I guess that would work too.
Amazon is not really reliable with searches (Score:1)
I've listed their new releases on sci-fi/fantasy, and discovered that somehow they have regular fiction in there too. (One was the story of a woman as she approached menopause and how she dealt with her emotion over it. Definitely not sf)
Amazon's search system leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, I would go there more often if they would give me the option to NOT see the recommendations. It's just a pain the the arse, clutters the screen, and wastes my bandwidth.
I usually go to amazon only if I'm clicking on someone's link. What really irks me is that my investment club bought amazon stock. In other words, I'm a stockowner of them. *grumble*
w00t! (Score:5, Funny)
In other major retailer news.. (Score:5, Funny)
About time... (Score:5, Interesting)
I use to be a member of the team that ran, maintained and added new domains to Amazon.com DNS's. While I won't tell you everything, I can tell you they did this to save money since Amazon.com owns something like 4,000 domains (Maybe less, maybe more).
Just paying the money to be a registar and then not having to pay to register new domains and also not paying to re-register all the domain names they own will save them a lot of money.
Smart move, IMHO.
Re:About time... (Score:1)
At $10 a doman thats almost $40,000 a year. Now they just need some servers and a tech guy to manage it. Yup, should save them tons.
Re:About time... (Score:2)
Re:Wrong. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, but it's only $6 (might be different for different TLDs, I'm not sure).
You also have to pay an entrance fee to become accredited to register domains.
I'm sure they figure they can make it back over time. Besides, this probably sounds good on Wall Street.
Yes, it's probably less money than doing it through another company. But not free.
Agreed.
Nope (Score:2)
Re:Nope (Score:2)
Re:About time... (Score:2, Funny)
Toddler's vomit on you!
Domain Registration is second best net business (Score:5, Interesting)
--CTH
Re:Domain Registration is second best net business (Score:1)
Re:Domain Registration is second best net business (Score:1)
The cost is not high for a website, but domain registrars must be making a huge profit (99% profit?) on these things. Anybody has an idea of the costs involved to the registrar?
Same for ssl certificates. What's the deal with that? It's just a freaking key (I can make one myself!), and it costs how much for them to sign it (via a 100% automated process)???
IMHO, it costs them (or should cost them) less than pennies to deal with you.
Re:Domain Registration is second best net business (Score:2)
--CTH
amazon.com itself (Score:2, Interesting)
Domain Name: AMAZON.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
Re:amazon.com itself (Score:2)
Have you ever tried to transfer a domain between registrars? Would you bet your business on Verisign not messing it up?
Re:amazon.com itself (Score:2)
Choosing a Good Registrar (Score:3, Interesting)
The number of registrars keeps growing, and the competition is starting to really have a positive effect. A few years back, it was hard to register a domain name for less than thirty dollars a year, without signing some kind of heinous terms of service agreement that legitimately threatened your rights as a domain owner. Now, there are a bunch of places that charge $10 or so a year.
In a couple months, I've got to re-register my domain names. Does anyone have good info on cheap places to register domains that don't have evil contracting agreements that may endanger my future rights to the domain?
And, in a related matter, do all registrars nowadays feed unrenewed domain names to domain squatters, who undoubtedly purchase registration rights for a pittance? I noticed when I let a couple less-than-desirable domain names lapse, they went straight to a squatter gambling search engine portal scam page the day my rights ended.
Re:Choosing a Good Registrar (Score:5, Informative)
good service, 9.95/domain/year/1 year, and it goes down to like 6.95/year at 5 years.
Re:Choosing a Good Registrar (Score:3)
It used to be that the price of a domain was $70 for two years, and you got it from Network Solutions. No choice in the matter, NetSol was the only game in town.
Then came the era of competition... but since a domain registration is a domain registration which is always a domain registration, there's really not much difference in what the competitors have to sell. The only differences come in terms of price, and what interfaces they offer for changing your domain.
Verisign's main advantage is that they still have the default renewal rights to those domains that were registered with the old NetSol years ago. No sane person would pick Verisign's registration service if they knew that any of the other full-service registration sites (Register.com, etc.) or the low-cost registration sites (000domains.com, GoDaddy.com, etc.) existed and can renew their domains too. This shows a lot about consumer inertia... letting accepting the auto-renewal at the old price for something whose price has dropped dramatically.
Re:Choosing a Good Registrar (Score:2)
Re:Choosing a Good Registrar (Score:1)
Here is a good registrar (Score:5, Informative)
I manage servers and build software for several companies in the pr0n industry; it seems like most of these guys like registering with www.godaddy.com [godaddy.com]. I use them all the time with excellent results. I've registered four of my own domains with them so far; some of my friends followed me there. In total I'm managing about 120 domains with no hassles. Go Daddy's domain transfer rate is ~$7.00 and registration for a new domain is about ~$9.00/year. I have nothing but good things to say about them.
