Namecheap, Inc. is an ICANN accredited registrar, 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). It is also a web hosting company, based in Phoenix, Arizona. The company claims to manage more than seven million domain names for its approximately three million customers.
History
Namecheap was founded by Richard Kirkendall in 2000.
In November 2010, it was voted the best domain name registrar in a Lifehacker poll. Again, in September 2012 it was voted as "Most Popular Domain Name Registrar" in Lifehacker polls.
In March 2013, Namecheap announced that Bitcoin would be accepted as payment.
In May 2014, Namecheap was put on notice due to a breach of their Registrar Accreditation Agreement with ICANN.
Anti-SOPA advocacy
Namecheap maintained a strong anti-SOPA position.
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.
Later Namecheap accused GoDaddy of being in violation of ICANN rules, causing delays with domain transfers from GoDaddy to NameCheap, an allegation which GoDaddy contested.
References
External links
- Official website