Any major difference in domain name providers?

In the process of looking to register a domain name, there seem to be
countless services and avenues to get one and price differences - I've
seen 6.96/year to more than triple that. Does it make any difference
who you get the domain name from? Any difference in the functionality
of one provider to another? Also how do you check on a particular
company? You're giving out credit card info sight unseen to someone
you've never seen or heard of beyond their appearance in a web search.

Thanks!