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Domain Name Registrars A domain name registrar is a company accredited by ICANN, which stands for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and/or by a national domain name authority to register Internet domain names. ICANN manages the generic top level domains such as .com, .net and .org. Individual countries have their own organizations which manage country domains such as .ws, .uk, .au and so on. ICANN maintains a registry of all of the domain names that have been registered with their matching IP addresses. Think of this registry as a telephone directory that translates domain names to IP addresses. A domain name registrar manages registration and registration information changes for their customer's domain names and reports their new and changed information to the ICANN registry. There are well over 500 domain name registrars in existence. Each registrar offers different prices and add-on services to attract and keep customers. Some of the well known registrars are GoDaddy, eNom, and Network Solutions. Some registrars offer reseller programs. That makes it possible for other businesses to offer their domain name services and earn income. Very often the reseller operates under their own name so they may appear to be an accredited registrar. If you check the fine print, you will find that the real registrar is godaddy.com or some other accredited registrar. Prices vary wildly between registrars. Since ICANN charges the registrars $6.25 per domain name, the prices never fall below that amount. The lowest price is generally around $8.00 to $10.00 if you register with one of the really big registrars like GoDaddy.com. Registrars do business in different countries and states or provinces in the world. When you register with them, you have to agree to their terms of service. Part of the terms of service is your legal remedies which are usually bound to court systems in their company's location. This can be quite an issue if there is a problem. As an example, if you are residing in the United States, you should try to use a domain name registrar that uses the United States courts systems. |
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