becoming a Nominet member...

[woopwoop]

I have spent a while on the Nominet website and have had my eyes opened by what I've read... wanted to type my thoughs here and see if there are experts out there who can tell me if I got it right or not!

Is this correct:

Anyone can sign up as a nominet member? Just pay a lifetime 1-off £400 fee.
Then pay recurring yearly fees of £100.
Members can then apply to become a tag holder. Again this is free. Just some paperwork.

Is this true even if I'm a domainer, and I don't expect to sell domains through my business (although I might do this through my web business)?

Also what are the main benefits to becoming a tag holder? They seem to be grabbing the names sooner than anyone else. Can they see this in realtime through nominet's site?

Just one other thing, they list the benefits or registering with nominet as having the ability to register names within seconds but this will cost £80+vat, or for tag holders will cost £5.

This surprised me a little because I don't understand how I can reg. domains for £1.99/year (min 2 years) with 1and1 ? Why is it more expensive through nominet?

Am I missing anything else that's important?

Thanks for your help, I'm so new to this side of things so would be good to hear what other people's thoughts are.

 

[rob]

Anyone can sign up as a nominet member? Just pay a lifetime 1-off £400 fee.
Then pay recurring yearly fees of £100.
Members can then apply to become a tag holder. Again this is free. Just some paperwork.

yes - but you would need a credit account setting up, however that comes under paperwork.

Also what are the main benefits to becoming a tag holder? They seem to be grabbing the names sooner than anyone else. Can they see this in realtime through nominet's site?

Yes you have an advantage over none tagholders - how you use it is up to you

DAC access , which is commonly held as the fastest way of seeing domain status currently is ~£25 fee.

This surprised me a little because I don't understand how I can reg. domains for £1.99/year (min 2 years) with 1and1 ? Why is it more expensive through nominet?

loss leader possibly. Cost is £5 + Vat.

Am I missing anything else that's important?

Software to manage the tag either needs to be cooked up yourself (not too tricky if you can code) or can be purchased from people on this forum.

I am not talking about catching software, just something to do REQUEST / LIST / MODIFY commands etc.

Hope this helps!

 

[retired_member12]

This surprised me a little because I don't understand how I can reg. domains for £1.99/year (min 2 years) with 1and1 ? Why is it more expensive through nominet?

it is a mechanism to minimise the amount of registrants having direct contracts with Nominet, especially at consumer level!

 

[aZooZa]

Feel free to PM me if you need catching software.

 

[retired_member16]

You do NOT need to be a member to be a tag holder.

Becoming a tag holder is free so it amazes me that 90% of the board are not tag holders.

 

[seanc]

You do NOT need to be a member to be a tag holder.

Becoming a tag holder is free so it amazes me that 90% of the board are not tag holders.

what advantage does a tag holder really get?
if you hold all your domains on your tag, and your NOT a member, then thats £80+VAT for renewal fees! ouch!

 

[woopwoop]

Thanks for the replies, learnt more details and helped me digest it.

 

[accelerator]

Once you are a tag holder and Nominet member, when you register domains at £5 + VAT, is that a one-off charge and then the domain is yours forever, or is that a recurring charge every two years? I did try looking on the Nominet site a while back but couldn't find the info.

Thanks

Accelerator

 

[woopwoop]

every 2 years.

In a way your acting like a rgistrar I guess, so you can register domains for your clients or yourself. Either way these are recurring fees otherwise the name will expire

 

[grantw]

It's every 2 years, thats the only amount of time you can reg a .uk for

Grant

 

[retired_member16]

what advantage does a tag holder really get?
if you hold all your domains on your tag, and your NOT a member, then thats £80+VAT for renewal fees! ouch!

It allows you to

a) keep your domains more secure
b) change NS records at will.
c) change Tags as and and when you wish.

In a nutshell it gives you full control over your names without the need to rely on a registrar.

Just register with your usual company and change the tag to your own.

Ive also found that customers are more confident in purchasing domains from a tag holder as you appear to 'know what you are doing' or so Im told.

In answer to you original statement, I change tags to whatever registrar is offering the cheapest deals just before renewal time. Renew your domain and then just change the tag back to your own again

 

[zee]

is this right, the money paid out is realy for security?. poping domains out to re-register and back again just to save a couple of pounds seems a loss of valuable time. with say 500 domains outlay + time seems to break even, unless full time job with other domain / website work...z

 

[retired_member6]

is this right, the money paid out is realy for security?. poping domains out to re-register and back again just to save a couple of pounds seems a loss of valuable time. with say 500 domains outlay + time seems to break even, unless full time job with other domain / website work...z

I'd rather pay a bit of money to get namedrive and heartinternet to pull their finger out and do a bloody deal. And heart, you need meta tags on domains like you did on 123reg.

 

[zee]

piont taken..z