Registrar

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Registrar, explained

The chain has three links. The registry runs an extension's master database, as Verisign does for .com; the registrar connects to it over EPP to create and update names; and you, the registrant, hold the registration under the registrar's terms. Resellers sell under a registrar's accreditation without holding their own, and country-code registries accredit registrars under their own rules, so not every registrar sells every extension.

ICANN's contracts set the duties for generic extensions. Registrars must send renewal reminders about one month and one week before expiry and another within five days after it; must verify your email or phone after a registration, transfer or change of registrant; and must process transfers when you supply the auth code, subject to locks such as the 60-day lock after registration. After expiry, practices diverge. Many registrars auction expired names to third parties; GoDaddy, for example, lists an expired name at auction about 26 days after expiration.

For an investor, the registrar is infrastructure. Choose it on renewal prices rather than first-year deals; on security, including two-factor authentication and registry lock; on bulk tools and an API; on free account-to-account pushes; and on links to the marketplaces you sell through, such as fast-transfer networks. The common mistakes are scattering a portfolio across many accounts and forgetting one, and ignoring renewal increases. Put the account email on a domain held elsewhere, so trouble with one name cannot cascade.

Registrars are adding AI interfaces. GoDaddy, for example, offers a Model Context Protocol server that lets AI assistants search for names and check availability, while registration itself still happens on its site. If assistants increasingly shortlist names for founders, aftermarket names with a clear price and fast transfer are the ones they can present as ready to buy.

Go deeper How to Start Domain Investing: A Beginner's Guide