This story appeared in the July/August 2004 issue of Web Host Industry Review magazine. Click here to subscribe for free.
September 15, 2004 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- The rollout of the new .eu top-level domain is prompting some businesses to advise companies to begin planning domain strategies and registrations. But EURid, the organization chosen to manage the .eu domain, is warning Web users against paying for services that provide little or no advantage over simply waiting for the registry to launch.
EURid, currently negotiating a contract for its administration of the .eu domain with the European Commission, posted a notice on its site warning against one potentially misleading service offering. The notice states, "We have received many complaints about EU Registry Services. This company has no relationship with EURid and is not an accredited .eu registrar. If after reading the facts posted on this Web site you believe that you have a justifiable complaint and are unable to contact EU Registry Services, may we suggest that you should contact your credit card company and if appropriate instigate charge-back proceedings in oder to obtain a refund of monies paid."
EU Registry Services, which advertised online that, "You are now able to order .EU domain names," and "We highly recommend you place your order immediately to guarantee you receive your domain of choice," did not respond to questions about its service.
Andrew Lothian, CEO of domain consulting company Demys Limited and a part of the Internet domain industry for more than seven years, said the issue of questionable services related to pre-registration is not new. Registrars and third party providers promised similar services during the launch of the .biz and .info domains in September 2001, the last big domain launch, Lothian said.
"At best, these added prospective registrants' names to a list which they attempted to issue to the registrar or registry as soon as the 'land rush' period started," Lothian said. "At worst, some of the service providers just took people's money and offered no service whatsoever. In between were the providers who took people's money, either didn't submit names to the registry or made a half-hearted attempt to do so and then reported failure and kept the pre-registration fee as an 'administrative charge.'"
What is unusual about the .eu launch, says Lothian, is that it is backed by formal legislation. As of now, only the registry has been appointed. And it hasn't yet finalized its contract with the EU Commission. There has been no registrar accreditation process introduced, no registration or other application fees set, and no official right-holder verifiers have been appointed.
"Would you give up your money to a third party in these circumstances?" Lothian asked. "Personally I have grave doubts that any of the so-called pre-registration services currently on offer are worth pursuing. You might as well put your own estimate of the likely registration fees under your mattress and promise yourself that you'll submit the applications when the time is right. At least that way the cash remains under your control."
Lothian suggests that companies should not feel obliged to make pre-registrations. He also recommends that they take time and seek professional help to consider existing and future domain portfolios and an overall policy, decide whether or not applications will be suitable for sunrise or land rush periods and pull together trademark or other rights information so it is ready to submit it to an official verification agent when the time is right.
EURid Project Manager Fay Howard said the .eu registry had received roughly 100 email complaints, and between 10 and 15 phone calls regarding the .eu pre-registration services.
"A number of domain name registrars are offering pre-registration, but in most cases, they do not take money in advance and we receive hardly any complaints about them," said Howard, adding that complaints peaked last fall when the company won its .eu registry position. Her company notified the European Commission regarding complaints about the registereu.com site, in particular.
"We understand that police in the UK are looking into the matter," Howard explained.
Noting that EURid has yet to conclude negotiations with the Commission and cannot currently accredit registrars, Howard said that before officially opening on a first-come-first-serve basis, the registry would offer a four-month sunrise period to allow those with rights to register first.
"We will give at least two months to allow those with rights to a name to register," Howard said. "We will give at least two months notice of the sunrise period and announce the rules and procedures as widely as possible, particularly to the intellectual property community."
