Namecheap
 | |
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder(s) | Richard Kirkendall |
| Key people | Richard Kirkendall (Founder & CEO) Mohan Vettaikaran (CTO) Matthew Russell (Vice President, Hosting) |
| Industry | Web services |
| Products | Domain Names, Web Hosting, WhoisGuard, SSL Certificates |
| URL | www |
Namecheap, Inc. is an ICANN-accredited registrar,[2] which provide services on domain name registration, and offer for sale domain names that are registered to third parties (also known as aftermarket domain names).[3] It is also a web hosting company, based in Phoenix, Arizona. The company claims to manage over 10 million domains.[4]
History
Namecheap was founded by Richard Kirkendall in 2000.[5]
In November 2010, it was voted the best domain name registrar in a Lifehacker poll.[6] Again, in September 2012 it was voted as "Most Popular Domain Name Registrar" in Lifehacker polls.[7]
In March 2013, Namecheap announced that Bitcoin would be accepted as payment.[8]
In May 2014, Namecheap was put on notice due to a breach of their Registrar Accreditation Agreement with ICANN.[9]
In July 2018, Namecheap was confronted by users of certain certain .co.uk, .uk or .de domains, who could not transfer and register their web domains.[10]
Anti-SOPA advocacy
Namecheap maintained a strong anti-SOPA position.[11][12]
After the pro-SOPA position of major registrar GoDaddy caused massive calls for the boycott of GoDaddy on Reddit, Namecheap announced Move Your Domain Day for December 29, 2011, offering a reduced price with the coupon code "SOPASucks" and declaring that it would donate $1 from each domain transfer to it to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.[13] In 2018, Namecheap relaunched Move your Domain Day to raise awareness of net neutrality.[14]
Later Namecheap accused GoDaddy of being in violation of ICANN rules, causing delays with domain transfers from GoDaddy to Namecheap,[15] an allegation which GoDaddy contested.[16]
Support for Net Neutrality
Namecheap is a supporter of Net Neutrality and has donated more than $300,000 in recent years to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Fight for the Future to support Internet rights and freedom.[17]
References
- ^ "namecheap.com Site Overview". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
- ^ "InterNIC - Registrar List". InterNIC. 2017-04-23. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
- ^ "Domain Registration Agreement". Namecheap, Inc. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
- ^ "Namecheap.com > Namecheap Announces 10 Million Domains Under Management". www.namecheap.com. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
- ^ "About Us - Our Team". Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Jason (2010-11-09). "Best Domain Name Registrar: Namecheap". LifeHacker. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- ^ Henry, Alan (2012-09-18). "Most Popular Domain Name Registrar: Namecheap". LifeHacker. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- ^ Tamar (2013-03-05). "Namecheap Now Accepts Bitcoin". Namecheap. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- ^ "NameCheap Gets Slapped By ICANN". 2014-05-03. Retrieved 2015-08-10.
- ^ Hill, Rebecca (2018-07-02). "Namecheap users rage at domain transfer pain, but their supplier Enom blames... er, GDPR?". The Register. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
- ^ Tamar (2011-12-22). "We say NO to #SOPA (our official stance)". Namecheap. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- ^ Weber, Harrison (2011-12-27). "Namecheap cashes in on SOPA with MoveYourDomainDay". The Next Web. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- ^ Mitchell, Jon (2011-12-27). "Namecheap Pokes Go Daddy over SOPA with $1 EFF Donations". ReadWrite. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- ^ Jue, Aaron (2018-03-06). "Namecheap Relaunches Move Your Domain Day to Support Internet Freedom". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
- ^ "Namecheap accuses GoDaddy of stalling anti-SOPA defections". electronista.com. 2011-12-26. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- ^ Lord, Timothy (2011-12-27). "The GoDaddy Saga Continues". Slashdot. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- ^ "Namecheap.com > Namecheap Announces 8 Million Domains Under Management". www.namecheap.com. Retrieved 2018-08-20.