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This isn't really a scam. I have dozens of domains with GoDaddy, as well as some of their other services. "How can I get the cheapest price" is a game we all pl

This isn't really a scam. I have dozens of domains with GoDaddy, as well as some of their other services. "How can I get the cheapest price" is a game we all play with them. Revision3 has a handy page with GD discount codes, and I've been referring to that page for years. I am helping keep Digg in business from the affiliate fees. Can we agree the "auto-renew" was not scammy? They didn't rip you off a year. Just reminding you 60 days early as they should. Can we agree its not shady or unethical to charge different prices for 1st year versus a higher price for subsequent year renewals? Or different prices for different people, in some type of A/B test? Everyone does that. Even amazon.com shows different prices to different people. Can we agree their customer support was really helpful to you? So what's the problem exactly?

lukeschlather 15y ago
It's unethical to charge someone one price for a recurring service and then more than triple the price, in an opt-out fashion. If you raise prices, you need to do your due diligence to make sure your customers are aware they're paying more. This kind of a price increase should really be opt-in rather than opt-out.
- BlazingFrog 15y ago
  I totally agree with you. The same thing happened to me with another registrar/hosting company (ipage). Hosting for a year went from around $50 to over $100 with auto-renew. I did receive an email notifying me of the upcoming renewal but no price was included in the email. When I confronted them after the fact they told me that the information was on their home page where it says something to the effect of "Hosting only $50/year" and then right underneath in small print "(save 50%)". Maybe I should have assumed that saving 50% now meant I would be charged twice as much the next time but I guess I'm not that bright. Also, when asked for an explicit price list in a chat session, they gave me a link to a page buried in the FAQ to which, they acknowledged, you couldn't get directly in any easy way. I guess they're all the same.
  - msbarnett 15y ago
    > I guess they're all the same. Gandi has been nothing but ethical in my dealings with them. You don't have to deal with the abuses of the godaddys of the world, you just have to be willing to pay a bit more to support companies that aren't out to fuck you over.
mikeash 15y ago
It's ethical to auto-renew. It's ethical to raise prices. It is not ethical to auto-renew a raised price. Just because the pieces are OK doesn't mean the whole is.
wpietri 15y ago
This isn't really a scam. Yes, it's a scam. The fundamental basis of a contract is a meeting of the minds. If people think they are buying a cheap thing and then it turns out to be expensive, then there wasn't a meeting of the minds. It happens to be a legal scam, but that doesn't make it much better.

lukeschlather 15y ago

It's unethical to charge someone one price for a recurring service and then more than triple the price, in an opt-out fashion. If you raise prices, you need to do your due diligence to make sure your customers are aware they're paying more. This kind of a price increase should really be opt-in rather than opt-out.

BlazingFrog 15y ago
I totally agree with you. The same thing happened to me with another registrar/hosting company (ipage). Hosting for a year went from around $50 to over $100 with auto-renew. I did receive an email notifying me of the upcoming renewal but no price was included in the email. When I confronted them after the fact they told me that the information was on their home page where it says something to the effect of "Hosting only $50/year" and then right underneath in small print "(save 50%)". Maybe I should have assumed that saving 50% now meant I would be charged twice as much the next time but I guess I'm not that bright. Also, when asked for an explicit price list in a chat session, they gave me a link to a page buried in the FAQ to which, they acknowledged, you couldn't get directly in any easy way. I guess they're all the same.
- msbarnett 15y ago
  > I guess they're all the same. Gandi has been nothing but ethical in my dealings with them. You don't have to deal with the abuses of the godaddys of the world, you just have to be willing to pay a bit more to support companies that aren't out to fuck you over.

mikeash 15y ago

It's ethical to auto-renew. It's ethical to raise prices. It is not ethical to auto-renew a raised price. Just because the pieces are OK doesn't mean the whole is.

wpietri 15y ago

This isn't really a scam. Yes, it's a scam. The fundamental basis of a contract is a meeting of the minds. If people think they are buying a cheap thing and then it turns out to be expensive, then there wasn't a meeting of the minds. It happens to be a legal scam, but that doesn't make it much better.