Hi all

When we make a multi-year domain registration prepayment, does the registrar concerned have to pay $6 x n (n=no. of years) to VeriSign/Network Solutions right away, or just pay $6 at first?

Example
If a domain name is newly registered at So-So registrar (ICANN accredited) for 10 years, does So-So pay $60 to VS/NS immediately for all 10 years ("Scenario A"), or just $6 (& then $6 every year upon renewal to VS/NS) ("Scenario B")?

The reason for this question is financial risk. If So-So goes under anytime during the 10 year duration, the balance of the prepayment is at risk if Scenario (B) reflects the accepted practice.

Would appreciate if anyone could shed some light on this matter.

Thanks!
Samantha

registrars pay VS for domain years at the $6 rate, and other registries at similar amounts, so if you are concerned whether your money may never be applied to the actual VS registry, check to make sure that the expiry date reflects how many years you paid for.. if it doesn't, then you should contact the registrar immediately and demand that they give you what you paid for..

There are cash performance bonds in place to deal with the unlikely occurrence of an accredited registrar going tits up, and even if this wasn't enough you would see the ICANN accredited community step in and take up the slack.. nobody would be left in the lurch.. at this level these guys have a fiduciary duty of sorts..

If you buy from a reseller, you may lose your money in such a circumstance, because there is no specific control in place to keep them honest.. a bit of homework/research will enlighten you here..

To be honest, right now, unless you are an extremely forgetful person, I wouldn't spend money registering a domain for more than 2 years.. maybe a dumb thing for someone who sells domains for profit to say, but things may change soon in the area of the DNS, maybe they won't.. but if they do I wouldn't count on getting any refunds if you pay for 10 years up from now.. but then again it's such a small amount of money it may not bother most people..