Domain names are your Internet address. Most domains are registered by businesses as a way of providing information and as a means of communication to their customers. Many businesses register their domains in multiple countries in order to protect their brand. Owning your own domain also allows you to have a personalized email address and website if purchased with hosting. Rather than having a generic email address setup with Hotmail, Gmail or the like (e.g. joe5572@hotmail.com) you can have one setup with your domain and hosting (e.g. joe@joesbuilding.com).

Domain names are portable. With your own domain name, you are no longer tied to your ISP to access email or host your website. No more changing email addresses when you change ISPs!

Domain names improve search engine rankings. Search engines rank websites with their own domain names higher than those using an ISP address.

Domain names show professionalism. Why advertise a website address like: http://www.yourisp.com/user123/ when you could have www.yourdomain.com. Your customers will be more confident dealing with your company if you have your own identity on the internet for your website and email.

Domain names are memorable. A long website or email address at your ISP can be difficult to remember. A short, relevant domain name is memorable and will increase traffic to your site.

Unfortunately it is not possible to reserve domains. Until a domain has been registered it is on the open market. Most registries have a reserved list, which is a list of domains that the registry has decided not to release to the public. These domains are not able to be registered.

Some ccTLD registries have their own list of domain names which are not open to the public for registration at the moment. They maybe appear to be "Available" to register when doing a WHOIS check, however they will be blocked in the registry system.

There are a variety of ways in which you can submit a domain application to us. By following any of the procedures below you should not have any problems:
On the front page search panel, under the "Register You Domain Here" tab enter the domain name you wish to register in the text box, choose which countries you would like the domain registered in via the check boxes and then click "Search".  If the domain is available, click "Continue". You will be required to log into the website, if you don't have an account you can sign up for a new account at this time. After logging in, simply follow the registration prompts and you should have no problems submitting the domain to us.
Under the "Domain Names" on the top menu, there is bulk domain search text area in the "Bulk Registration" section. Enter the exact domain name(s) you want in the text area and click the "Bulk Search" button. Once the availability check has determined the domains are available, click "Continue to Register" and follow the prompts.

Simply log into your account, and click 'Register New Domain(s)' under 'Domain Management'. You can perform both bulk registrations and standard registrations from this page. Enter the domain name(s) you wish to register and follow the prompts.

Many ccTLDs have requirements to protect the integrity of their name spaces. Most however are free to use for anyone in the world. It is best to check the local requirements for specific domains during registration.
In same cases Only Domains can act as an agent on your behalf to secure the domain for you.

The time to register a domain varies depending on what the extension of the domain. With most TLDs we will be able to register them instantaneously for you after your payment has been made and your account verified.  However with others you may be required to wait between 2 to 60 days depending on the regulatory requirements of the TLD in question.
On our international domain pages we indicate the estimated registration time for each TLD.  To view these just click on the International Domains menu title at the top of the page. Once the registration process is completed you will receive an email to let you know.
Please be patient & rest assured your order will not be forgotten about. We will strive to do our best to register your domain as soon as possible.

We have no limit on the number of domains you can register with OnlyDomains.

Only Domains prides itself on being able to register almost any ccTLD (Country-code Top-Level Domains) in the world. Please take a look at our domains page for more information. If you require a domain not listed please contact one of our sales staff so we can try and work something out for you.

Some countries may request the domain applicant to provide an identification number or documents to complete the registration. For specific requirements, please refer to our website on the Domain Names section or you will be notified by our support email if the applied domain is restricted.

In a lot of cases we can provide an agency service if you do not meet the requirements. In a few cases there is a small additional cost for legal fees required to set up the agency.

The official owner of a domain is the registrant. In some agency cases this will still be you, in others cases our agent will be the owner. In either case you retain full control over the domain and are free to use it in any way. If at a later date you are able to meet the requirements you can change the registrant to yourself.

Most domain names have a minimum of 3 and a maximum 63 characters. A domain name may contain numbers (0-9), letters (a-z) or dashes (-). However, it may not:
- Begin or end with a dash (-).
- Contain special characters, such as ! @# $ % & ? ~ : _ ( )
- Have a dash (-) in the third and/or fourth positions.

As a general rule your domain will expire one year after you submitted your application. The expiry date for each domain is listed in your customer area. Some domains have a minimum term of 2 years. You can also check the expiry date on some domains by using the WHOIS tool.

Only Domains will send you reminder emails as the expiry date approaches. You can also view the expiry date via your control panel. You can renew your domain up to 60 days before the expiry date.

