
Ask HN: How to reliably register domains in Europe? - FreeHugs
Where do you HN people register important domains?<p>I have a domain that my life kind of depends on. I built my business on top of it for many years now. If I lose it, I would go from a comfortable lifestyle to zero income immediately.<p>Currently it is registered with a small German ISP, which recently got bought by a US company.<p>That makes me uncomfortable. God knows how professionally they run their business. If they make a mistake or maliciously take or sell my domain, God knows whom I would have to sue.<p>I think I should move the domain elsewhere.<p>What options do I have? How do you guys handle this?
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Ultramanoid
Gandi.net is France-based and apparently one of the best in the business.

( I had a rough move at first with them, coming from using another service for
a decade, but they've been solid so far. )

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FreeHugs
What makes them "one of the best in the business" when evaluating their
trustworthyness?

I wonder if it really would be a good choice to use a registrar from another
country.

Since I am not based in France, I could probably not afford to sue them in
case they mess up.

So if they mess up, my leverage to get them to act is probably non existant.

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Ultramanoid
I mentioned France because EU regulations are better than elsewhere for
customers, you also asked specifically about Europe. It's hard to find a bad
review or a disgruntled customer anywhere, they consistently rank high in all
articles or reports you might find about registrars / hosts, and they do not
advertise themselves.

Also, they're not a newcomer, but a relatively big player ( despite the lack
of advertising ) and independent, not part of one of those American umbrella
companies with dozens of fake subcompanies who couldn't care less about
individual cases.

I am based in Asia and even here they have an excellent reputation. I happened
to find them at a time they were short on hands and releasing new products,
their replies to my issues were slow and I was not happy about it -- full
disclosure. Yet here I am recommending.

I was contacted directly by the area manager and offered compensation in the
form of free services after I complained. In my experience they are serious,
and I haven't found any better as yet.

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bradknowles
You want GANDI.

They have been well known and respected in the RIPE
([https://www.ripe.net/about-us](https://www.ripe.net/about-us)) and Free/Open
Source communities for something like two decades now.

My personal vanity domain goes back to 1995, and I registered it through
Heller Information Systems, back when they were one of the biggest BBSes in
the world. But every domain I’ve registered since then has been exclusively
through gandi.net.

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gjvc
[https://domains.google.com/](https://domains.google.com/) ?

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Ultramanoid
Not sure Google, whose favourite past time is shutting down every couple of
years services millions use would be the best option particularly when
absolute reliability is a requirement.

Ars Technica has a 'graveyard' mini site somewhere devoted to listing
everything Google shuts down.

Edit : [https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/04/googles-constant-
pro...](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/04/googles-constant-product-
shutdowns-are-damaging-its-brand/)

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johncoltrane
I've used gandi.net for years without any issue.

