It's common for a web designer to register a business's domain for them, then move on, retire or stop answering. The website keeps running until something needs changing, or the domain comes up for renewal and nobody pays. Here's how to get it back into your name.
Step 1: Find out who holds the domain
For a .nz domain, two names matter:
- The holder (the .nz rules used to call this the registrant) is whoever is named on the register. Legally, the domain is theirs.
- The registrar is the company the domain is registered through, such as 1st Domains, Freeparking, Crazy Domains or Discount Domains.
Look your domain up in the .nz domain search on the Domain Name Commission website. It shows the holder's name, the registrar and the expiry date. Individuals can hide their address and phone number, but the holder's name still shows.
If the holder is your business, you're in a strong position: you just need access. If it's the designer's name or their company, you'll need them to change it, or you'll need to go through the dispute process below.
Step 2: If it's in your name, get the Auth-Code
To move a .nz domain to another registrar, you need its Auth-Code. It used to be called a UDAI, and some people still call it that. It's a 16-character code that the current registrar issues to the holder on request, and it's valid for 30 days.
- Contact the registrar shown in the lookup. Say you're the holder and ask for the Auth-Code.
- If they ask you to prove it, the email address on the record is usually how. If that's the designer's old address, ask the registrar how they verify holders without it.
- Give the code to the registrar you're moving to, and they'll start the transfer.
Step 3: If it's in the designer's name, ask them to change the holder
Changing the holder is a standard request, and the registry doesn't charge for it (some registrars do). Send the designer something short and specific:
Hi Sam, we're moving our website and need the domain mybusiness.co.nz in our company's name. Could you change the holder to My Business Ltd (or send us the Auth-Code) by Friday? Thanks.
Most designers will sort it out once asked clearly. Keep a copy of what you send.
If they won't help
Work up this list:
- The registrar. Explain the situation. They can't hand over a domain held by someone else, but they can tell you what they need.
- The Domain Name Commission. It oversees
.nzand takes complaints about registrars and resellers. Its website explains how to make one. - The .nz Dispute Resolution Service. It starts with mediation. If that fails, a decision by an independent expert costs NZ$2,000 + GST and usually comes within about 40 working days. You need to show you have rights in the name, such as your business name, and that the designer holding it is unfair.
For a .com or other international domain, the steps are similar but the code is called an auth code or EPP code. Changing the holder can lock the domain against moving registrars for 60 days, though many registrars let you opt out of that.
Don't let it expire
If nobody renews a .nz domain, it goes into a "pending release" period of about 90 days. Only the holder can renew it during that time, and then anyone can register it. If the holder is your old designer, that renewal is theirs to make, not yours. Check the expiry date in the lookup, and sort out the holder well before it.
Keep it in your name from now on
Whoever builds or runs your website, the domain should be registered to your business, with an email address you control. Your web person can be given access to manage it without holding it.