If you own a business with a website, there’s a good chance you’ve received one of these letters.
It looks like a bill. It says your domain name is about to expire. It has a deadline. It looks official enough that a lot of business owners just pay it without thinking twice.
Don’t.
What’s Actually Happening
Companies like “Domain Name Services” — and others operating under similar names — pull your contact information from public domain registration records and mail you an invoice designed to look like a renewal notice from your actual registrar.
It isn’t.
What they’re really doing is using a misleading invoice as a customer acquisition tactic. Pay it, and you may be authorizing a domain transfer to them — at a price far higher than what you’re currently paying.
What to Look For
- The sender isn’t your actual registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.)
- The renewal price is $30, $50, even $100+ for something that costs $10–15
- Fine print buried in the letter references a “transfer” not a renewal
- The urgency is manufactured — “act now before your domain expires”
What To Do
If you get one of these, don’t pay it. Log into your actual registrar and check your renewal date there. If you’re not sure who your registrar is, look it up at lookup.icann.org.
And if you’re not sure whether a letter or email you received is legitimate — call me before you do anything with it.
📞 (509) 949-2162 🌐 bondbyte.com
That’s what we’re here for.
Jeremy Bond is the owner of Bondbyte, Inc., a web design and technology company based in Yakima, WA. Bondbyte manages websites, hosting, and domains for small businesses across the Yakima Valley.