Richard Keeves [richard§ibc.com.au] wrote:
> Hi Vic,
> an interesting chat...   i am curious as to your role...

Enetica's CEO.

> firstly, let me begin with the end and say I am **NOT**  saying that
> resellers should be shielded from competition. for you to say this seriously
> misses the point of the discussion.  But the competition should not come
> from the registrar whose services the reseller is reselling. 

why not? How is Enetica retail sales any different from anyone elses retail sales?

> > AUda contractually requires a registrar to have a direct contract with a
> registrant,
> > its not the registrars choice. some can pretend they dont have a contract
> with the end
> > registrant and that they will never contact a registrant but the reality
> is different.
> >
> 
> in that case, i am very curious as to auDA's rationale for imposing such a
> silly system.  it may be that resellers go out of business - in which case i
> think it is absolutley fair enough that registrars can go direct.  but I
> can't see any other oaccasion when it should be allowed.

you can thank the sashas of this world for the current system. as the dns game
gets a better reputation I am sure auda will be open to suggestions...


> The value that the reseller brings is the rel'ship with the end-user client.
> usually providing a suite of web services and far more than just registering
> and hosting a domain.  In fact, i would suggest that the value-add in the
> foood chain which should be seriously questioned is that of the registrar,
> not the reseller.  Let's face it, the registrar queries and adds to a
> database using some automated scripts. The reseller has (generally) had to
> meet with the client, work thru their needs, strategy, build sites, host
> sites etc and part of that might have been the registering of one or more
> domain names. Having the domain name is crucial - but the process of
> registering it is (and should be) pretty simple. (pls don't kid yourself or
> us that it is a really complex feat of technological engineering.)

I agree entirely with you, the registrar must justify its existance more so
then the reseller. I am not prepared to go into Enetica marketing and
strategy here, suffice it to say that Enetica has more resellers
then any of the new registrars and sells more new domains then any of the new
registrars.

> I am **NOT**  saying that resellers should be shielded from competition. for
> you to say this seriously misses the point of the discussion.  But the
> competition should not come from the registrar whose services the reseller
> is reselling.  Enetica should not be competitng head-on with Enetica's own
> resellers -

why not? the Enetica direct sales is just another reseller internally to eneticas system.
and in fact is not the biggest reseller.  Enetica was originally going
to have a channel only model but given the total size of the market. we just couldnt make
the numbers work on channel only. you think just because you might buy from Explorer
your customers will never find MIT,TPP, netregistry etc? it takes 2 secs in google.

>especially to a registrant who was introduced to the registrar
> by that very reseller.  if that is what is what auDA is encouraging thru its
> policies then it not only sux, but it is evil. and in need of change.

again you can thank the likes of sasha for this. I feel it will change once the
industry stops attracting these kind of people. and dont think registrars are not
working behind the scenes to improve the system, we have just as much frustration as
resellers.

Vic