New domain registration and renewal service

We are pleased to announce that we have launched a new domain registration and renewal interface.

It can be found in Account > Domain Registration, and aside from the improved user experience it now uses individual prices based on the top-level domain instead of a system based on domain credits.

Continue reading to find out more, and how if may affect you if you already host your domain name with Runbox.

What is new?

In recent years the domain registration industry has changed very significantly, and there are now hundreds of Top Level Domain (TLD) extensions available (TLD examples are .com, .org and .pro etc.). Pricing varies very considerably from one type of TLD to another. More recently there has been a significant increase in the registration and renewal prices for certain common TLD extensions, and this has made the system we currently use unsustainable for the future.

For many years we operated a domain registration service based on the idea of domain credits. The intention was that one domain credit allowed you to register one domain for one year. With the changes mentioned above we were forced to change how we price and register domains, and we will no longer be using a domain credit system.

We have now launched a new domain registration service where domain TLDs are priced on an individual basis. In many cases the prices will be unchanged or will in fact be lower. However, in some cases the prices will increase to reflect the recent changes.

How does this affect me?

If you don’t already host a domain name with Runbox, then you will just have a better experience if you choose to do so.

If you do host one or more domain names with Runbox, then there are a few changes to be aware of.

  • The existing domain credit(s) you have used to pay for your domain name will be replaced with new products according to the TLD of your domain name. The next time you renew your domain, you will be using the new product instead of domain credits. You can see the pricing for your renewal by going to Domain Hosting in your account and clicking on the renew option.
  • If you have used PayPal to pay for domain credits, and the payments recurred automatically, then we will cancel the recurring agreements to avoid you inadvertently paying for a product you no longer need. You can then pay manually for the new TLD product, and will receive a payment reminder about this.
  • Because of the changes to domain name pricing mentioned above, the Max subscription will no longer include a domain name. If you are hosting a domain name with a Max subscription you will receive a separate email about this.

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Email Alias and Email Domain limits increased

After a lot of customer feedback we’ve decided to increase the number of email aliases and email hosting domains included in all Runbox subscription plans.

Both main and sub-account subscriptions as well as legacy subscriptions and the 3-year Medium plan will be upgraded.

The following upgrades will take effect June 1, 2013 for all existing and future Runbox accounts:

Email Aliases

Plan Micro Mini Medium Max
Previously 5 10 20 50
Now 10 20 50 100

Email Hosting Domains

Plan Micro Mini Medium Max
Previously 0 1 2 5
Now 0 5 10 25

You can find a complete overview of our price plans here: http://www.runbox.com/price-plans/

We will continue evaluating our plans and appreciate your feedback!

What about my existing alias/domain add-on products?

If you have any existing email alias or email domain upgrades they will be added to the new quotas. For instance, if you have a Runbox Medium subscription with a package of 5 extra aliases, you now have 55 email alias slots available.

We have deactivated any automatically recurring alias/domain add-ons in case they aren’t needed with the new quotas. You will be alerted to renew them manually when they expire, at which point you can decide whether or not to keep them.

What are aliases anyway, and how do I use them?

An email alias is simply an alternative email address pointing to your Runbox account. By using several addresses you can better organize your email because it lets you manage several “identities” from within the same account.

You can read more about aliases in our recent blog post How To Use Email Like a Pro 3: Use Several Addresses or go straight to Account > Aliases in your Runbox account to set them up.

What are email hosting domains?

An email hosting domain lets your Runbox account receive email sent to addresses @domainyouown.com. Note that this is not the same as an actual domain name, which needs to be registered in the global Domain Name System (DNS) first.

In order to manage your domain’s email in your Runbox account you first need to register your domain in Account > Domain Hosting (or another domain registrar) and set the domain’s MX (Mail eXchanger) record to point to mx.runbox.com. Then you can add your domain in Account > Email Hosting to tell the Runbox system that your account shall receive email sent to your domain.

Finally you can set up email aliases or even other accounts on your domain, using Account > Aliases and Account > Sub-Accounts.

Find out more about Email Hosting and Domain Hosting.

Using Catch All for unlimited aliases on your own domain.

If you own your own domain, it is possible to use the “catch all” function in Runbox Mail Manager as a way to have unlimited email aliases on that domain. You can even use filters to forward emails to other accounts within Runbox, or to other email providers.

To activate this feature go to Account > Email Hosting and select the catch all check box next to the domains you want activate catch all for, and then click “Save Settings”.

All emails addressed to anything@nulldomainyouown.com will then be delivered to your account.

We have another blog post about using catch all alongside filters to provide aliases for various uses, and how to control spam that using the catch all function might attract.

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Extended website security

The Runbox website is now protected by an Extended Validation Certificate when in secure mode at https://secure.runbox.com. This is usually indicated by a green address bar in your browser.

This certificate independently verifies the identity of our company as the owner of the domain runbox.com, meaning that visitors can be certain the web pages they see are legitimate.

We recommend you always be aware of the domain name shown in your browser, especially after clicking links in email messages, to prevent so-called phishing.

We also recommend using secure mode (SSL) when logging on to Runbox. You can enable this in your browser by clicking the “Secure” link next to the login fields on the front page.

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Domain registration launched

We’re very happy to announce that Runbox now offers integrated domain registration!

This means that you can host both your domain name, your website, and your email in one place with the same user-friendly interface.

Just open Account: Domain Hosting Administration to get started with a new domain name!

Currently we only support the main top level domains .com, .net, and .org, but plan to add more soon. We also plan to support transfers of domains from/to other providers.

To find out more about how Runbox Domain Hosting works, please see our Help section.

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