I've been registering domains since 1993 (when dot coms were free!). I use Namecheap almost exclusively now, except for very weird IDN edge cases such as emoji domains that most providers balk on.
Namecheap support seems good, even though they are working out of a warzone.
Avoid resellers / 'cheap' registrars like NameCheap, GoDaddy. DNS propagation, domain 'locking', etc. is so much easier to manage and faster using registrars who care about their business. Hover comes to mind, recently I've transferred everything to CloudFlare.
Ah! Will think over this. I have too many domains and I might need to pick a good one for some of the primary ones that I do not want to lose.
I have heard good things about Cloudflare as a registrar. In-fact, I suggest them to a friend who uses it. However, I user Cloudflare for DNS for most of my domains. SO, I won't move the domains registration to them.
I've heard through the grapevine that Namecheap will buy and resell domains based on what you search. does anyone know if there is veracity to this claim?
Anecdote - I've used their domain search tool quite a bit and I've never run into an instance of a domain suddenly being unavailable when I go to register it.
I hope my experiences continues. I have had, so far, no issues. In-fact, I have recovered quite a few lost domains, forgotten renewals etc with the help of their support team.
I have heard (know two founders) and I had experienced that domain grabbing-on-search with Godaddy! I won't go anywhere near them.
Namecheap support seems good, even though they are working out of a warzone.