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Eve Tahmincioglu

Primary author Eve Tahmincioglu has been covering small business and entrepreneurship for more than a decade. She regularly writes about small business issues for the New York Times and BusinessWeek's SmallBiz magazine. She also writes the Your Career column for MSNBC.com. She is the author of "From the Sandbox to the Corner Office."



Beware of domain-name hijackers

Posted: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 9:40 AM by Eve Tahmincioglu
Filed Under: , , , ,

What’s in a name? A whole lot more than a smelly rose, especially if it’s your company’s name.

So, when you’re finally ready to create a Web site for your firm don’t cheap out and don’t be dumb.

Before you do anything, here are some words of caution: Step away from the guy you met in line at the supermarket who’s trying to break into Web site design.

What is wrong with you people? You can’t hand off something as important as your company’s Web site to someone you don’t really know, who has little experience.

It’s your reputation that’s at stake, and some of these folks might end up taking you to the cleaners.

Or worse. You may end up losing your domain name, the name you choose as the embodiment of your company in cyberspace.

That happens to many small business owners. They hire a so-called Web developer and that person offers to buy the domain name for them.

NO! Never let this happen. Always buy your own domain name.

If they buy the name for you, it’s theirs. They can hold your company’s cybername hostage. In some cases, they may demand big bucks from you to buy back your own name.

I recently wrote a story for BusinessWeek’s SmallBiz magazine about an entrepreneur who unknowingly lost ownership of her firm’s domain name. That’s when I realized how pervasive this was.

Genma Stringer Holmes, founder of a Nashville pest control company, met a guy at church and decided to let him develop the Web site for her longtime extermination business, even though he had little to no experience.

Besides the fact that he created a crummy site, he also bought the domain name for her.

Well, he never finished the site: holmespestcontrol.net. If you go to it you’ll see that none of the links work, except an unfortunate two. The links that ask you to set up an appointment or include your contact information do work, but there is nothing set up for Genma to get this coveted customer data. The information goes into the Internet abyss.

The worst part is that Genma can’t shut the site down, and she can’t have another Web designer fix the mess. Why? Because she does not own the domain name.

Turns out a lot of small firms are getting shafted by their Web developers and designers. An employee at the hosting company that hosts Genma’s site told me he gets about eight calls a day from firms that have similar Web hell. And the Better Business Bureau has seen complaints against such Web outfits skyrocket to 1,971 last year, up from 603 in 2003.

After the story came out Genma told me she was inundated with phone calls and emails from entrepreneurs who went through exactly what she did. She’s now spending her time away from killing bugs commiserating with fellow entrepreneurs about the issue.

Having been burnt, she has some words of advice: “Go back to the basics.”

Investigate the heck out of your potential Web developers. Start out with BBB.org, and ask for a slew of references. And check their work. That’s easy. You don’t even have to get up out of your chair. Just go to the sites they’ve already designed.

And make sure you are the registrant of your domain name.

If you’ve already handed over the design of your site without making the domain name ownership an issue, go ahead, check the owner of the domain right now on Whois.org.

You might be surprised by what you find.

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Comments

I see this all the time. I work as a freelance web designer and it's a shame people hold companies hostage like this. It's extortion. I don't touch web hosting or domain name services for this reason - the client always remains in control. It's too bad morals and ethics have gone out the window in this Country.

Matthew Wise, Virginia Beach, VA (Sent Tuesday, September 04, 2007 4:03 PM)

I'm a web application developer and most of my clients do not know the ins and outs of registering domain names and may end up paying for unneeded features provided by the registrars, paying $35+ per year for a name that can be had for $8.00. It's sad that people can't be trusted. I would still prefer the client register the name, even if they pay more. At least they own it and can transfer it to a cheaper registrar later. The website can be hosted or rebuilt anywhere. The person who controls the domain controls your online brand and many times your corporate email address as well. Clients should just google 'domain basics' and build their knowledge before handing off such an important task to anyone.

Garfield Hamilton, Palm Beah, FL (Sent Tuesday, September 04, 2007 6:26 PM)

I saw this referenced at www.subliminalmessages.com and agree that those who trust their web designer with the actual domain name are putting their cyber head in a guillitine.  If for no other reason, how about the web designer who recently sold his employer's domain out from under them (sofa.com) for a quick $200K and then disappeared?  

Melvin (Sent Tuesday, September 04, 2007 8:06 PM)

Thank you for educating entrepreneurs.  As a web designer, I ask clients to register their own domain and arrange their own hosting.  Yes, I give advice and recommendations, but in the end they have to do this themselves - after all it is THEIR business, and I am here as a support!

Jill Chongva, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Sent Wednesday, September 05, 2007 11:02 AM)

Designers have no need for access to the domain. They could simply pass on instruction to the owner, which the owner can then pass on to registrar support if they aren't sure what to do. We see domain hijacking a lot. Sometimes it's hard to pin fault - is it the person who did the hijacking? or the person who left the gates wide open to allow it? After all, you wouldn't sit in a cafe with your wallet lying wide open!

Brian, Scotland (Sent Thursday, September 06, 2007 6:27 AM)

Get a hold of the Misses Holmes and tell her she can file a UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy) with ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) at icann.org.

This process will allow her to regain possesion of her domain name through arbitration. There are fees involved (around $1,300 US). She can alternatively have a lawyer send a Cease and Desist letter to the charlatan who is holding the domain hostage. She can also threaten to sue for lost business (the erroneous links that lead to nowhere).

There are plenty of ways to regain a domain if you have legitimate rights to it.
 

Michel Theriault, Quebec (Sent Saturday, September 08, 2007 9:03 AM)



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