Re-introducing OpenSRS
You’ve probably noticed a few changes around here. Starting today, the wholesale services side of Tucows will be called OpenSRS.
Don’t mistake this for a simple re-brand. Yes, we have a new logo, and a snazzy new website, but there’s a lot more to what we’re doing here than a fresh coat of paint and some new pictures on the wall.
Back in 1999 when Tucows first started selling domain names as one of the original ICANN accredited registrars, we wanted to bring Internet service providers something they hadn’t been accustomed to getting when it came to domain names: customer service. We launched back then with a real customer focus that extended throughout everything we did.
Ken Schafer, VP Marketing and Product Management, sat down and shared a couple of quick thoughts about why we’re going back to OpenSRS.
You’ll note our new logo pays tribute to 1999, a very important date in our history.
The logo also proudly proclaims that OpenSRS is “Reseller Friendly.” That is more than just a slogan, or a tag line - it’s a promise. Like the customer focused wholesale domain name business that launched in 1999 as OpenSRS, today we remain dedicated to providing the best possible experience for our resellers.
That means resellers can expect easily accessible customer support with knowledgeable people on the other end of the phone line. And it means products and services that are created and implemented with the specific needs of the reseller in mind. That Reseller Friendly attitude and approach extends throughout every aspect of our business.
We’re putting that Reseller Friendly promise prominently on display, right in our logo. We’re not only rebranding our wholesale Internet Services business as OpenSRS, but we’re re-dedicating ourselves to the approach that, with your help, made us so successful over the past nine years and will continue it into the future.
Today is just the beginning.
We’d love to hear your comments! And we’ve put together a Reseller FAQ that may answer some of the questions that you might have about this announcement.
Glad to see this announcement. Indeed, we still refer to our affiliation with you as OpenSRS, and never stopped that. We signed up right at the start, and have been selling domains since.
Please focus more on the domain names business, and ways to add to that for resellers. In particular, I’d like to see an offering in acquiring domain names that are expiring, so that our customers trying to get names that are in redemption get the best possible shot at the name they’ve been waiting for. I have two such names I’m watching now, and I don’t want to go to GoDaddy or others to get some service to sit on such names waiting to pounce when the redemption period ends.
Comment by Dan — July 28, 2008 @ 11:12 am
When did you originally drop the OpenSRS as your flag ship brand?
I thought you always still used “OpenSRS” in some fashion ever since, correct?
Comment by Joseph — July 28, 2008 @ 11:28 am
Hi Dan,
Thanks for the comment. Glad to hear you’ve been with us from day one!
I can assure you we’re paying an enormous amount of attention to the domains business; I like to think that developments like premium domains, our cost-plus billing structure, all the cool stuff now rolled into our management fee and such are examples of Tucows working “heads-down” on the domains business. And we will continue to focus and innovate in the space in the future. :)
Regarding a service that monitors/acquires expiring names — we don’t have anything like that on the roadmap but it’s feedback like yours which helps us decide what to introduce, so we’ll definitely take the input and evaluate the idea.
Thanks again for the comment.
Cheers,
adam
Comment by Adam Eisner — July 28, 2008 @ 11:41 am
Should the wholesale pricing be visible to the public? Also, it appears a bunch of the other now public information on the site should be private to resellers.
Throwing information that should be for resellers only open to the public isn’t very reseller friendly in my opinion.
Thanks,
-Stephanie
Comment by Stephanie — July 28, 2008 @ 11:45 am
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for the comment. Wholesale pricing has in fact been public for ages. New resellers need to know what our pricing is for them to be able to make a decision on whether to use our services, so it’s pretty hard to keep it a secret.
Comment by Ken Schafer — July 28, 2008 @ 12:19 pm
I’ve always referred to you as “OpenSRS”, just as others have said. And like others, I signed up in 1999, and never looked back.
From my perspective, I’m loosing domain sales because the reseller cost is significantly higher than godaddy (and others). Being in the hosting business, I already provide email, DNS, and even spam filtering — so those offerings from OpenSRS are of no value to me. On the other hand, the domain business is a huge value to me, but becoming less-so because of competition from godaddy.
Comment by Matt — July 28, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
I have gotten the pricing in the past via:
http://rrc.tucows.com/wholesale_services
which gives me a login prompt. Login and I can get to it no worries.
Perhaps it has been available elsewhere in the clear. When I google:
“Pricing per domain year” tucows
I get a page listed as
http://services.tucows.com/services/domains/pricing.php
When I go to the internetarchive to look at the old pricing page, it’s not accessible.
I also tried googling: “domain pricing” tucows
and
“domain pricing” opensrs
Both returned no relevant results.
If it was publically available it was well hidden, Eh?
When I signed up (I think in 2000, maybe late 1999) the pricing wasn’t readily available without requesting it.
Maybe I missed something for years, but it’s not obvious to me.
Comment by Stephanie — July 28, 2008 @ 1:11 pm
Glad to hear this.
Comment by hm2k — July 28, 2008 @ 1:32 pm
As one of your loyal resellers, we have always been calling you as OpenSRS =)
New branding has been an excellent decision, and logo is terrific!
We are with you, OpenSRS.
Comment by Devrim Demirel — July 28, 2008 @ 3:45 pm
I too am concerned with OpenSRS’s declining focus on domain registration, and their increasing costs. I’m losing business to GoDaddy, and other lower-price registrars. Being in the hosting business, the registrar service is a major value, while OpenSRS’s email, DNS, and spam filtering offerings are of no value.
Comment by GreggB — July 28, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
I must agree with the sentiments of #10, #9, and #6 - I’ve done well with domains and sold some blogs. It’s an important part of my hosting business.
However, domain pricing has cost me clients for domains - mostly to godaddy who markets their own hosting heavily. When their retail is below my wholesale it’s a tough competitive position.
For example, I have a two clients with over 200 domain names each who went to godaddy strictly for price. I was not even close to geting their business even at 0% margin.
Still - I stay with OpenSRS for about 8 years now because they don’t try to market my hosting clients away - a true reseller environment.
Comment by Stephanie — July 28, 2008 @ 11:12 pm