i want domain registration.....

[Frosty]

here`s a question,

If i want to offer domain registration to my customers along with webhosting, is there anyway i can offer domain registration without reselling for some domain registrar? Why do i have to resell domain names? Why can`t i just become a domain registrar myself just like www.godaddy.com did?

Is it really difficult to do that? How the heck would i be able to do that? It`s not fair. :mad:

Like, vat are the requirements and stuff?

[Jaiem]

I'm not too familar with the internals but it's my understanding to be a registrar does require a somewhat large committment in terms of systems and resources. Also, if later you choose to leave the business I think your customers would be stuck.

[Martie]

You can join bulkregister.com for $79.00 one time fee (USD)
and then register domains through them.

[GregS]

Originally posted by frosty

If i want to offer domain registration to my customers along with webhosting, is there anyway i can offer domain registration without reselling for some domain registrar? Why do i have to resell domain names? Why can`t i just become a domain registrar myself just like www.godaddy.com did?



Your right, anyone can become one, just give them $1000:

http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation-process.htm

Oh ya, a one more thing:

Note that US $70,000 of liquid capital will be deemed sufficient at the commencement of the accreditation period, but a lesser amount will be accepted upon a showing that under the circumstances it will provide adequate working capital. Proof of working capital may include a bank statement showing a sufficient level of liquid capital immediately available in your (the entity's) name, a certificate of a guaranteed bank loan, or a certificate of a letter of credit, all from a recognized financial institution. As with insurance, proof of liquid capital need not accompany this Application if you do not currently have sufficient working capital, but would be a condition for accreditation becoming effective.

[Frosty]

Hey GregS,

So you mean i just have to pay $1,000 dollars for some license ceritific in order to be able to offer domain registration like if i were a regular registrar? That`s cool. I didn`t totally understand the paragrah you wrote after that....... yeh i know, pathetic.

But after i did that, don`t i need some kind of program software that will keep track of what domain was registered by whom? How much does something like that cost? And if i have alot of customers hosting their site with me, and i wanted to offer cheap domain registration, would your recommend i become a registar myself, or just resell?

Oh and Martie, i was going to use bulk register, but i think i like www.domainpeople.com better. And if i was a domain registration registrar myself or whatever, and i sold a domain for 8 bucks per year, would i keep that entire 8 bucks? :confused:

[GregS]

They usually get lawyers to write that stuff, so nobody understands it! It basically says that they want proof that you have atleast $70,000 in the bank, to make sure you can run it properly I guess.


Yes, you will still need to make the software, or pay someone to make it......I think we would all recommend that you just resell, atleast for now.


If you became a registrar, I believe you still have to pay InterNic $6 per domain for the use of their database. The domains need to be in the central database.


What you should do is find a reseller program that you like, there are basically 2 kinds....

One would be were you register the domains for them and they all end up in one account for you to look after and edit....like BulkRegister.com

One would be were you register the domains, and for each domain, another account is made, so the end user that registered the domain through you can log into their own account and edit the domain themselves......like opensrs.com

[Frosty]

oh i see. I was just curious about it because i see so many sites on the net nowadays that do domain registration so i was wondering if it was easy or not to be able to do it.

Oh well, i`ll just resell domains for now then. But i`m still jelous of godaddy.com, i wanted to to it like they are.....you know, they have webhosting and then they offer domain registration and have nice software installed on their site. It`s nice cause a customer can do everything all in one place. And it`s not fair cause they`re able to offer domains for only 8 bucks and if i resell i`ll never be able to do that. I wonder how much it costs to get the software and all that crap together to be able to do it. It`s a complete rip-off that i`m still charged 12 whole bucks even when i resell. And godaddy has a reseller program for domains, but i would never resell for them cause customers would be ticked off cause they`d see that i`m reselling godaddy`s domains and raising the prices. cause godaddy doesn`t give resellers a discount on domains. Shoot, i wrote a way too long post again........:)

[CWDigiTech]

I understand you want to offer low prices for your clients. So far there doesn?t seem to be many options in that area.

