I’ve been exploring the ins and outs of setting up a website for my business, and it seems that pretty much the first step is securing a domain name. I apparently have to pay any one of a variety of entities $50-75 to do so, though the price can be lower if I sign up for a hosting service and/or buy website creation software.
The question that sprang to mind was, do these website registry services own the domain names? If so, who “sold” them to the sites, and who did they belong to before that? Who or what agency or entity granted them the right to sell domain names, and what gave that entity the power to do so? Also, when the first website registry service was granted that power, how extensive was that power? Under what parameters was the second registry site empowered? And the third? The twelfth? The 700th? Do they all have the rights to sell you any possible unused URL? (And by the way, when a website dies and presumably ceases to pay its “dues,” at what point does the domain name get thrown back in the hopper?)
We’re talking billions of dollars in potential value here, so the question isn’t trivial. Why aren’t domain names free for the taking? First come, first served.I truly don’t get how what should be a free common good has turned into something owned by a group of companies. It’s like paying air tax.
Generally they do not own the domain name - you do. This is the case with most of the main tlds and registrars. Also - you should be able to get a domain for a lot less than that. I pay like $6-$7 I think, but I’ve bought in bulk. I think retail you should still be able to get for around $15.00.
See…
As DataX said, the companies don’t own the domain name they’re selling you. What they’re selling you is the service of registering that domain name for you with the company/agency in charge of all domain names for a given top-level-domain (e.g. .com, .net, .org, etc.). They received that authority from the US government when world wide web was opened to the public.
Many web-hosting companies have registered large numbers of unused domain names so people are forced to purchase that domain from them at their price.
Historical reasons aside, whomever runs the authoritative name servers for a top-level-domain (TLD) controls who gets what names within that domain. Above the TLD servers are the internets root servers which control the domain of “.” (yes, the domain is simply identified as a period). The url’s for these root servers is programmed into every web compatible device (usually as part of the operating system).
To clarify a bit further, what those big registry companies are selling is actually a service.
Computers on the Internet (or any IP network, for that matter) are identified by an IP address, which is just a set of numbers. You don’t want to have to memorize the numbers for all of the websites and email servers you access, so the registries take care of the translation.
When you type “fantasticfiction.co.uk” into your web browser’s address bar, the system goes to the root server to find out who owns the “.uk” TLD. That server will know who owns “co.uk,” and that server will know who owns the “fantasticfiction” subdomain.
You own the name, but the registry tells people (well, computers and routers, actually) how to find it.
(Yes, I know this is horribly oversimplified, but I didn’t want to take three pages to explain the whole process)
Just be careful. I know of one company that helpfully set up another company’s domain name and web page… and put the ownership of the domain name in their name and not their customer’s name. The customer lost the domain name when they switched providers.
If they’re just selling the domain name, you can be reasonably sure you’ll own the name. If they’re selling you a web presence service… read the fine print.
Yes, oftentimes a company selling a web-presence package will offer a FREE domain. Less than scrupulous companies will keep that domain to themselves and, after one year, offer to sell it to whomever is using that domain name. For instance:
I go out and sign up/pay for “http://www.theosdomain.com” I start up my website and because my business is dependent on that domain, I go ahead and print up all of my brochures/letterhead/graphics and include my web address in all of my printed material.
A year later I try to renew “http://www.theosdomain.com” and discover that the firm that sold me my web presence package is the rightful owner of the FREE domain name and now want to ransom that name to me for any price that they deem satisfactory. So now, I either pay them what they want, or reprint all of my printed publications to match whatever new domain name I might want to use.
Thank you for that information–one of my greatest apprehensions is that I wouldn’t truly own the domain name, and that I would have an experience like the one you describe. It’s the internet, so there’s a substantial risk of fraud in any transaction, and virtually no recourse, and you have to use the only tool available–other people’s reportage about a given internet company.
Some of these webhosting services do actually own the names they are trying to sell you.
As Wombat said above, names like fantasticfiction.co.uk describe a hierarchy of sorts.
Let’s just say I registered the domain name www.spyonesawesomewebhosting.co.uk
I could then sell you sub-domains of my domain. You could have tralfamidor.spyonesawesomewebhosting.co.uk.
The URL lookup thingies will send that to whomever owns .uk, which will send them to whomever owns .co, which will send them to my server at spyonesawesomewebhosting. Then I direct them to the server with your site on it.
Because it costs me nothing, I can sell this service cheap. However, it also looks cheap, so I’d advise against it. Especially since getting your own proper domain is so cheap.
Using a URL like this, I see that Sun-Times Media IP, LLC is the “registrant” of straightdope.com and the Administrative Contact is from the same company. Repeating this with my own domain name, I see my own name. So – I think – Lunarpages didn’t cheat me.
(That assumes who.is isn’t some spoofer. “.is” is Iceland but obviously it’s been preempted here for its use as an English verb! A friend of mine has bought up some “.tv” domain names – Tuvalu – hoping they’ll grow in value with users websurfing via TV. :dubious: )
Typing “nonsensename.com” at the godaddy.com prompt it, it says I can buy it for $10.99. (As a special offer, they’ll throw in the .net, .info and .org for an additional $15.)
What does Godaddy tell you, tralfamidor ? Is your domain name already taken?
(Hmmm. I can’t be the first to use “nonsensename.com” as an example. Maybe $10.99 is a bargain… )
I was fuzzy on this too and thought I needed a domain name to access my hosting service - until one day the domain name registration expired but the hosting service was still in effect as I’d gotten them at different times.
Since then, I’ve let the domain name lapse and access the host (mainly for ftp stuff) via the static IP address. The nice thing about that is that you can go a site like afraid.org which is just one of a few free dynamic DNS services and pick one of their names to use for your site until you’re ready to go live.
For example one domain is info.tm. So you would setup an acct and have xxx.info.tm forward to your static ip. Then entering that url would work the same as any other web address until you decided to get your own domain.
Just get your domain name before you sign up for hosting or anything else, and buy it straight from a registrar, and you can be sure you own it.
Probably the best registrar in terms of pricing day to day is namecheap:
Godaddy is sometimes cheaper during promotions, but you should never buy from them without a promo code/coupon code, and you need to watch what you are clicking as you buy as they will try to sell you all kinds of add on services. But they are a straight-up registrar and you own the domain.
Both of those offer hosting, etc but you don’t need to use their hosting, email, or anything else just because you buy the domain name from them.
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