Since a lot of readers use GoDaddy, I thought it worthwhile to run down the various discount options at the registrar.
Price is one of the most important considerations when choosing a domain name registrar, according to last year’s Domain Name Wire survey.
GoDaddy doesn’t always win on pricing, but below are some of the ways to make sure you’re not overpaying.
Coupons
There are a many coupon-clipping domainers out there, and good GoDaddy coupons are plentiful. For example, right now if you search Google for “GoDaddy”, you should get an ad link for a $.99 .com.
But these coupons come with catches. They usually only work for one registration and you rarely find big discounts on renewals.
Yes, you can game the system. There’s even a guy selling a guide on eBay about how to get up to 5 domains at GoDaddy for just $4.31 each (72 copies sold!).
But let’s be honest. This is a real pain, and not scalable if you have a big portfolio. I bought the above mentioned guide to learn more, and the time spent reading it and following the process is worth more than the money saved.
Think about the opportunity cost of wasting time chasing these coupons and deals. Unless you get some ego boost from being able to game the system, it’s not worth doing this unless you’re just trying to register a name or two.
Bulk Pricing
GoDaddy offers all customers bulk discounts when they buy or renew more than 5 domains at a time. Pricing for .com registrations and renewals drops to $8.29 at the 100 domain mark…that’s 100 in a single transaction.
This is a great price that matches other GoDaddy discount programs, but the bulk thresholds can be tough to meet. Unless you register or renew domains in large batches, the standard bulk discounts won’t save you as much as other GoDaddy programs.
Premier Services
GoDaddy’s Premier Services program provides a lot of benefits, including personalized account management, added security and discounted pricing.
To qualify at the Gold level, you need 250 domains under management and you have to spend $5,000 a year at GoDaddy. At this level you get .com domains for $9.09, but you have to reach out to your account manager to perform transactions in order to get the discount.
There’s also the Platinum level, which doesn’t have a fixed requirement but is reserved for large portfolios and important accounts. These customers will soon get Domain Discount Club (see below) pricing for free. This means they get lower pricing and can take care of transactions themselves through the website.
Domain Discount Club
Domain Discount Club is a paid program that gives you discounts on domain name purchases at GoDaddy. GoDaddy recently changed the pricing on its Domain Discount Club to $120/year.
The program gives discounts on .com and basically all domain names, including new TLDs.
.Com domains are $8.29 a year with the program (plus the 18 cent ICANN fee, of course). That matches bulk pricing at the 100+ domain level, but you get the pricing even on a single domain name.
Discounts on new TLDs can be substantial given their high regular registration prices. GoDaddy isn’t known for having the lowest prices on new TLDs, but the Domain Discount Club pricing looks good. I spot checked some of the domains against registrars that traditionally have lower prices on new TLDs and found that GoDaddy’s pricing with the membership beat them.
The discount program also includes a free GoDaddy Auctions membership ($5 value) and the highest level of rev share with GoDaddy’s parking, for what it’s worth.
Which is best?
Obviously, the best deal is to qualify for GoDaddy’s Platinum level of Premier Services, which gives you the Discount Domain Club pricing for free. But most people won’t qualify for this. If you have a sizable portfolio, and even if you qualify for Gold Premier Service, you can make a pretty good business case for paying $120 a year for the Domain Discount Club.
Update: as many commenters pointed out you can use your coupon prowess to get a discount on Domain Discount Club annual fees, which makes it an even better deal.