You can renew your domain via your control panel.

In most cases the registry actually places the domain in a holding period for several weeks after the expiry date. It is possible to renew the domain during this period however addition fees may apply. After the holding period is over the domain is released back for public sales. Some registries release the domain immediately after the expiry date. It is best to renew your domains 30 days prior to expiry to account for any delays in the renewal process.

You have to wait until the domain name is released to the public again. You should contact the Registry which the domain name is in to find out when it will be released.

Unfortunately it is not possible to reserve domains. Until a domain has been registered it is on the open market. Most registries have a reserved list, which is a list of domains that the registry has decided not to release to the public. These domains are not able to be registered.

Some ccTLD registries have their own list of domain names which are not open to the public for registration at the moment. They maybe appear to be "Available" to register when doing a WHOIS check, however they will be blocked in the registry system.

- To manage your domain name, log into your account:
1) Click on Your Registered Domains under the ‘Domains’ section.
2) Click on the desired domain name to manage.
Tip – You can manage multiple domains by selecting their tick box & clicking ‘Bulk DNS Edit’

If you do not have hosting, or you website is not set up yet you can point your domain to another URL using web redirection. You can use our redirection server free of charge to point your domain to an existing site.

To change the name servers for a domain, also known as a DNS delegation, please follow these steps below
Login to your account, Go to your list of registered domains

Place a tick in the box to the left of the domain you wish to delegate
Click the Delegate button

Click the radio button 'Delegate to your Name servers'
The DNS data box will open

Insert your name servers in the Host Name. You must have at least 2 name servers
(click 'Add' if you need to insert more than 2 name servers)

Once all name servers are entered click 'Confirm'
Your delegation request will be sent to our systems for immediate processing.

PLEASE ALLOW 24-48HRS FOR GLOBAL PROPAGATION BEFORE MAKING ANY FURTHER MODIFICATIONS
Note
- some ccTLD modification will attract a Registry Modification Charge.
- In most cases, the IP of the name server is not required.

Some ccTLD's require a manual operation and can be delayed. Your name servers may not be correctly configured for your domain. E.g. there is no zone file present. A common error is your name servers may be required to be on different subnets. See your DNS administrator to make the changes
PLEASE ALLOW 24-48HRS FOR GLOBAL PROPAGATION BEFORE MAKING ANY FURTHER MODIFICATIONS

Several ccTLD have rules about how the name servers that the domains in their name space are configured. The 5 major ccTLD that do this are; .DE, .FR, .IT, .DK and .NL. Most of these sites have tools you can use to see if the requested DNS passes the rules of the registry.

DE - http://zonecheck.denic.de/zonecheck/en
FR - http://www.afnic.fr/outils/zonecheck/form_en
IT - http://www.nic.it/cgi-bin/DNSCheck/index.cgi
NO - http://www.norid.no/domenenavnbaser/zonecheck/form_advanced.php
HU - http://www.domain.hu/domain/English/regcheck/
NL - http://www.sidn.nl/ace.php/c,728,778,,,,Nameserver_check.html

Domain name servers, or DNS, are an incredibly important but completely hidden part of the Internet. The DNS system forms one of the largest databases on the planet.

Human-readable names like "onlydomains.com" are easy for people to remember, but they aren't easy for machines (computers) to work with. All of the machines on the Internet use names called IP addresses to refer to one another. For example, the machine that humans refer to as "www.onlydomains.com" has the IP address 199.58.187.45. Every time you use a domain name, you use the Internet's domain name servers (DNS) to translate the human-readable domain name into the machine-readable IP address.

Yes, absolutely. Most domains can be transferred quickly and easily via your control panel. Some domains do require an Auth Code, or Domain Password which you can obtain at your current registrar.

Transfers can take anywhere from between 5 to 15 days, depending on fast each step in the transfer process is completed. Some domain registrars do not respond to transfer requests so that by the sixth day, the central registry will automatically change the domain registrar to the new one if there is no response from the previous registrar.

To transfer your domain, log into your account:
1) Click on Transfer Domains  under the ‘Domains’ section.
2) Enter the domain(s) you wish to transfer & click ‘Transfer Domains’.
3) Confirm which domains you would like to transfer & click ‘Transfer’.
4) Enter the Domain ‘Auth Code’ & confirm/modify Domain Registrant/Owner Information.
5) Select/Modify suited Domain Name Activation options.
6) Complete payment details.
7) We will keep you updated via email on the progress of your transfer.

