Re: WARNING: Domain Renewal Group
 

I got one the other week Kymmy. Same price, £20 a year for a .com I've got. Very good offer I thought, but then suddenly remembered that I only pay about £6 a year for it! LOL

But, like you say, people who don't know any better will get conned.

Re: WARNING: Domain Renewal Group
 

Depends on the registrar, I know some charge for it and some don't, Like anything it does cost them something to provide the proxy service, depending on if they accept postal mail or not.

Re: WARNING: Domain Renewal Group
 

I used to place the domain name and my initals in the company field for the registered address on any .com/.net/org and any mail I get with that on the address, goes straight into the shredder. ...then I took advantage of my registras whois privacy feature.

I usually go straight to the domain control panel of my registra to renew anything though, regardless of any contact.

Nominet have the right idea where it comes to whois privacy though, masking it if the registrant is an individual

Re: WARNING: Domain Renewal Group
 

Domain Privacy is generally free for Nominet (private individuals only) and CentralNic domains (.uk.com, .uk.net etc) as these registries do not charge for it. For gTLD domains you will find that a majority of UK domain companies charge for this as the domain registrar they use charges for it (Tucows, Melboune IT etc). There aren't many UK companies that are registrars themselves.
The 5 day domain registration grace period is only meant to be used for domains spelt incorrectly or registered with the wrong details and not for domain tasting. Nominet have systems in place to check this but most other registries don't. I wasn't aware of the Domain Group, are they part of the Domain Registry of America who are famous for front running?

Re: WARNING: Domain Renewal Group
 

Netearthone will give free privacy protection on most of the domains they sell, although they're only worth while using if you plan to handle a few domains with them or want to resell domains as their direct consumer facing prices are stupidly high.