We have heard several complaints that a web site design company in Utah is selling web sites at very low prices. Prices that seem "too good to be true".

Turns out that there is one big "catch". They are keeping the ownership of the domain name. This means if you purchase a web site from this company -- you don't really own it.

Every person reported that they were tricked into purchasing under this false pre-tense. One business owner actually found out only after she canceled her contract within 24 hours of her web site purchase. ALL FOUR of the domain names she wanted were purchased and held hostage.

She immediately contacted this company asking why they would "steal" her domain names and they only offered to sell them to her for hundreds of dollars each. Her only other option was to pay for a year of hosting "in advance" and then they would turn over the domain names.

This is not only illegal. But it is unethical. Make sure when you make a web site purchase decision that you own your domain name. These days domain names are valuable and domain hi-jacking should not be tolerated.

Shane Merem
shane.merem@magnusoft.com