It will show my age, but I started with Network Solutions and paid $70 for my first domain (2 year registration, 1999). After a couple of years I got sick of NSI's attitude and expensive prices. I was very happy to find DirectNIC.com where I could renew for $15 a year.
DirectNic was very good for a long time, and had an affiliate program, but after some more years I started seening domains being sold for as low as $6 with the average price being $8-10.
So I looked around and found Domainsite.com who seemed ok and where you can register a domain for $6.99. Well, it turns out that is only the first year price. It then goes up to 7.99 which is not bad, but I didn't like it that they didn't make that increase clear. Then they DISABLED a domain that I had bought because of a spam report (No, I didn't, but someone was spamming for a domain that was not registered so I bought it.
I thought that was a pretty good joke on the spammers!!! Well, it was also a joke on me to. But the spam that was reported happened before I owned the domain, so they had to give me "another chance". So I was not so happy with them. Oh, their system works ok, but the user interface is not well designed in my opinion.
So I started looking again, trying to find a reseller account as well. I signed up for Godaddys (you have to pay) and canceled it the next day. I have a few domains at Got-addys, but I H-A-T-E their constant pushing of ads all the time. I also don't think much of their hosting (their stats are not good) and their user interface really bothers me, and if I'm logged in, WHY? do I have to enter a CAPCHA??? Sorry, they do many things well but some really bother me.
So I discovered NameCheap.com and have settled in their very nicely. I can pay via CC or PayPal (Domainsite takes PayPal also) and I like that they have a domain marketplace, such as it is, there too. The price is average at 8.88 for a domain, but I just like using their site.