Posted on behalf of Roman Frillarte
You know, there’s always someone out there trying to make a fast buck, but we don’t want it to be at your expense if we can help it. So here’s a word of caution: If you receive a letter telling you that your Microsoft Office Live Small Business domain is about to expire, please read it carefully. Chances are it’s not from us, it’s not a bill, and there’s no need for you to take any action.
What’s going on is some domain registrars are trying to drum up business and dupe people into thinking they need to “renew” their Office Live Small Business domain. If you respond to the mail, you’ll actually be moving your domain away from Office Live Small Business and registering it with a firm that will charge you – and it could be a much higher renewal fee than the free or discounted rate you have with us. Of course, you’re free to do that. But please be aware you may encounter some problems with your service and need help from our Support folks.
The thing is, unless your domain is privately registered, your contact information is in a public database easily accessible on the Internet to anyone who wants it. So, to avoid being targeted by third-party solicitors, you may want to consider private registration.
If you’ve signed up for a custom domain through Office Live Small Business after Feb. 12, 2008, private domain name registration was included automatically. Otherwise, you can purchase it for any .com, .net, or .org domain you own with us for just $6.95 a year. To do so, sign into your account and click Get a Web address in the center of your Home page. Under Web Site and E-mail, click the sign up link next to Private Domain Registration.
If you have any further questions about this, please post them and I’ll get back to you.
Roman Frillarte