Posts Tagged ‘domain names’
New Multi Year registrations for .uk domain names
Apr 12 24
From May 1st it will be possible to register a .uk domain name for anywhere between 1 and 10 years at a time. 
Nominet, who are the organisation that manages UK domain names have decided to give registrars the opportunity to offer a more flexible service.
Previously UK domain names could only be registered and renewed for a fixed 2 year period. The new changes for .uk registrations will fall in line with other domain names such as .com, where it has always been possible to register a domain name for upto 10 years.
You will also be able to renew your uk domain names at any point during the registration. At the moment you can only renew the domain 6 months prior to the expiry date. The new system will allow you to renew the domain name at any time, providing the renewal period does not exceed the 10 years.
The new periods will only be available to registrars like ourselves who are Nominet members. This will allow us to offer our customers the peace of mind of long term renewals, so you won’t need to worry about renewals or expiry so often. Renewing for a longer period also gives you the benefit of reduced prices.
Once this comes into place we will modify our registration systems to allow for the extended periods. Prices for the multi year periods will be added to our website shortly.
How to transfer your domain name
Dec 10 10
Depending on the domain extension there is a different process for transferring your domain name:
For any .uk domain name
All UK domain names are registered through Nominet.
Each registrar of Nominet has their own ‘tag’ which allows them to directly register and manage the domain name on behalf of their customer. Our tag is ‘CHARD’ To transfer your domain name to us you need to contact your current domain host and ask them to change the tag on your domain name to CHARD.
For any Global TLD – .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ
If your domain is of global type (eg .com/.org/.net/.biz etc) then the process is slightly different.
- Firstly you need to contact your current domain host and ask them to ‘unlock’ the domain name and to also provide you with an authorisation code.
- Advise us once this is done and we will then request the transfer through our TLD registry which is Tucows Inc.
- The domain registry will then send an automated email to the admin contact for the domain (you need to make sure the admin contact is a current working email address)
- The admin contact then uses the authorisation code to confirm the transfer.
- The domain transfer will then take upto 7 days to complete. Once it is completed the domain name will automatically renew for a further year.
Please note domains can not usually be transferred if registered within the last 60 days, or if they have gone past their expiry date.
Domain name renewals
Sep 09 29
Expired domains
If you do not renew your domain name in time, you run the risk of losing the domain and any associated website/emails will go offline. How long it takes to go offline depends on the domain extension and which registry it came from.
.co.uk, .ltd.uk, .plc.uk, .me.uk
All .uk domains names are registered through Nominet. When your domian name goes past its expiry date you are given 30 days grace before the domain is suspended. As soon as the domain is suspended, any emails and website you had set up will go offline. The domain name will be held in suspension for a further 60 days and will then be deleted, then it will publicly be available for re-registration. The domain is still renewable at the normal price anytime during this 90 day period.
.com, .net, .info, .biz, .org, .tv
There are stricter (and possibly costly) procedures for these domain names. If you have any one of these domains and you do not renew, your site and emails will go down the next day and your site will change to a generic click site which is the domain registry’s default page. At this stage it takes upto 24hrs to come back online after the renewal payment has been processed.
Redemption period
Depending on the registrar used, the domain renewal will still be allowed at the normal price for approximately 30 days after the expiry date. Then it will be placed in a ‘redemption grace period’ during which time the domain owner would need to pay a redemption fee to release the domain before it can be renewed. The redemption fee can be upto $160 and is non refundable. This shows the importance of renewing your domain name on time.
Redemption fess do not apply to any .uk domain names.
Renewal reminders.
We will firstly send an automated email renewal reminder the month before your domain name/hosting package is due. e.g. Anything due for renewal in December, your first renewal reminder will be sent at the beginning of November to the billing email address we have on file for you, so it is important you keep your email address upto date.
We will follow up with a second reminder at the beginning of the month your account is due for renewal and a third to chase the renewal before the domain/hosting package goes past the expiry date.
Please note It is the clients responsibility to ensure any domain is renewed.
From time to time there are anomolies in any system which will result in you NOT being billed for a name. If you are not billed – we don’t get paid – we thus will NOT renew a domain name – it should ALWAYS be considered to be the clients responsibility to contact us and ask us to renew a domain name.
Free domain privacy option now available
Sep 09 17
Hide your personal contact details from the general public.
Every time you register a domain name, your private contact details, such as your address and telephone number are publicly accessible in the online WHOIS database.
With our free Domain Privacy service you can protect your personal information from any other unwanted attention by replacing all of your private contact information with our own default details. Domain Privacy is available for .com, .net, .biz, .info and .org domain names.
Key Benefits
- Protect against identity theft
- Avoids telesales calls and junk postal mail
- Protect your domain from email spam
- Protect against fraudulent domain transfers
How to register a private domain
Registering a private domain is easy. Simply enable the ‘domain privacy’ option on the registration form once you have chosen your domain name.
What about .uk names?
The .uk domain registry, Nominet UK, provides a similar service known as “Whois Opt-out”. This service is only available to personal domain names, rather than business registrants and this will allow you to omit your address from the online Whois. When purchasing a new domain names from Your Name Here, the Whois Opt-out can be enabled the same way, by clicking on the ‘domain privacy’ box.