There is one wholesaler that has an affiliate program that will make it look as though you are a registrar. The site is http://www.itsyourdomain.com. The affiliate information is located at:

http://www.itsyourdomain.com/documents/affiliateoptions.php?IYD=1

They have two options for you. The first option:

The Transparent Affiliate Program

This program allows your customers to register domain names from your site without having to learn of the existence of ItsYourDomain.com. As a Transparent Affiliate, you will have a domain name look up box that allows your customers to search, register and manage their domain names in real-time from your Web site. You set the price for domain name registrations and they charge your customers the resale price you choose.

Example: If the price you set is $19.95, ItsYourDomain.com will charge your customer's credit card $19.95 for each domain name registered. (The charge on their credit card statement will appear as "Domain Registration"). This enables you to maintain your customer base while we remain as transparent as possible.

You would earn $3.50 for every domain registered from your site: Your price ($19.95) less a 5% processing fee ($1.50) less their registration fee ($14.95) equals your commission of $3.50 for each domain name registered from your web site.

The other option:

The Co-Branded Affiliate Program

Like the Transparent Affiliate Program they will provide you with a domain name look up box to place on your web site that allows your customers to search and register domain names. They handle the administrative details including billing the customer and processing registration applications. Monthly, you receive a commission check, equaling 10% of the price paid for each domain registered through your Web site.

I feel the biggest ?benefit? from using their service is the fact that you would look like the registrar. Besides that you can offer domain names for a bit cheaper than other places. All in all, it really depends what is more important, offering your clients cheap domain names or looking like a true registrar.

[Frosty]

Thankx, i`ll check that out. :)

But what`s up with the 5% credit card transaction? Transaction rates are usually only about 2.29% plus 20 cents per transaction, so how come itsyourdoamin takes 5 percent of my sale? And if i used their annoyamous private labeled program, wouldn`t they still show up in the WHOIS that itsyourdomain.com is the true register, or would it says that mysite.com is the registrar?:confused:

[CWDigiTech]

If you are a Transparent affiliate, you must have your own name servers for ItsYourDomain.com to remain anonymous. If you do not have your own Domain Name Servers (DNS) You may still participate in the Transparent affiliate program, if you wish, but be aware that your clients may then know of ItsYourDomain.com's presence as your registrar.

[Frosty]

I have my own DNS nameservers:

ns1.mysite.com
ns2.mysite.com

So as long as i have that i`m completely anonyamous? I always thought that if someone wanted to see who the registrar is, they would just do a WHOIS on a domain and itsyourdoamin.com would be listed as the registrar. But with their program would mysite.com show up as the registrar? :)

[CWDigiTech]

Well that is what they say at least. You would have to direct that inquiry to them I guess. I have done some Whois searches and was not able to find the registrar for some companies, so I?m not really sure how they were able to pull that off.

As far as the 5% being taken, yes that is a rather bigger amount of money being taken. I?m not sure what justifies such an amount. It all comes back to the question of what is more important, looking like a ?true? registrar, or just offering your clients a good price for domain names.

Personally, I feel the only real reason why someone would/should use www.itsyourdomain.com is for the ability to have the ?look? of being a registrar while maintaining your clients domain name business.

If you are looking for cheap rates for your clients, I feel that you would be better off finding a different registrar that offers you commission for click/sales. The problem with that is if your clients decide to go to the registrar directly as opposed to clicking on your affiliate link thereby making it so that you do not earn money for the sale.

I rather, and this is just my opinion, just inform my clients where they can get cheap domain names and not even bother with the commission. Even if people only use me to find out where they can get cheap domain names, they still have to come to my site or ask for consultation for the referral. This way, even though I don?t get money for the referral, I still get traffic to my site and some residual hosting sales by providing such information.

So if you are looking for a way to provide your clients with cheap domains, I would recommend that you find an affiliate program that offers a good deal and start sending your clients to them (if they do not wish to deal with the signing up ?stuff,? you could offer to do it for them). If you loose a few sales/commission checks because your site visitors go to the registrar directly, just adopt the philosophy that you are providing a service that people have to come to you to get. Sooner or later you will retain a few sales for your other services by doing this.

All in all, it is up to what your main ?goal? is.