Some Notices Are Designed to Look Like an Unpaid Invoice for a Domain You Already Own, So It Pays to Check Before You Send Money
That bill is likely from a company that isn’t your actual domain registrar, sending an official-looking notice hoping you’ll pay it without checking. Your domain name is a valuable company asset, and paying the wrong bill can mean accidentally handing control of it to a company you never agreed to work with. Before you pay anything, confirm who sent it and whether it matches who you actually registered your domain with.
Spotting Questionable Tactics
This trick has been around for years. A company sends an official-looking letter or email to domain name holders, and it’s designed to look enough like a real renewal notice that people pay it without a second thought. We still see this regularly when clients forward us invoices, wondering if it’s something they actually owe.
Look at the notice carefully and verify which company it’s coming from. Check whether that’s who you originally registered your domain name with. If you get a renewal notice from a company you don’t recognize and have never registered with, it isn’t a real bill. You can tear it up and toss it in the garbage.
If you’re a Vivid Image client, you can always call us and have us take a look at anything that shows up in the mail before you pay it. If you manage your own domain, forward any notice to us first so we can check it before you act on it. If you have us manage your domain name, we take care of it all for you and just keep you updated. Most clients opt for this headache-free option.
Some companies will claim a third party wants to buy domain names related to your trademark, often with different extensions like .net, .org, or .us. There’s usually no real buyer. The goal is to scare you into purchasing those domains from them directly instead of your registrar.
Any additional domain names or extensions should be a deliberate part of your marketing strategy, not a reaction to a scare tactic. If you’re considering more domains, talk to your Account Director about it. Don’t assume a company that contacts you out of nowhere has your best interests in mind.
Since October 2003, registrars are required to verify your contact information once a year, and those emails are real. Keeping your contact information current matters, since you may need to prove ownership of your domain someday, especially if you forget a password or lose access to the email on file.
If you get one of these verification notices, take a minute to check that your information is correct. If you’re ever unsure whether a domain-related request is legitimate, ask before you act.
It’s up to you. Most businesses get busy, roles change, and time passes quickly, and domain renewals can get missed in the shuffle. Most clients opt to have us manage it so that never happens. When Vivid Image manages your domain, your bill always comes from us, so there’s never a question of legitimacy in the first place. We monitor, renew, and pay your domain name on your behalf, but we don’t own it. It’s yours, and we won’t hold onto it if you decide to manage it yourself down the line.
We Can Help You Sort Out What’s Real
Know who your domain is registered with, keep your contact information current, and if a bill or notice ever looks off, ask before you pay. If you’re one of our clients, we can help you sort out what’s legitimate and take domain management off your plate entirely. Contact us to talk about managing your domain name.
You may also need the article: “What exactly is a domain name, and why do I need it?”
