Today, I’m going to discuss something I noticed a lot of domain registrants seem to be overlooking: knowing what their actual rights are.

In my numerous dealings with people both online and offline, I’ve observed that one of the most common things they complain about are what happens after the domain name expires. Some go as far as declaring “you’re ripping me off by charging $149 to redeem my domain name!”, or “you have no right to put up an advertising page when my domain name expires!”, or “why are you abetting a criminal who took my domain name?”.

Believe me, there were many times I would love nothing better than to point out “read the fine print, it says there” or “what makes you think you have absolute rights to the domain name when you let it expire? Hmmm?”. That would’ve made my job easier.

But…I was trained to remain calm and firm, and to simply apologize and just do what I can under the circumstances (like renew the domain name, or at least make a promise to call them once the domain name’s been redeemed). I had to show respect and be polite as much as possible, even though I was being sworn at, cussed, even threatened with legal suit and bodily harm.

I’ll tell you, it’s no easy task. It really takes a lot of patience to survive working with a domain registrar.

One thing I’ve consistently observed when I got those complaints is those people have unrealistic expectations. A lot of times, unrealistic expectations are formed because of incomplete or inaccurate information.

They make all sorts of demands or what-not based on what they know or believe in. Of course, they get real pissed if what I tell them doesn’t meet those expectations at all, even though it’s the honest to goodness truth.

I’ve long accepted as reality that many people who have domain names basically don’t know and don’t care to understand how and why domain names are handled this or that way. All they care about are getting results based on what they’re willing to pay for.

I wouldn’t go so far as saying it’s their fault things happened because they didn’t completely know. One could always argue for them by finding fault in the registrars for not “educating” them enough or being “honest” about certain things in their websites.

Personally I wish registrars would be upfront in their communications with their customers about certain things and be proactively educating them about things they ought to know. But…they gotta strike a balance between that and still being able to make money, especially since competition is fierce.

As one who’s worked with a domain registrar, I feel I “owe” it to domain registrants like you to be aware of these things. One very important thing I want you to know is what are really your actual rights as a domain name holder.

First, you will have actual enforceable rights to the domain name if the following conditions exist:

1. The domain name is registered to you and not someone else, and:

2. The domain name is still paid and in good standing.

If either one doesn’t exist in your situation, I’m sorry to say you seriously will have nothing to “hold” the registrar possibly accountable for. Some might even outright ignore you, and they very well have every right to disregard non-paying customers.

The 2nd one is especially crucial. If you ever let your domain name expire at any time, you’re considered to have abandoned your rights to it.

I won’t be surprised if some of you find this unfair. I’d have to disagree.

Why is that?

For one thing, I wrote before that registrars are automatically billed for renewal of a .com domain name the moment it’s expired at the Registry. This eats into their bottom line, and they have to keep down their costs as much as they can.

But the more important detail is most if not all registrars’ legal fine print do state you automatically “lose” rights to the domain name if you let them expire. Go ahead and read your registrar’s registration agreement, you’ll see what I mean.

Incidentally this is one of the most compelling reasons why I consistently tell people to renew before they expire, not after. Although many registars are “gracious” enough to offer a period where they can still renew at the registrar’s standard prices, not everyone does that.

And even if they do, there’s always the slim chance (but a chance, nonetheless) that the renewal payment might not go through in time. As of this writing, a lot of Registerfly users are experiencing this exact problem (though it’s a long story how and why).

On the other hand, even if it’s still paid and in good standing, there are certain things you can and can’t do nonetheless.

So what exactly can you do with your domain name with them?

At the very least, you can use the domain name to put up a website, set up an email address, or even put your own parking page with ads. Again, as long as the domain name is registered to you and paid for, you have every right to do anything to them as you see fit.

However, your registrar’s registration agreement might limit your right to use it in the manner you intend. I’m writing a subsequent post about how to understand them, but that’ll be for another time.

For instance, Go Daddy’s registration agreement states something like the domain name might be cancelled if it’s used for any “morally objectionable actitivies”. Spamming and phishing are no-brainers, but how about a site that displays women in skin-clad bikinis?

Some people find that A-OK while others won’t. Unfortunately Go Daddy might adopt the latter view and do something about it that’s potentially negative to the registrant.

Another right you have is to transfer the domain name to another registrar anytime after 60-days from its initial registration date. There’s a current rule among registrars preventing transfers for domain names that aren’t 60-days old, but they’ll allow it afterwards, again, as long as they’re still paid.

On the other hand, Go Daddy has its own 60-day internal rule preventing registrar transfers if any of the registrant fields have been changed (e.g. name, address, email). That detail has pros and cons, take your pick.

The bottom line is this: as long as the 2 conditions mentioned above exist in your situation, and you are aware of how your registrar “behaves”, then you definitely have rights to the domain names you register and manage. If you have questions regarding your other rights towards them, then do ask your registrar about it, no matter how silly or embarassing it might be.

I’ll expound on this in future posts. For now, I want you to know what exactly you can and can’t do with them.

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