The goal was to make a domain name registration and management system I'd like to use. That means no upselling and no charging for standard services like whois privacy, url forwarding, and email forwarding.
I also made it easy to set your domain names to not auto-renew and to transfer away your name.
There is also no magical price change the second year or hidden fees that show up at the end of the purchasing process.
I'm actually a reseller of Key-Systems. If I go out of business you'll still have access to all of your domains and be able to manage them through Key-Systems and RrpProxy.net (http://key-systems.net/). They also run Domain Discount 24 (http://dd24.com/) and are a fairly large registrar.
Thank you for being so clear (and open) about it, makes me want to try it and maybe transfer everything there.
I have a quick repair only. If you see your site with Chrome on Windows 7, there's something about the text that doesn't feel right, it looks too thin to be readable at some sizes. For example, the navigation on the bottom left or (even worse) the text inside the inputs of the login form. It's because of Myriad Pro, not sure if you feel like changing it for some more usual typeface like Arial.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll fire up Parallels and do some tweaking on the font type. I do all my work on a Mac so I typically just test with IE on Windows and test the other browsers on OS X.
Good question. I did not mean to be misleading. I was referring to having an initial yearly fee of, say, $8.99 but hidden in the fine print a renewal fee of $12.99. I can't control the yearly rate increases but I'll always just have one fee regardless of transfer, renewal, or initial registration. Sorry for the confusion.
It has some decent traction so far and the current users seem to really like it. I'm currently working on an API and iPhone app to try to make it even more appealing.
In regards to how much I would need to stay in business: The current cost to keep the site up is just under $200 per month. My revenues are already above that. Obviously my credit card transaction fees need to be deducted and the registrar I resell through will get a cut. I plan on paying that out of pocket if it makes no money because I enjoy using it for my domain portfolio and I think my friends do too.
In regards to what would happen if it did shutdown (I obviously would prefer this not to happen): The registrar I resell through (Key-Systems) would then be the registrar you would use. They are among the 15 largest registrars (according to ICANN) and manage more than 3 million domains.
I hope that answers some of your questions. I do agree that with something like domain registrations you have to be very careful.
So is Coffee & Domains a reseller for GoDaddy (or another registrar) or did you put up the escrow money with the registries to become a full-fledged registrar?
No, there's a difference. Wikipedia's "Reseller" article explains it better than I can:
"Resellers are known to conduct operations on the Internet through sites on the web.
For example, this occurs where individuals or companies act as agents for ICANN accredited registrars. They either sell on commission or for profit and in most cases, but not all, the purchase from the registrar and the sale to the ultimate buyer occurs in real time. These resellers are not to be confused with speculators, who purchase many domain names with the intention of holding them and selling them at some future time at a profit. Resellers, by the very nature of their business are retailers."
The goal was to make a domain name registration and management system I'd like to use. That means no upselling and no charging for standard services like whois privacy, url forwarding, and email forwarding.
I also made it easy to set your domain names to not auto-renew and to transfer away your name.
There is also no magical price change the second year or hidden fees that show up at the end of the purchasing process.