To the naysayers,
1) Couple of months ago I was able to reg 200 domains, 0.99 cents a piece. This is no more available now.
2) Couple of days ago, I emailed them I want the DNS to be changed for all domains. There is no bulk change options in their UI. It would have been difficult for me. They changed it and emailed me.
3) In another recent thread about transfers from 1 and 1, someone had mentioned he transferred 25 domains out successfully.
4) They are running an offer reg 2 and get 3rd one free, which I availed today. Working out for 5 change for a .com, best as of today. With GD DDC, it would have cost me 8 change.
5) In issues about getting invoices about renewal fee for transferred out domains, the threads are clear you need to delete the contract in which the domains are held.
6) I find the UI to be good and fast.
I have no bad experience so far, so I will continue to use.
One thing that eventually everyone will learn in the domain industry is that a reputation , good or bad, is earned and not given. 1&1 has a reputation of nightmares and horror stories in dealing with them, their services, billing and so on.
As I stated in another thread, some people will not have a problem with them even tough many do.
I used a reference of using 1&1 is kind of like playing Russian roulette except with multiple rounds in the chamber. Do some Google, Bing, whatever your search engine preference is, searches for 1&1 + the word horror, nightmare, trouble, pain, etc. and you will see large numbers of people who have problems.
You have to ask yourself if gambling with your domains, money, credit rating worth gambling on?
Plus, the down side is that when you go to sell a domain, having 1&1 as the registrar can make a negative impact on the selling price of the name since many people know their reputation. Many buyers won't even want to deal with a name that is registered with 1&1.
It's a matter of choice and luck. You have to make the choice of if you want to continue to take chances and maybe be lucky or maybe not. It's your money, sanity, etc., so only you can make that choice.
A very high percentage of people who have been domain investors that are veterans in the domain world will NOT use 1&1. There is a reason for that. Like everything in life, experience and knowledge is important.
I am in no way saying 1&1 will be bad for everyone, because things go ok for some. I am saying that given their past reputation, practices, service record I for one will not use them. If you or others want to, then that's a choice each person has to make.
I am not a naysayer, I just present information that is shown across the internet so that people who haven't had that bad experience yet might learn and choose not to take a chance.
Ask some veteran domainers who have been around and know the industry well, how many domains they have at 1&1? There is a good reason why their answers are what they will be.