Name.com - Private WhoIs Changes Loophole

[speedturtle]

Name.com recently announced on their blog that they will start charging for private whois. Prior to this announcement, they were offering free private whois which was their unique selling point. It surprised me that they made a decision to remove the most important feature that has made them successful. Bad decision can only lead to a pure fiasco (remember the vbulletin mess?). Needless to say, there are a lot of anger and disappointments expressed. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a mass exodus of their customers.

To soften the impact of this new change, they have created a promo code "FREEWHOIS" which will discount the special $1.99 pricing to zero when you purchase private whois for your domain. When your domains are due for renewal, you can also use this promo code if you want free private whois. The "FREEWHOIS" is limited to only 1 year.

If you are a Name.com customer with private whois enabled for your domains, you will be tickled pink to know that there is currently a loophole or "bug" in their billing system which will allow you to get free private whois for more than 1 year. Credit goes to the resourceful Name.com customer who discovered it. I was blessed to be told about this method, and I'm just passing the blessing on.

What you need to do is log into your account and perform the following steps:

1) Click on the "Account" icon which will display all your domains.

2) Select the check box next to "Whois Privacy" for all domains that you want private whois. You can renew just your private WHOIS service now, independent of your domains renewal.

3) Click on "renew checked products" on the header.

4) You will see "Checkout Review" showing a list of domains for which you want Whois Privacy. Leave the Duration as 1 year - do not increase the Duration otherwise it'll not work.

5) Enter "FREEWHOIS" in the Promo Code and click on "Apply Promo" button. The Total will re-display as 0.00

6) Under Billing Options, select "Account Credit". Do not use Credit Card or PayPal to pay since the Total Amount is zero.

7) Check "I agree to the registration terms and conditions" (hopefully there's no clause to own our immortal souls)

8) Click on the "Checkout" button.

Doing the above steps will give you an additional year of free private whois. The beauty of it is, you can repeat the above steps as many times as you want to get more years of free private whois.

Take advantage of this wonderful bug before Name.com fixes it.

Enjoy!

[Tony]

Or you could transfer your domain to Hawk Host where private whois is still free

[speedturtle]

Or you could transfer your domain to Hawk Host where private whois is still free

Not aware of this. I don't see any menu options in Hawk Host website for domain registrations, renewals, or transfers.

[Brian]

Domain registrations are done through https://my.hawkhost.com/domainchecker.php

Though at some point soon we'll make the option more visible and available on the home page