Namecheap gave my account to an unverified third party

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49028037

Namecheap banned a few domain names purely based on an ambiguous tweet that got 6 likes

https://x.com/Namecheap/status/1489485337885921284

Namecheap suspended Imgur in 2013 for 1 CSAM image out of millions

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5276648

Namecheap snipes your domains

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28732510

Like I have said previously¹ about choosing a registrar: If you have regular backups, and if some downtime is not really a problem, it might be fine to use web site hosting, e-mail (and in extreme cases even DNS hosting), from some fly-by-night el cheapo provider. But your domain name registrar? Pick them carefully, don’t skimp, and make sure they have good support. Because when things go pear-shaped, you really want to be able to actually talk to someone to change your web server or e-mail DNS records (or even DNS servers) to somewhere else.

Big registrars can’t afford any support costs since they prefer to squeeze the price down as far as possible, and therefore they prefer to simply lose or outright drop any customer in case of any and all problems. Conversely, small registrars may charge more, but have better (i.e. actually existing, and sometimes even dedicated and personal) support for when things go wrong, and have a vested interest in keeping you as a customer.

A small registrar might also be so small as to know you personally, which will help monumentally against any social engineering attacks.

Full disclosure: I work at such a registrar, but you’re probably not in our target market.

1. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32095499>

This is an anonymous post on Reddit.

I repeat. This was on Reddit. Consider what credibility there might be.

namecheap purchased by private equity CVC in 2025 for $1.5B

so costs need to go down (-human support + ai automation)

and prices go up (they increased i think .com 3 times this year alone)

Yea they did something like this with us. Fully turned off our business domain because we didn’t reply to a phishing email in 48 hours. We migrated out the next day once we got it resolved. It took over 6 hours from when we noticed the issue and responded until they turned it back on. Absolutely horrible service.

There's a reason it's called Namecheap not Namesafe.

I had a similar experience with Namecheap. Their bot crawled my website while it was still under construction and apparently reported it to some security databases, causing my domain to be flagged as suspicious.

Since then, my domain's reputation has been affected, and I often get security warnings when trying to access my own website through my company's VPN.

Namecheap simply informed me that it had been a mistake, but the damage was already done, and the issue still persists.

Out of curiosity where are people going for their domains. I have a GoDaddy because changing seems like a task that would be more annoying than it is worth and that is even if you can find a place that is better.

Sounds like Namecheap. They took one of my domains (held for many years) and try to sell it back to me for thousands because now it's a valuable domain.

This gave me the final kick to finally move away from Namecheap

this is one of the worst trends in modern time - "AML" and "KYC" being shoved into everything, requiring you to attach your own identity into everything and send your ID/passport to vendors left and right, no right to privacy at all.

There Oughta Be a Law.

OK, but seriously, if my domain name vanishes all the things I won't be able to log into are insane, and if I were selling goods as a company it would be even worse.

What are good alternatives to namecheap?

Namecheap cannot be trusted. I purchased a domain for a "normal" price (and yes, I have receipts). Shortly after they realized they fucked up, voided the purchase, and made it a $1,500 premium domain. Obviously, my recommendation is to avoid Namecheap.

Does this mean we should not always entrust our domains with only one registrar?

I'm an Iranian---which is something you have no choice in, you just turn 4~5 and understand enough language that they tell you that you are an Iranian. And well out of believing namecheap is a good company (since I had my DNS there) I purchased my domain from them. Then one day these fuckers banned my domain, and my access to the dashboard without any warnings or headsup, didn't even allow me to move my domain to somewhere else, and those vultures from GoDaddy bought it in the auction and have put it for 3500€... Horrible people

Between 2014 and 2018, Namecheap was a solid provider, and my experiences back then were consistently positive.

It shouldn't even be possible to seize a domain in the first place. Too often it ends up hurting legitimate actors.

They requested presentation of a phone number and ID, so this sounds like info harvesting (for laundering / resale).

I’ve found really great but quite unique .com domain names available on name cheap then mysteriously gone registered to name cheap within hours, available for purchase at thousands.

Always strenuously denied by the name cheap CEO “we do not front run domain names!”.

I’d never do a domain name check there again.

this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but this was the inevitable result of changing a function with trivial cost and broad social utility (name registration) from a public service to a commercial one. at the time we heard a lot of standard arguments about the innovation and competition that only a market based solution could bring. its really not a surprise that this is the kind of innovation that resulted.

If you still did business with them after this, it's your own fault and you deserve everything they're doing to you:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30504812

(Before reacting to the headline, please read at least some of the discussion.)