In the mail the other day I received an official looking letter from a company telling me that my domain registration was almost up and I should renew through their company.

While I’m sure that my domain is due for renewal soon, I will be renewing it with the company that it is currently registered with. First, the price will probably be better, second, I would probably have to switch some DNS information and third, I don’t appreciate putting my clients through this confusion.

These people are opportunists – god bless ‘em – but they are going to cause more harm than good. I believe that the same people that get fooled by phony anti-virus schemes will be fooled into thinking that this mail they are getting is something they HAVE to do. Most folks domain registration will automatically renew through their current registrar. It’s possible that they would pay the direct mail shysters AND their current registrar.

Ugh. The point is, if you don’t know if you need to renew – check with your web master or IT admin. Don’t be fooled by direct mail pieces from companies you don’t recognize.