Generally once you have submitted the transfer request we will initiate it at the corresponding registry. Depending on the domain you may need to provide us with a Domain Password before we can do this.
Once this transfer has been initiated and email will be sent normally to the current admin contact by the registry. This is the contact specified during the initial domain registration and Only Domains has no control over this. The email is sent as a form of validation. Most delays are caused by this email going unanswered.
The email contains a link of domain-transfer confirmation. Once you have confirmed it the domain will be transferred to our registrar account, and your domain will become active in your account.

Login to your account, In the Domain Management section look for 'Transfer Your Domain(s)'
Insert your domain name into the bulk transfer data field. If you have multiple domains a new line must be used for each domain. You must include the extension. E.g. domain.com or domain.co.uk
Click 'Transfer Domains' You will be given a screen that displays the domains you are transferring and you may be required to insert the domain Auth Code
Assign the correct Registrant, Admin, Technical and Billing contact. Click Continue
Indicate your preferred DNS option. Further eligibility criteria may be required.(you may be given the option to use Only Domains as your Agency)*
Click 'Proceed to Next Step'
Review the total cost and agree to the 'Terms and Conditions'
Click 'Proceed to Next Step'
The transfer request will be submitted to our systems.

.CO.UK Transfers
To continue the transfer of your .co.uk domain, you will need to contact your current registrar and ask them to change the current IPS-TAG to "RAREDOMAINS-AU". Once you can confirm that this information has been changed, please contact us and we will finish the transfer and put the domain into your account.

A Domain Authorization Code is a short combination of random numbers/letters assigned to each domain name used in order to prevent unauthorized transfers of the domain without the owner’s permission.  Auth Codes are also referred to as EPP codes.

You can request your Domain Auth Code by contacting our support team. If your domain is registered with another registrar you will have to follow their process for obtaining an Auth Code.

The Auth code equivalent for .NZ domain names is called a UDAI key. The UDAI (Unique Domain Authentication Identifier) is specific for each .NZ domain name & is required only for the purpose of changing your domain registrar.  To request youe UDAI please contact our support team.

A trade is the process of changing both the owner of a domain and the registrar. A transfer only changes the registrar of the domain. Most registries support trades.

There are a variety of ways in which you can submit a domain application to us. By following any of the procedures below you should not have any problems:
On the front page search panel, under the "Register You Domain Here" tab enter the domain name you wish to register in the text box, choose which countries you would like the domain registered in via the check boxes and then click "Search".  If the domain is available, click "Continue". You will be required to log into the website, if you don't have an account you can sign up for a new account at this time. After logging in, simply follow the registration prompts and you should have no problems submitting the domain to us.
Under the "Domain Names" on the top menu, there is bulk domain search text area in the "Bulk Registration" section. Enter the exact domain name(s) you want in the text area and click the "Bulk Search" button. Once the availability check has determined if the domains are available, click "Continue to Register" and follow the prompts.

Simply log into your account, and click 'Register New Domain(s)' under 'Domain Management'. You can perform both bulk registrations and standard registrations from this page. Enter the domain name(s) you wish to register and follow the prompts.

1) Scroll over ‘International Domains’ from the top menu.
2) Navigate from Domain Region to click on desired country.
3) An estimated domain registration timeframe will be displayed at the bottom.

- To change your name servers, log into your account:
1) Click on Your Registered Domains under the ‘Domains’ section
2) Click on the desired domain to change or click the cog icon under ‘Setup DNS’  to the right of the domain name.
3) Select ‘Delegate to Your Name Servers’   then add your new name servers under the Host Name field.
Tip -  You can change Name Servers on multiple domains by selecting their tick box & clicking ‘Bulk DNS Edit’  then selecting ‘Delegate to Your Name Servers’

1) Click on Your Registered Domains under the ‘Domains’ section
2) Click on the desired domain to change or click the cog icon under ‘Setup DNS’ to the right of the domain name.
3) Select ‘Setup/Edit Web Redirection’ then choose which site to redirect to along with redirection type.

(DNS Forwarding) MX, A-Records & CNAME
To perform DNS forwarding, which involves changing your zone file (MX, A-Records & CNAME) use the following steps
Login to your account
Go to your list of registered domains
Click on the domain you want to modify
In the Domain Name Server Details section, click the 'Set up DNS Forwarding' radio button.
To edit a record click the edit icon next to the record you want to edit.  Once you have made your change to the record click the disc icon to save it.
To delete a record click the cross next to the record you want to delete.

To add a record fill out the row of the text boxes just below the last record and click the Add button.