Domain Name Policies

The information below outlines information regarding domain registrations, renewals, and transfers which HostDime Inc. provides via the billing system at HostDime.com and HostDimeDomains.com. It is recommended that all clients which own domains with HostDime Inc. review the information below.

ICANN.ORG

An organization known as ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) oversees the management of IP addresses and domain names used on the Internet. This organization thus sets the policy regarding all domain registrations, renewals, transfers, and expirations.

Companies which are accredited by ICANN to process the registration of the top level domains (TLDs, i.e. .COM, .NET, .ORG, .INFO) are refered to as "registrars". Commonly known registrars are NetworkSolutions, Tucows, GoDaddy, Melbourne IT, and Enom. These registrars provide reseller accounts to individuals and companies which may register domains for themselves or resell to other clients at various rates. This is the only method by which a hosting company may provide domain registration services to compliment the hosting services they provide.

HostDimeDomains.com

HostDime Inc. provides domain registration services to the public via the http://www.hostdimedomains.com/ website, and also via the web hosting billing systems used to accept new account signups at http://www.hostdime.com/ and http://www.hasweb.com/

The following rules and guidelines regarding the domain registration services provided by HostDimeDomains.com are not specifically the policy of HostDime Inc., but are an extention of the policies set forth by Enom and ICANN.

New Billing System

As of May 1, 2006 HostDime launched a new billing system (Modernbill) to accept new hosting account orders. Existing clients will remain within the previous billing system until migration tools have been developed and a migration campaign has begun.

With this new system clients are able to register or transfer their existing domains to HostDime.com when they order their hosting account. These domains are manageable from the client area at https://client.hostdime.com/mb4/ . Tools may be provided to clients at a later date so they may transfer their domains from HostDimeDomains.com to their Modernbill logins. Manual transfer requests will not be fulfilled by request.

Domain Registrations

The domains available for registration via HostDime.com / HostDimeDomains.com are listed (with pricing) at http://www.hostdimedomains.com/pricing.php

The following TLD's are only available at a minimum of two years of registration: .nu, .us.com, .co.uk, .org.uk

Domain Transfers

Customers who are looking to consolodate all their accounts under one company, or obtain a better domain renewal rate, may wish to transfer domains to another domain registration service, such as HostDimeDomains.com.

To transfer a standard domain (.com, .net, etc) to or from a registrar, the following checklist must be followed.

Have the domain's EPP Key
Domain must not be expired with the current registrar
Domain must not be locked
Administrative contact email address on the domains WHOIS record is active and checked by domain owner
Domain is more than 60 days old from date of initial registration
Domain was not renewed less than 45 days ago

Domain transfers normally take 7 days to complete, even if the above requirements are met. Transfers may also become delayed due to issues with the WHOIS server responsible for the domain information. It is highly recommended that domain owners place their transfer orders at least 2 weeks prior to the expiration of their domain name.

Registration Extention

When a domain is transfered, it is given an additional year of registration automatically after it has transfered. If a domain is transfered within 45 days of being renewed with the previous registrar, the additional year of registration is forfeited.

Domains which have become expired must be renewed with the current registrar before they are available for transfer, or else the transfer order submitted will fail. Often a domain owner will renew a domain an immediately transfer, however they are not aware of this policy regarding transfers, and thus not aware of the extra year of registration they have lost.

Authorization Email

After a transfer order has been placed, a transfer request is submitted between the registrars involved. During this process various emails are sent to each registrar, and an email message is sent to the Administrative Contact email address listed on the WHOIS record for the domain. This email message must be received by the domain owner and the instructions included in the email message must be followed properly for the transfer process to continue.

It is recommended that such domain owners turn off any spam filtering or email blocking on the Administrative Contact email address to avoid missing the verification email sent during the transfer process.

Transfers and EPP keys

Transfers for all TLD's (top level domains) such as .COM, .NET, .ORG and .INFO require the receiving registrar to provide an EPP and/or Authorization Key. This key is a string of text, much like a password, which must be obtained from the current registrar by the domain owner, and then provided to HostDime in order for the transfer to be successfully submitted.

Transfering to Another Registrar

Many customers ask about the status of a domain they are transfering from HostDimeDomains.com to another registrar. Unfortunately only the registrar receiving the domain can report the status of the transfer. Regardless, the above guidelines apply to all transfers from HostDimeDomains.com to another domain registration service / registrar.

Checking Transfer Status

If the domain is being transfered to HostDimeDomains.com, you can check the status of the transfer from one of the following links. The status returned is the same information which Enom provides to HostDimeDomains.com when HostDime staff members check the status of a domain transfer.

http://hostdimedomains.com/transquery.php (pops up in new window)

Alternatively you may check the WHOIS record on a domain to make sure it meets the guidelines above using either of the se two links:

http://whois.domaintools.com/

http://www.hostdimedomains.com/whois.php

For more information, please refer to the ICANN Transfer Policy

Domain Expiration

After a domain is expired, the proper function of the domain will cease within 4 to 48 hours caused by an automated change in the nameserver addresses which the domain delegates authority to. While expired an alternative website may display when website viewers attempt to access the domain.

Grace Period

Domains registered or transfered to HostDime.com/HostDimeDomains.com which expire are given a 29 day grace period for renewal. Expired domains may be renewed at the normal renewal rate (typically $15.99) during this grace period. HostDime Inc. provides no guarantees regarding this grace period, as none is provided by the registrar, Enom.

It is the sole responsibility of the domain owner to contact the registrar, HostDimeDomains.com, via email or phone to make sure their domain is renewed before this 29 day grace period is over, regardless of any error in communication.

Redemption Period

Once a domain is expired for more than 29 days, it is taken out of ownership of the registrar (Enom), and held by the registry for an additional 43 to 90 days in what is known as the Redemption Period. During this period the original domain owner may pay a $200 fee for the domain to be restored to the ownership of the owner. This fee is not set by HostDimeDomains.com, but instead by the domain registry (ICANN.ORG) as an administrative fee for aquiring the domain from redemption. This fee cannot be submitted to the registry or Enom.com directly, but must be submitted by the original domain registrar (HostDimeDomains.com).

There are rare occassions where the registrar or registry may choose to hold a domain in the redemption period for an extended period of time. This usually occurs with domains which are in high demand, thus giving the original owner an extended period of time to still claim the domain.

Pending Delete

For five to six days after the redemption period ends the domain will await deletion from the registry. Once the domain is deleted, it will be available for anyone in the public to register via any registrar.