hey all,

just out of intrest really what would i need software and hardware wise to be able to start my own domain registra business without being a reseller, in other words i want to be a dedicated registra.

my budget will be $2000-$4000

If you want to become a registrar, it's probably going to cost you a lot more than that. There are others on this forum who can give you a better estimate than me, but I'd say maybe $100,000, not all in cash.

As stu2 said -- becoming a domain registrar, NOT a reseller, makes only sense if you know the business very very well, and if you are already in the business with a very busy website .... e.g. if you own a data center. The costs will be $40,000 and up -- and there are annual costs.
How about just becoming a reseller of various registries, such as eNom, Directi, etc. ... and then use a special script such as ModernBill and sell domains to your customers, using the best offers from each registrars?

John

grikey didn't know it was going to be that expensive lol, on second thoughts it would be best to buy from a reseller

grikey didn't know it was going to be that expensive lol, on second thoughts it would be best to buy from a reseller
Yes, I think you will be *much* better to start as a reseller for a good registrar. Then, after you have many thousands of your own customers and good incoming revenue, you can consider accredidation from ICANN and becoming your own registrar.

This way, you can "get into" the domain name business with very low capital and grow as large as you desire and are able to become.

I personally recommend becoming a reseller for eNom.com, because they specialize in the reseller market, have a very good API (to set up your own website), and their pricing is pretty good, too.

Cheers!