GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam • Hacker News Board

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#51

Post by lukeschlather » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:24 PM UTC

unreal37 wrote: post #50

This isn't really a scam. I have dozens of domains with GoDaddy, as well as some of their other services. "How can I get the cheapest price" is a game we all play with them. Revision3 has a handy page with GD discount codes, and I've been referring to that page for years. I am helping keep Digg in business from the affiliate fees. Can we agree the "auto-renew" was not scammy? They didn't rip you off a year. Just remi…

It's unethical to charge someone one price for a recurring service and then more than triple the price, in an opt-out fashion.

If you raise prices, you need to do your due diligence to make sure your customers are aware they're paying more. This kind of a price increase should really be opt-in rather than opt-out.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#52

Post by hippich » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:26 PM UTC

For anyone who needs SSL certificate without perks, consider free one from http://www.startssl.com/

It do not offer strong encryption and do not do personal identification (obviously - it is free), but it is very cost-effective solution to have https:// on your website to prevent eyes droppers sniff traffic.

(not sure if it is enough for e-commerce, like google checkout tho)

Now you have no excuse to not have https:// in your website where people enter their passwords =)

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#53

Post by sunchild » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:32 PM UTC

aneth wrote: post #46

Godaddy is he only place I've found "Extended Validation" certs at a reasonable price - $99 instead of $499+. I hate their website and crosselling, but I do appreciate as the author points out that they have people you can call - how many registrars have that? Are there any alternatives for EV certs that are not a ripoff?

If you call GoDaddy, they'll spend most of their time upselling you.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#54

Post by pja » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:32 PM UTC

sandaru1 wrote: post #14

Any recommendations on where to buy a good ssl certificate?

http://www.startssl.com/ will give you a free ssl certificate for a single domain (actually, they'll give you one that covers a domain plus a single subdomain). Handy if you want to setup your own mailserver somewhere: the root certs are in all the main browsers & mail clients. You'll need to have your (web|mail)server serve up the intermediate cert as well as the leaf cert which can be a slight pain to setup, but apart from that it all works just fine.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#55

Post by sjs » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:34 PM UTC

gst wrote: post #38

I never understood why GoDaddy has such a monopoly-like status - even in the startup scene. I've only used their services once (because someone transfered a domain to me and prefered to do this as GoDaddy-internal transfer), but the first thing I did was transfering the domain to another registrar (the one that I typically also use for my other domains). Reasons why I wouldn't use GoDaddy: GoDaddy is not really one o…

GoDaddy's UI is terrible.

I use Dreamhost for all my domain registrations and most DNS. Great admin interface compared to the competition, still very cheap, domain transfer codes plainly visible, no unlocking or calling or any of that. You just transfer it away. They are the most honest of the bunch and you can move each part of your service off them as you outgrow it.

Easiest to setup a domain for Google Apps too, just click a button.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#56

Post by sjs » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:36 PM UTC

Shenglong wrote: post #47

gst wrote: post #38

I never understood why GoDaddy has such a monopoly-like status - even in the startup scene. I've only used their services once (because someone transfered a domain to me and prefered to do this as GoDaddy-internal transfer), but the first thing I did was transfering the domain to another registrar (the one that I typically also use for my other domains). Reasons why I wouldn't use GoDaddy: GoDaddy is not really one o…

What's cheaper than GoDaddy? All my .com and .net domains end up costing me $7.49. I'd love to know...

Cheap until you get roped into an auto-renewing thing with 3x the price you first paid. Why support a company like that? It's so slimy. Your cheap domains are effectively subsidized by GoDaddy preying on others.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#57

Post by Shenglong » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:41 PM UTC

sjs wrote: post #56

Shenglong wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's cheaper than GoDaddy? All my .com and .net domains end up costing me $7.49. I'd love to know...

Cheap until you get roped into an auto-renewing thing with 3x the price you first paid. Why support a company like that? It's so slimy. Your cheap domains are effectively subsidized by GoDaddy preying on others.

Did you know the majority of car insurance firms (in the UK at least) will ramp up renewal prices by a few % each year? I did sales for one such company a few summers ago, and we were told this was intentional - and if someone calls in, and complains, we just offer them to new sign-up price.

I use GoDaddy because I manually renew all my domains at the same price as I signed up for. I agree their UX is awful, and they're not the most "good" company in the world... but it serves me for what I want out of a domain provider!

Renewal price hiking is a common practice... you just need to be a smart shopper if you want to save money!

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#58

Post by richcollins » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:42 PM UTC

Same thing happened to me for a $200 dollar cert. I complained through their support ticket system and they issued me a refund.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#59

Post by elehack » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:45 PM UTC

samdk wrote: post #41

citricsquid wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Really, you don't see a problem with their "better ask forgiveness than permission" tactic? uh, isn't that what PG and all the other people here constantly say is what you should do in business?

Not with my money. You taking my money without specifically asking means that I will never, ever do business with you again. (And that I'll specifically warn other people against dealing with you.) "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission" is not a universal truth to be applied to every aspect of startups/tech work. It is often a good idea when there's a lot of bureaucratic red tape and/or you need to get appr…

I might generalize that to say that "better to ask forgiveness than permission" just doesn't apply to customer relations.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#60

Post by CoffeeDregs » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:45 PM UTC

fbuilesv wrote: post #44

CoffeeDregs wrote: post #32

Okay, I use godaddy for domains and DNS. Never had a problem with them. But these 'godaddy sucks' posts and the godaddy buyout are starting to worry me. Who would you recommend as a replacement for registration and DNS?

I can't recommend DNSimple enough ( http://dnsimple.com ). Pretty straight forward pricing, nice one-click integration with stuff like Google Apps and they'll even give you a discount if you transfer domains off GoDaddy.

Looks nice, but it seems to have a significant price premium over GoDaddy (seems to be $14/domain/year + $120/year for DNS). Is the benefit worth the premium?