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Domain Name Registration Service |
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Domain
name registrar A domain name registrar is a company accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and/or by a national ccTLD authority to register Internet domain names. These "retail" companies are often distinct from the "wholesale" domain name registry operator. ICANN has authority over gTLDs, or Generic Top Level Domains. Examples of gTLDs include .com, .net, .org and .mobi. ICANN does not have authority over ccTLDs, or Country Code Top-Level Domains, though it is quite common for domain name registrars to offer ccTLD registration services as well. Most registrars provide DNS hosting service, but this is not required, and is often considered a separate service. Designated registrar An end-user cannot directly register and manage their domain name information with ICANN. A designated registrar must be chosen to have one's domain names registered and managed with the appropriate registry (NIC) on their behalf. Prior to 1999, the only .com registrar was NSI, but the approval of the SRS opened up the opportunity for other companies to be designated as registrars. Each ICANN-accredited registrar must pay a fixed fee of US$4,000 plus a per-registrar variable fee totaling US$3.8 million divided among all registrars. Only one designated registrar may modify or delete information about a domain name. The competition that SRS created enables the end user to choose from many registrars offering different services at varying prices. It is not unusual for an end user to wish to switch registrars. Thus, there is the domain name transfer clause. When a registrar registers a .com domain name for the end-user, it must pay a maximum annual fee of US$6.00 to VeriSign and a US$0.25 administration fee to ICANN. VeriSign is the registry manager for .com gTLD. Low cost bulk registrars like Go Daddy and Tucows must manage their margin after paying these fees and their equipment cost. Therefore, the barrier for entry into the bulk registrar industry is high for new companies without an existing customer base. An end-user registers either directly with a registrar, or indirectly through one or more layers of resellers. The cost generally ranges from a low of about $10 per year to about $30 per year, as of 2008. The maximum period of registration is generally 10 years ahead. Some registrars are offering longer periods, up to one hundred years, but such services are implemented internally, by promising to renew annually, not in the official registration database. Some packages of services, such as web hosting, include the domain registration in the total package pricing. Domain name transfers Domain name transfers is the act of designating a new registrar with the authority to add, modify, and delete information about the domain name. The usual process of a domain name transfer is:
It is unwise to attempt to transfer a domain immediately before it expires. Because a transfer can in some cases take up to 14 days, the transfer may not complete before the registration expires, resulting in loss of the domain name registration and failure of the transfer. To avoid this, either transfer well before the expiration date, or renew the registration before attempting the transfer. Transfer scams With the introduction of SRS, many smaller registrars had to compete with the de facto standard, NSI. Some companies offered value added services or used viral marketing. Some companies decided to trick customers to switch from NSI. Many of these transfer scams involve a notice sent in the mail, fax, or e-mail. Some scammers may even call by phone (as the contact information is available through WHOIS) to harvest more information. These notices would include information publicly available from the WHOIS database to add to the look of authenticity. The text would include legalese to confuse the end user into thinking that it is an official binding document. Scam registrars go after domain names that are expiring soon or have recently expired. Expired domain names do not have to go through the authentication process to be transferred, as the previous registrar would have relinquished management rights of the domain name. Domain name expiry dates are readily available via WHOIS. |
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