I first learned about Name.com during their .im special last year. What I have experienced so far with the domain registrar has not only been pleasant but full of surprises.
Cost
The prices are pretty decent and can be compared as average to other registrars. I have not seen anything that concerns me in this area. .im domains were tagged about $80 per year but Name.com seems to have lowered the price (around $13 at the time of this review).
Usability
This would have to be my only area of concern. Upon logging in, owned domains are listed, much like any other registrar but the control panel on the right is a bit clunky. Changing name servers, viewing account information and updating contact details are often a challenge because they reside in weird places. The bulk management feature seems to be iffy. I used this to change nameservers on a handful of names but some were left unchanged and I had to do it manually. I think this area needs to be cleaned up a bit bringing more common features forward and making them easier to find. (Ironically enough, Name.com is looking for a "User Interface (UI) Designer" at the time of this review.)
Features
Features are another area I am pleased with. Free whois privacy comes with .com domains (at the time of this review). However, the most impressive feature to me is the live lookup of bulk domains. If you ever used a bulk domain search, sometimes the page will hang up or time out.
However, Name.com returns each status as it comes in. Try it. Other features focus on domain development such as their "Rapid Blog" service and hosting accounts.
Support
I had a billing problem last year due to a bug in the billing system. I wasn't very impressed as it was the first time I used Name.com. However, support is what turned me from an almost-ex-customer into a repeat buyer. The technician was prompt, helpful, responsive and did not hesitate to take responsibility on behalf of the company. And this took place via email.
I spoke with the charismatic and interesting Kellie Peterson via Twitter and Facebook who turned out to be the Executive Vice President of Name.com for months without realizing who she was. She barely used the opportunity to bombard fellow domainers with advertisements for the company, in that which I am also impressed.
Tools
If you haven't tried Name.com's BETA tools, you are missing out. There are two beta tools I want to highlight: "Domain Suggestions" and "Geo Domains".
Domain Suggestions is as it describes: a search utility that helps you find available domains based on a given keyword. The best part is you can specify which language you want results to appear. There are two sets of results: Name.com suggestions and Google keyword suggestions. Not only is this a handy tool for domains but a great way to upsell Name.com products.
Geo Domains is another search utility that searches for available domains based on place or location. Locations are displayed within a map along with a list of suggested results which include geo keywords (the place, location or combined keywords such as "resort", "real estate", etc.) You can target results by language or country.
Conclusion
Although Name.com has a few growing pains (especially with the user interface), their support is quality and the tools speak for themselves. Name.com has a good chance to take the lead in this industry providing domainers with much needed features and access to tools that assist with generating available domains. I can conclude that this company deserves two thumbs up.
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