RegisterFly is a perfect example of a registrar trying to be all things to all people. For a while, this formula drove away domainers in droves since buying and selling domains there was much too complicated and risky. Risky? Yes, RegisterFly used to require the password of the account that a domain was pushed to! That means that the buyer had to give you his user name and password. That’s right, all the info needed to log into somebody else’s account and do major damage. Of course the only way around this was to create a dummy account, push the name into that and then give the user info for that account to the seller. Trust me, it was not easy. Thankfully, all that has been done away with since RegisterFly has finally implemented a simple push system. To improve even more, the registrar now supports payments via PayPal.

When talking about RegisterFly, its hard to ignore its most unique feature, its automated Domain Marketplace. The novelty of this feature is that it bypasses everything and allows you to purchase a used domain whenever you want. Don’t like haggling with sellers or dealing with escrow services that take too long? That is not a problem here. You can also find bargains by grabbing domains close to their expiration dates and then immediately renewing them.

However, the Domain MarketPlace also acts like a double-edged sword for RegisterFly since it is also one of the biggest negatives about the registrar. Whether you are a seller or just a domain holder, the MarketPlace can mean that you might lose one or more of your domains without knowing it until it’s too late. For a seller, you could put one of your names up for sale and then forget about it after a long enough period. With some sites that allow you to post your domains for sale that is not a problem. At RegisterFly, your sales price decreases gradually over time so it will be extremely cheap near its expiration date. I have seen sale prices go into the negatives for this very reason. To try to combat this problem, Registerfly now gives the option of setting a minimum selling price. For some unsuspecting domain holders, though, that might not be enough. Let’s say you just bought a name that is being held at RegisterFly. Without you knowing it, the previous owner had listed the name he just sold to you on the MarketPlace. A few days later, another buyer sees that domain on the MarketPlace and buys it. What can you do? Not much except always check to see if any names that you buy at RegisterFly are listed for sale. All that said, RegisterFly has made some wise moves to improve customer retention, but it still needs to work out a few kinks with some of its top features.

Domain Radar’s Rating (out of 5 stars): ***1/2

Pros
•  now support payments via PayPal
•  domain marketplace allows customers to buy used domains instantly
•  push feature has been simplified
•  offers different specials on a regular basis

Cons
•  $9.99 for new registrations is pricey compared to other cheap registrars
•  you can lose your domain to the domain marketplace if you forget you listed it or the person you bought it from has it listed
•  interface is a little cluttered
•  offers too many useless services like appraisals

The Verdict - Improving registrar with a very unique feature.