The only problems we had so far were in transferring domains from Verisign/NetSol over to Go Daddy. NetSol makes it almost impossible to happen; it takes two or three iterations before they comply.
Cheers and good luck,
EWith their track record... (Score:1, Funny)
In other news, (Score:1, Flamebait)
who's a good registrar? (Score:5, Insightful)
I currently have one domain registered with Network Solutions, who are, of course eeeeeeevil, and when it comes up for expiration I'll go somewhere else.
I have another registered with Gandi [gandi.net]. Although Gandi is cheap and doesn't send spam, that's about all I can say for them. I started trying yesterday to get a connection to their server so I could update a DNS entry to point to my new webhost. Tried around the clock at various times (including getting up at 1 a.m. my time), only got through after many many frustrating attempts. (Oh yeah, I e-mailed their support address, and got a reply saying that support was unavailable for an indefinite time.)
So who's good? I've heard good things about EasyDNS/opensrs/tucows [easydns.com], but they're not particularly cheap. Although I'm not a fan of Amazon's behavior (patents, labor relations,...), I'd be interested to see if they turn out to be a good registrar.
Re:who's a good registrar? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:who's a good registrar? (Score:2)
Re:who's a good registrar? (Score:4, Informative)
I'll tell you what's not to like (Score:2, Informative)
Re:who's a good registrar? (Score:1)
Re:who's a good registrar? (Score:2)
Re:who's a good registrar? (Score:2)
Re:who's a good registrar? (Score:3, Informative)
- j
Re:who's a good registrar? (Score:2)
Office space (Score:3, Funny)
Now it's only a matter of time (Score:2)
It Can't Get Any Worse! (Score:1, Interesting)
Also, this could be a good way to finally destroy ICANN! Talk them into joining the Open Domain projects [of course keep them from patenting it out from under us] Amazon, Yahoo, and Google...example only, could each run their own DNS out from under ICANN. The system is designed to do this--It's high-time someone did it. And Bezo isn't the type of guy to put up with ICANN's s#$%!
The previous ad was paid for by amazon.com (Score:1)
Squatters (Score:5, Interesting)
That's how cybersquatters can afford to snatch up tens of thousands of domain names the moment they expire. The cybersquatters aren't paying $35 to another registrar for each name; they're just putting out a couple of thousand bucks to become registrars themselves then they get to snap up as many newly-expired domain names as they want, for free.
And then they easily recoup the couple of thousand bucks by finding people who didn't mean to let their domains expire, and extorting large sums of money from those people to give them their domains back.
Cybersquatters are scum of the earth, second only to spammers.
Re:Squatters (Score:2)
That's not true. Anyone can become a registrar but what it gives them is massive bulk-discounts - they don't get to register domains for no cost.
Last I checked, it's more than a couple of thousand dollars - think tens of thousands - which is why the OpenSRS reseller scheme is so appealing (you can get started for as little as $250).
Re:Squatters (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes. That's what "deregulation" means.
they're just putting out a couple of thousand bucks to become registrars themselves then they get to snap up as many newly-expired domain names as they want, for free.
Actually, no. An ICANN accredited registrar pays the ICANN fees as you mentioned, but does not get names for free. Each domain name comes at a cost of approximately $6US (for COM/NET/ORG). I know this because I work at an ICANN accredited registrar. It's cheap for the cybersquatters, but not free.
- j
Used stuff (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Used stuff (Score:1)
Dumb comments (Score:1)
*Yes I know my post is stupid too*
Cheesy portal sites. (Score:2)
it's obvious (Score:3, Interesting)
Amazon has seen how successful Yahoo has been with the Yahoo Store concept -- offering shopping cart hosting for some monthly fee, then taking a percentage (3.5% in Yahoo's case) of gross sales for all sales which come through searches of Yahoo shopping.
This latter tithe is optional, but is the chief attraction of Yahoo Store -- your products automatically and instantly show up in a popular searchable directory (Yahoo Shopping, not Yahoo Directory). Other advantages:
- customers can use "yahoo wallet" to purchase items
- stores can participate in a ratings service which allows them to earn stars based on customer feedback surveys
This is a powerful model (though the feedback mechanism isn't as powerful as Ebay's), and one which makes Yahoo lots o' cash.
I think Amazon wants to do something similar and being able to register domains is just the tip of this iceberg.
Don't (Score:2)
TWW
Re:will they sell... (Score:1)