Are you interested in testing out our Pro Membership? Try the FREE Trial: goo.gl/nMY9y#domains #freetrial
— DomainTools (@DomainTools) June 1, 2012
I saw this Twitter post from DomainTools this morning offering a free three-day DomainTools trial, and I think it’s a great chance for people to check out how many tools they can benefit from.
Every day without fail, I use DomainTools Whois lookup Tool, Whois History Tool, Whois Monitor Tool, and probably a couple of additional tools I can’t think of off the top of my head. I also receive Registrant Alert emails virtually every morning, and I use that to see what domain names are being looked up.
In my opinion, when buying a domain name in private in the aftermarket, you need to use DomainTools Whois History tool to make sure the deal is legit and the owner is really the owner. It’s one of the most critical tools I use to do due diligence, and the other is just my gut feel.
There are plenty of other tools and services that I use, but frankly, I really don’t think my business could operate without a DomainTools membership. I can’t think of any other tools or services I can say that about.
If you don’t have a DomainTools account and you want to be serious about investing in domain names, you need to have one. I recommend using the free trial when you know you’ll have three days to really use all of the tools and see how beneficial it is.
Although DT is an advertiser, I wasn’t asked to post this nor am I using any tracking or affiliate link.
I agree. Totally stepped up to it myself this week. The UDRP trolls are using it to find easy prey who won’t show up. We need yo be better. Perhaps that why using information anyone can get, Shane spent $1000 for two .me domains that are not call-to-action nor will pass the SIRI test (and SIRI is how searches and navigation is going to be done- $200 million in ads to make it so and no promotion to end users by any of these other extensions), while Frank Schilling used domain tools to beat LandscapeBlog.com to the drop for less than $500. i.e It’s worth it. Buy like Elliot, Frank Mike Mann- know what makes a great domain and how to outsmart others to the catch. That’s how Domain Tools earns its money!
Owen,
I am doing just fine the way I’m doing it. I already said that trees.me was a nice fit for me as I OWN A DAMN NURSERY and sell trees. I blow money on things that I personally like and have no value to anyone else all the time. I think table.me is a nice domain. I liked it, I bought it. Who cares? I hand registered gardenphlox dot com for .99 cents with a coupon. I GUARANTEE I will make more money with that domain that LandscapeBlog will. I sell thousands of garden phlox and don’t have to look at any SIRI numbers to know that I can make thousands of dollars a year from I site I will be able to create over the weekend. I have photos and all the data in my head to create plant sites instantly. I know when to spend money on landscape and plant names and when I don’t have to. I don’t appreciate you calling me out several times in the blogs and insinuating that I don’t know what I’m doing. We all have trials and error in this business and anyone that listens to you, in my opinion, is making an error.
Is 3 days enough to really get a feel for the benefits? It’s also followed up with automatic billing if you don’t cancel which is worth noting.
@ Mike
I would want to continue because the tools are so valuable to my business, but I think it’s a good opportunity to test them out. I would wait until you know you’ll have 3 full days.
Can’t do much in 3 days. I use my God’s gift creation
Free doesn’t involve the use of a credit card.
I think its a great tool, but find that pricing is an issue, especially when some features are limited to gtld’s.
It would be nice if there was some way to compensate with other features like Registrant alert which is very limited.
So, I signed up for my free trial to try and find out why a big company owns the same keywords as my .com in every other major gtld and cctld, with and without hyphens.
I started with whois history, but, it was under privacy. Then I did a reverse whois to see what other names they own, but, I was asked to pay $499 for that report.
Is there anything else offered by DomainTools that could help me here?
Hi Mike H,
Our Support Team would like to look into this for you to try to uncover the data you’re looking for. They will need your user information to assist you – feel free to contact MemberServices@DomainTools.com. Thank you!
Hi Elliot,
First of all, I absolutely love your blog. I’m a domainer newbie and just discovered your blog today. Your advice makes absolute sense and you seem so friendly and approachable.
Secondly, I was one of those signing up for the free trial, only it wasn’t absolutely free. As soon as I signed up Domaintools.com charged me USD 1. Not a large sum by any means, but still a charge that does not go along with ‘free’. I cancelled the trial well within the 3-day time frame and sent them an email asking why they had charged me, but they did not respond to it.
I used to be a great fan of DomainTools up until now, but I’m put off when a company advertises something as completely free as long as you observe their terms, and then charge anyway without explaining why. It makes them seem less reliable.
Hi Havala,
To set up a trial, the Paypal system authorizes a pending charge of $1 to make sure that there are funds to cover the cost of the membership in the event it is not cancelled.
We apologize if it took a while to respond to you regarding the Paypal authorization. Our Support tickets are answered in the order of importance and time received; we are small team of people at DomainTools so we do the best we can to answer in a timely fashion.
We hope that you found this information helpful.
Cheers.
Hi DomainTools,
Thanks for your response. So if I understand you correctly the $1 will be returned at some stage, right?
I was wondering if that could be it, but the sum was slightly higher than usual for such charges (eBay and Bido charge $0.10 – $0.15). Anway, I would propose putting that somewhere for people to see so they understand what is going on.
Hi Elliot,
I signed up for a free 3-day trial and am concerned I might be charged for a professional level membership even though I cancelled well before the deadline – I cancelled the same day as a matter of fact. Followed all the steps and answered the questionnaire, etc.
The right button on my Account Summary Membership Level reads “Expires 6/22/2012” yet I still have professional level access. I have asked Support for confirmation of cancellation but have yet to receive a response. Worse still, my Paypal account lists DomainTools pre-approved payment status as active.
Clearly, I DID cancel my account as “Expires 6/22/2012” replaced the Cancel option on my Account Summary upon cancellation. I have screenshots to prove it.
Hi Maurice,
According to our Support Team, they have addressed anyone who has asked to cancel and receive a refund prior to Friday June 22, 2012 at 4 PM. If you have any further concerns, please contact our Support Team via MemberServices@DomainTools.com. We do have a very small team here, but they will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Cheers.
Happy to report DomainTools’ Support Team have allayed my fears and more than happy to recommend their three-day free trial. Many thanks.