I would not use Above.com as a registrar. They don't notify you when domains are expiring.

[sgtppr]

Awhile back I wanted to list a domain in Above.com's marketplace. To do that, they required I transfer the domain to their registrar, so I did. I then started getting weekly emails telling me which domains were expiring when. Very annoying when I only had one domain with them that wasn't near expiring. So I spam binned those emails, assuming I would get a notification when my domain was nearing expiration - as ICANN requires.

Then I forgot about it.

Today I was randomly going through my spam email folder and decided to open up the latest Above email. Much to my surprise, my domain is expiring tomorrow! I never got any notifications other than these weekly reports. I almost let an xx,xxx domain drop!

To add insult to injury, to renew the domain you have to "add funds" to your account, you can't just pay for it. This has to be in even dollar amounts. And they charged me an extra $0.37 for an administrative fee to use PayPal. So instead of $9.45 I paid $10.37 and have a useless $0.55 sitting in my Above account. Not a huge deal, but annoying.

I definitely wont be keeping domains with them in the future...

 

[Victor Pitts]

Hi PokerPie. Sorry for the issue renewing your domains. The emails you "spam binned" were the renewal reports. The subject line was "Above.com Registrar - Weekly Report of Expiring Domains". The majority of our clients have domains expiring throughout the year, so few complaints are made regarding the frequency of the notices. However I understand why this would be annoying to you.

About two years ago, Above.com switched to the model of sending weekly reports vs. sending reports triggered by the expiration date. This change was necessitated by the lawsuit Whitserv vs. Godaddy , which basically affirms that Whitserv is entitled to royalties from ANY company that does renewal notices triggered upon a date. Crazy as that may sound, this company was winning their battles. Had we stayed with the old renewal system we were using, we might have incurred additional overhead cost which would have increased the price of our domain renewals. Our clients are domainers who would rather pay as little as possible for domain renewals, thus the weekly reports. Sorry.

Cheers!
Victor