Tucows Domains

Tucows.com has an interesting place in the internet ecosystem. They serve as a domain name wholesaler, selling domain names to internet and hosting providers worldwide.

As such, they do not have a sale process or system for individuals that seek to buy a domain name from them. Instead, their website provides a set of tools to help domain owners and seekers to find the information that they need:

WHOIS - Tucows.com's WHOIS service tool allows users to see who is registered as the owner of a domain. This is useful when the user is looking for a domain name and doesn't know if it has been registered yet or not. It can also be useful when the user is checking to see what the currently registered information is for one of their own domains.

Find Your Domain Provider - This would be a nifty tool should you find yourself on Tucow's site and want to find out who actually is the domain provider for a certain domain. It may help if you want to complain or make a suggestion about someone else's site. Unfortunately, domains registered at Godaddy.com, a major registrar and provider, did not return any listed provider using the tool. A search for Microsoft.com, also did not turn up any listed provider. In both cases, Tucow's own WHOIS service correctly shows the domain provider names.

As bulk registration, bulk management, access level, and pricing considerations are the domain of your domain provider and not Tucows, you may wonder why you might consider purchasing a Tucows branded domain when you are out in the marketplace.

One reason would be that unlike other domain registrars, Tucows guarantees that they will not send your rights to your domain away for up to 40 days after your domain becomes delinquent. Even better, they state that most customers will incur no excess charges. Other registrars warn that their own processes might result in fees of around $80 per late domain if the deadline is missed for payment- and they don't always guarantee that you will be able to renew it.

So if you forsee any questions coming up in the future, they are a solid company to have as a domain registrar.

One thing that is a little annoying about Tucows is that they are only a domain registrar. Most people that have a need to use their website are used to their domain registrar and their domain provider providing a seamless experience so that domain information, once found, can be acted upon. At Tucows, you can find the answers that you need if you have a Tucows domain, however, you often must visit another site like your domain provider to take any actual action on what you have learned.

Overall, Tucows has a solid reputation as a registrar and they have a built-in promise not to allow your domain name to be seized until their own decision has been rendered. This is regardless of the amount of lawyers that are fomenting discord should there be a dispute. Knowing that they support you to the full extent that they can is often enough to tilt the scales in their favor.