[freelancr]

Right I'm in the process of researching either becoming a reseller to an existing registrar, or becoming a registrar, so I can sell domain names.

Nominet (.uk domain name authority)
£400 Membership Application Fee
£100 Per Year
£5 Per Domain Regisration

Well 123-reg seem to be making about £1 on each registration, so to compete with them I would have to sell £100 domains a year to cover the Annual Fee, and hopefully over time pay off the Membership Application. There is no mention of charges for becoming a Registrar with them and getting a Tag, but I suspect there will be another charge.

ICANN (.com/.net domain name authority - I think?)
$2500 Application Fee.... right fuck reading any more....

TuCows (OpenSRS, register nearly all domains, .uk are more expensive than £5)
$95 Application Fee, though it will cost us $33 every time we want to send them money. (HSBC will charge us $18 to send it, and TuCows charge $15 to process it). So thats a no go too, as any money we make will all go on bank charges. They don't have a payment gateway, twats, and I can't think of a free way of sending them money.

So then, whats the best way of doing this? As my new venture looks to be dead in the water before we have begun. I don't want to be an affiliate, or a reseller that adds people to another registrars service, as we wont get the renewal fee, and will be difficult to provide competitive prices.

It's all looking pretty ridiculous, and the companies in-charge of domain names have kinda got people over a barrel, seems the only profitable domain name resellers are ones who have been operating for a long time already.

[RaelRode]

If you really want to do this, nominet is the best bet. Even though you'd have to sell at least 100 domains each year. You don't have to compete with 123-reg, they sell thousands upon thousands of domains each year.

As long as your priced well, i.e. not seeling a domain for 30 quid +, then you'd be in business. Only thing is getting a large user base, unless you already have one interested in buying domains.

[freelancr]

Originally Posted by RaelRode

If you really want to do this, nominet is the best bet. Even though you'd have to sell at least 100 domains each year. You don't have to compete with 123-reg, they sell thousands upon thousands of domains each year.

As long as your priced well, i.e. not seeling a domain for 30 quid +, then you'd be in business. Only thing is getting a large user base, unless you already have one interested in buying domains.

Yeah I am seriously considering becoming a Registrar for .uk domain names, and signing up to Nominet, as no one will be cheaper than dealing direct. The startup fee is quite big, but can be made profitable eventually.

But I am still stuck on how to sell all the other TLD domains. ICAAN take the piss, theres no way on earth I can make a $2500 investment profitable, and unless I can find a bank that will allow us to send money to TuCows for free (or a more realistic fee that isn't $33 per transaction) then I will have to find another reseller.

123-Reg use Nominet for .uk domains, and TuCows for all the others, but because they sell so many domains I am guessing they aren't too bothered about paying bank charges.

[seen.to]

If you really want to do this, and the competition is rife, the cheapest way is probably setting up as a reseller for godaddy. Read more here.