Domain Registration, Renewals and Transfers

Registrars
I have encouraged our clients to allow MadRiverConsulting (MRC) to administer their domains. The only service I willingly use is Tucows through the MadRiverAccess reseller. Whenever possible, I transfer registrations to MadRiverAccess. They are reliable and inexpensive, and real people can be contacted. They send a reminder 90, 60, 30 and 3 days prior to the renewal deadline, so it is virtually a fail-safe process. The cost is $15.00 per year, which is not the cheapest in town (but close), the system works, and it is my recommendation that the reliability and convenience is worth it. (The range of prices I have seen is from $8.95 to $37.50 per year, so $15 is not much more than the minimum.) A transfer to MadRiverAccess also adds an additional year to the registration, so no time is lost.

Purchasing & Looking Up Domains
If you have not already purchased a domain, please let us do it for you. It is a multi-step process. We will eventually need to change the DNS information to reflect the hosting server address and have seen this step cost clients more when we have to coach them (or when passwords have been lost or email addresses have changed) than if we did it ourselves.

Please also: do not look up desired domain names until ready to purchase (and again, please let us do it for you). Domain look-ups are monitored and there are many firms that will buy attractive-sounding names speculatively in order to sell them for a higher price.

When MRC Manages Your Domain(s)
When I am designated the admin contact, specifically when the admin contact email address is mine, I take personal responsibility to make sure your domains get renewed each year.

When registered by us with Tucows through MadRiverAccess, you will be invoiced by MRC.

Some people are concerned to have their website developer be the admin contact. If you work with a reputable firm, you should trust your website developer as much as you trust your accountant or attorney.

Currently, we charge a quarter-hour fee to renew a domain for clients who host with other services, and no charge (for the first domain) to clients who host with MadRiverWeb. We have been processing all renewals for two years or five years at a time unless otherwise specified. The two year (or more) renewal has the added benefit of helping search utility optimization.

When You Manage Your Domain(s)
If we did not register your domain(s) for you, it is important to keep a record of your login information (a username and password) so that you may administer your domain. It is also important that you are the registrant, not the developer, friend or foe that registered it for you. We recommend that you use our email address for the admin contact so that we may handle this for you, but make sure it is either your email address or ours, no-one else's.

Keep your contact information up-to-date. If you change email addresses, change your domain name registration(s) to reflect the new address so you will have the continued ability to respond to inquiries or confirmations. If your domain registrar has an auto-renewal feature, make sure your credit card does not expire. I have had clients lose domains because they either didn't follow through on renewal or they changed email addresses and were unreachable for renewal.

Please make note if you have domains that are not registered and managed by MRC. You have been and will continue to be responsible for their renewal unless you contact us requesting assistance.

Domain Transfer or DNS Change
If you have moved your hosting or have a domain for which the DNS needs to be changed, there are a couple approaches.

If you know your login and wish to continue managing your own domain name, you can change the DNS as your host requests. Check first to see if the domain needs to be unlocked and do so. If hosting with us, the DNS should be ns1.madriveraccess.com and ns2.madriveraccess.com.

If you wish for us to manage your domain, change the admin email contact to domains@madriverweb.com. We can then transfer the domain to the registrar that we use and change the DNS ourselves.

If making a DNS change on a domain registered with Network Solutions, it would be best to have us do it with your login.

Voluntary Domain Expiration
If you wish to allow one or more of your domain names to expire, seriously consider this. Services, including some porn websites, seeking the traffic that your non-renewed domain(s) will deliver will purchase them speculatively. Domains are cheap. We strongly recommend that you renew at least one more year but no longer point the domain(s) toward your website. A non-performing domain is much less desirable for other services to grab when it does expire.

Hijacking
Many of you have received solicitations in the postal mail to renew your domains, often generating confusion and alarm. I have seen solicitations come from the following firms, and will expand the list as more are noted:

• Domain Registry of America
• Liberty Names of America
• Register.com
• ICLS.net

These solicitations are often called "Domain Expiration Notices." I have even seen them come after a domain has already been renewed. They are sent by postal mail so that the "less informed" may accidentally make payment. The domain is then "hijacked" to this new registrar. By paying them, you are providing authorization to move your domain name to a different registration company. Please see full article.

The problem is that to complete the process of moving the domain, confirmation and an authorization code are required from the administrative contact. Since the admin contact would not likely authorize the transfer, nor would we want to move the domain away from our chosen service, you would be faced with seeking reimbursement. If any problems existed with your current registration, such as an incorrect email address, you could also be faced with losing your domain if the transfer was not confirmed and the domain was not renewed at the current registrar, regardless of having paid the new firm.

If in doubt, check with us first or look it up yourself using the link at right. You may find that the domain has already been renewed by us.

Solicitations
Other variations of solicitaton have been observed, some seeking to assist in preventing third parties from registering domains similar to yours. Again, if in doubt, ask us.

This page updated April 21, 2009 .

 
For the Technically Inclined

You can review your registration at any Whois including the Domain Tools Whois.

Note who the admin contact is. This is the person responsible for renewal and any other updates. The admin and/or owner email address(es) will receive a renewal notification, depending on the policy of different registrars.