Your domain name is a very valuable part of your business but it is surprising how many managers that I speak to, that do not know any information about their own domain name. You should be in possession of your own domain name login and password.
A number of clients also do not have their domain registered in their own business name. You wouldn’t buy a car and leave the registration in someone elses name would you? Domains should not be registered to your web developer and the email contact should be yourself not anyone else including your web developer. This is often a trick used by website developers to make it difficult to transfer away from them.
You can check on the ownership credentials of your domain, we suggest using sites like http://whois.ausregistry.net.au/
Recently, I have spoken to a number of managers who have unfortunately ended up paying to renew a domain that is not their own. There are some companies who will write to you or email you asking to register/renew a domain name that is very similar to your own. They may offer you a .com version or a .net.au version or even a version that is a variation on your own name. Managers in their haste are worried about a domain name expiring and end up paying the invoice for something they do not need. The service that these companies offer is actually valid and will give you a new domain name, but it is not one that is often worth having.
Also be careful to ensure that even if the domain name registration that they are offering you is from your actual domain registrar. There are companies that may offer to renew your domain name for you but you end up transferring the business to them in the meantime and they will often inflate the price.
Some of the biggest & reputable registrars in Australia are companies like Melbourne IT & Netregistry. eTourism also offers registration services through our Domainshop service. On average our renewal prices for a 2 year registration are $99 for a .com.au domain and $66 for a .com domain.
The 2 golden rules to follow are firstly to double check who it is offering to renew the registration and secondly what domain is being renewed.
If you have any questions about this please do not hesitate to contact our support team.
