I know this post is a little old, but since someone else replied recently and it really caught my eye (as you'll see why below), I figured I would pipe in as well...
A few days ago I was helping a client set up a new site. While I was working on the design and layout, he was trying to find the cheapest registrar and said he came across a slew of sites/products offering a way to register domains for free...
He skyped me asking if I knew if any of the ways were legit or valid and where he could go to register a domain for as cheap as possible...
After some extensive research, I concluded that many of the ebooks/videos being offered actually showed a way to attempt to purchase domains using fake information.
I will soon be releasing a more comprehensive blog post about this, however, here is a brief breakdown of how it works (as per the ebooks and videos I've looked over during the research):
1. Visit one of a very few registrars that do not charge the card right then and there
2. Visit a site like fakenamegenerator[dot]com to generate a fake name and credit card info
3. Use the info generated there to register the domain.
Now, because the specific registrars these ebooks/videos tell you about do not actually charge the card right away, (they simply check the information you provided against several algorithms), it does APPEAR that you are getting the domain at absolutely no cost to you,
HOWEVER
Eventually, the registrar WILL run the card and it will NOT process OR it WILL go through and eventually you WILL face criminal charges for either identify theft OR FRAUD. And in EITHER case, the registrar will terminate the domain (if they were stupid enough to send the request to ICANN before actually receiving confirmation of a successful charge, which is HIGHLY unlikely anyway)...
Is a $10 domain really worth all that aggravation, especially when there are SO MANY ways make $10 in a matter of a few minutes?
[HR][/HR]
REMEMBER: What is considered cheap today could end up costing you MUCH more down the road.
Case in point: A few years back, I came across register.com and they were offering 50¢ domain registrations (and still do in fact) so I did not hesitate to snatch up a domain
Who wouldn't for 50¢ right?
Well, in my rush, I failed to notice that the domain renewal would cost $35.00. $35.00??? Are you kidding me? In a time when domains sell for as little as $9.99, who the hell would pay $35.00?
Well, by the time I realized this, which was the day the domain was due to expire, I did, not happily, but I had no choice.
Immediately after paying the renewal fee to avoid the domain being lost, I did transfer it to another registrar, but regardless, that 50¢ domain now cost me a total of $17.75 per year for the first 2 years...
