What are the issues involved in registering and maintaining a domain name? Specifically: If I come up with a unique name, what precisely is involved in having it registered, and why can I not register it directly? If I'm payng a yearly fee, just what am I paying for, and what is to prevent the registrar from increasing the fee or denying the right to renew? I've seen references to 'tools': what 'tools' are deemed valuable? Is there any added value in registering thru the entity selected as webhost? What company would you recommend? Finally, and somewhat off subject, if I register a-really-good-name.com, find a host, build a site, and then determine that a-truly-great-name.org would be far better, is it possible to seemlessly transfer everything over to the new name?Sorry for the naive questions folks, and thanks in advance for your response.

Hi,

Let me know if I missed anything while answering your question:

1) When you come up with a new domain, you can register it directly. In fact, I think http://domainsarefree.com are having a $3.99/yr sale, which is the lowest price I've seen around.

2) The yearly fee is basically what you pay to "rent" the domain. Technically, you don't really own it, as you can never fully buy it out, however I have never heard about any registrar that increased their renewal rates. While that is possible, it is quite unlikely.

Same goes for the renewal - as long as you renew the domain before it expires, you'll be fine.

3) Not quite sure what you mean by "tools"

4) Ehh - usually, a host can register the domain for you for free if you sign up with them for x months and they will probably assist you in getting set up.

However, if you're not sure what you're doing, it might be a dangerous move, as the host can register the domain under their name and if you leave them, you'll have a hard time transfering it to another company. Go with a 3rd party registrar would be my personal advice.

5) The one that I personally use is http://ev1servers.net - they cost $6.49/yr and have a very nice control panel. You can try out the site I mentioned earlier, if price is an issue - however, as I've never worked with them before, I can't recommend them.

6) Absolutely - not only you can transfer it, but you can even have a couple of domains pointing at the same exact site. This is definitely not a problem.

Boris

There are a TON of registrars out there. Depending on your price range, service levels et.c there is much to choose from

If I'm payng a yearly fee, just what am I paying for, and what is to prevent the registrar from increasing the fee or denying the right to renew?

Well, actually a number of registrars would allow you to lock in the domain name for a period of up to 10 years so at least you be assured of ownership and also that of securing the prices. Some even gives you a small discount for doing so.

The likelihood of a price increase is slim, unless they are offering a promotional pricing now. It is because of the level of competition out there and to out-price their competitors would mean they probably be losing the sale.

If you are just in for the domain name registration without all the other add-ons then it does not matter who you register with. They are just resellers of the same big registrar so to speak.

If I come up with a unique name, what precisely is involved in having it registered, and why can I not register it directly?

You can't register directly with Internic because they do not handle individual sales and uses the certified registrars to handle the work for them.

Finally, and somewhat off subject, if I register a-really-good-name.com, find a host, build a site, and then determine that a-truly-great-name.org would be far better, is it possible to seemlessly transfer everything over to the new name?

Transferring is simple. Just set up another website and ftp the contents over and you be set. Alternatively, you could use domain name pointer service or aliases to point more than one domain name to the same contents.

Originally posted by eddy2099
If you are just in for the domain name registration without all the other add-ons then it does not matter who you register with. They are just resellers of the same big registrar so to speak. I do not understand what "add-ons" would be deemed valuable.

Well, it depends really. Some do offer things like free domain parking or web site hosting which may be good for those newbies which wants everything under one roof and since they requirements aren't great, it meets their needs.

For the rest of us, those are quite unnecessary features since we have our own servers to host those.

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