Do You Really Control Your Domain?
Whether you've already registered your domain name or not, you should be aware of the issues around transferring your domain. As soon as you have a domain name you need to know where your domain name account is kept, in whose name the account is listed, the email address for administrative contact, the username and password for the domain name account, something called an "Auth Code", and when it is due for renewal.
Your domain acts as your web address, your virtual property line -- it's the way people locate your site. If you have spent much time or engergy into developing and promoting your unique name, your brand, it might be the most valuable property you have on the web. Yet, as the recent influx of clients we've had have demonstrated, very few web site owners have a good understanding about who owns their domain name, who controls it, or why it's important to know.
Quick Domain Name Primer
The domain name is an alias for your web site address, not the address itself. There is a central domain registry for all the domain names on the Internet, and there are domain name servers whose job it is to translate a domain name into the actual address for your web site. The actual address is a long series of difficult to remember numbers, kind of like a phone number. The registry tells your computer where to look for the name server, the name server tells your comptuer where the web site is, and your computer goes to that address and downloads the web page.
The registry (actually, registries) are overseen by an international regulatory agency called ICANN, and registrars, like our own domain registration company, communicates with the registry to make sure your domain name is listed and kept in good stead. The registrar is through whom you as a domain owner communicate with the registry.
The Web Designer Problem
In between you and the registrar the web designer often takes control, usually for convenience, yours or theirs. In any case, your web designer may offer to register the domain name for you, usually when they first set up hosting for your site. Remember that your web hosting is different than your domain name. They are different services and can be provided by different companies. Most people think that's fine and dandy and often times it is, but sometimes it isn't.
Lately we've gained a number of clients away from other web designers for a variety of reasons, either they have become dissatisfied with the level of service they were receiving elsewhere or their designer has gone out of business, become uncommunicative or simply dissapeared. What's become clear is that these new clients, understandably, did not have the understanding of the web to ensure their interests were protected at the outset, making the transition to a different design and development company difficult, and in one case so far, impossible short of expensive legal action.
You should always own your domain. You should always have complete, direct access to the account where the settings are maintained. If you don't, you run the risk of losing your domain name. If the web designer registered your name for you, then they may have registered it in their own name, whether out of malice or ignorance it doesn't matter, in which case THEY own the domain name and merely allowed you to use it. Again, usually this works fine, right up until it comes time to say goodbye to that designer and hire a new one. The previous designer may decide to withhold access or prevent transfer of the domain until you pay them some money. They could, theoretially, put the domain on the open market at any time and allow the highest bidder to walk away with what you thought was YOUR domain name.
Most often, though, the domain is registered in your name and you own the domain, but the designer used their own email as the contact email address in the registration process, and never tells you any of the account details, like the username and password. As unethical as it is to withhold that information, it is still sometimes difficult to get that information from designers after you have fired them.
The email address that's used in the registration information is important to control of the domain. When you go to transfer the domain, administrative emails will be sent by the registrar to whatever email address is listed there. The recipient of the email will be instructed to take action to allow or prevent the transfer to go through. So, if your designer's email is the one listed there, they will be the one to get that email and you'll be counting on them (and you just fired them, remember) to follow through like they should. If is is your email, and you forward the received email to whomever you choose to manage your domain, then you are in the driver's seat.
Having access to the domain account at the registrar is also important. If you don't have access, then you're counting on the web designer to go into the account for you and unlock the domain so it can be transferred. If your web designer has gone out of business or dissapeared there is nobody to access your account. There are ways to recover access in such cases, but this process is cumbersome, sometimes difficult, and depends on the registrar to make an evaluation and determination, which with some lesser registrars may be an obstacle.
Worse still is the uncooperative or disgruntled former web designer with sole access to your domain account. This happened to one client we recently took on. The designer who had been fired had set up the domain on an account where he used his own credit card to pay the registration fees on behalf of the client. After learning he'd been fired he updated the registration information, and ICANN prohibits transferrs within 60 days of that update. When we had the client prove their ownership and change the password on the account, the designer called the registrar and asked them to change the password and email back to his email and password. He claimed, erroneously, that the account was his. The domain name was set to expire in short order and the client was then forced to continue dealing with the fired web designer to keep the domain registered. We were left to advise the client to consult a lawyer, since we had exhaused all we could do to resolve the issue.
We don't want this to happen again with any other client. We also want to give our clients of the piece of mind that no matter what, their domain is theirs and they are in the driver's seat. That's why r(e)volving design always provides client's with the account access information for their domain and we always register the domain in the name of the client.
Who Controls Your Domain?
Do you know who's in control of your domain? Here's how you can find out. Go to our hosting services page and in the spot where you can type in your domain to see if it's available, enter your domain and press the button to check it. On the next page there will be a link on the same line informing you the domain is taken where you can click to get more information. You'll be asked to enter a verification code, which just makes sure you're not a robot, and the registration information will be displayed.
Here's what it looks like today for our domain, revolvingdesign.com.
Registrant: REVOLVING DESIGN 2109 Glenwood Dr. Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008 United States Registered through: r(e)volving design Domain Name: REVOLVINGDESIGN.COM Created on: 13-Sep-04 Expires on: 13-Sep-09 Last Updated on: 05-Nov-07 Administrative Contact: Wixson, Kevin dns@wixsonit.com REVOLVING DESIGN 2109 Glenwood Dr. Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008 United States 2695856087 Technical Contact: Wixson, Kevin dns@wixsonit.com REVOLVING DESIGN 2109 Glenwood Dr. Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008 United States 2695856087 Domain servers in listed order: NS01.DOMAINCONTROL.COM NS02.DOMAINCONTROL.COM Registry Status: clientDeleteProhibited Registry Status: clientRenewProhibited Registry Status: clientTransferProhibited Registry Status: clientUpdateProhibited
The attached document can be used to record and organize the essential information about your domain. Copy down the information from the top, "registrant," section into the form in the name and company name spaces. Ask your designer for the account information on the form. Be sure to keep this record on file and whenever the designer mentions that its time to renew your domain, check to make sure nothing has changed. As valuable as your domain name is, don't leave it to your designer to handle it for you, out of sight.
Further Reading
Bret Fausett - domain law expert
- Login to post comments