.UK Domains - Big Registry Change Effective May 1, 2012

Nominet, the official registry for .UK, recently announced that the current fixed 2-year registration period for .UK Domain names will change on May 1, 2012 to a flexible registration term between 1 - 10 years.  The new multi-year registration periods will offer greater choice for registrants, who can now secure their domain for longer periods and thus elminate the renewal worries of the past.

.UK Pricing (1 Year Registrations/ 1 Year Renewals):

• Reseller:  8.69* (net: 7.30) GBP per Domain/Year
• Premium: 7.62* (net: 6.40) GBP per Domain/Year
• Platinum: 5.95* (net: 5.00) GBP per Domain/Year

Though one-year flexible registrations will soon be possible, the standard two year 2-year registrations/renewals periods are actually cheaper.  Resellers should promote the standard 2-year registration as the lower cost option.

HEXONET will continue to offer 2 Year Registrations and Renewals as Default, as this is the cheaper solution.  Should you wish to register and renew for smaller periods, then this must be changed individually.

.CN Domains - Important Changes and Information

CNNIC has slightly loosened their restrictions policies for foregin entities registering .CN domains.  Those interested in registering .CN domains should carefully read and follow the steps below:

Step 1: Request a .CN domain via the Control Panel or API
Step 2: Prepare the following documents:

• Copy of the Business License of Registrant
• Identification card from the Admin Contact applying for the domain name. (e.g.: Passport, Driver License, Identification card)
• A signed copy of the Letter of Commitment
• A screenshot of the online database used to verify the Business Name of the Applicant.
• The registration details need to match exactly the supporting documentation. (Registrant name has to be identical to the Business License)

Step 3: Compress (ZIP) all the documents and email them to [email protected] for validation.
Step 4: Documents are validated by the registrar before being forwarded to CNNIC for final validation. Successful validation by the registry will result in a CREATE::SUCCESSFUL event (PLEASE NOTE: Validations that fail will NOT BE PROVIDED A REFUND).

.NAME Domains - Accepting Numbers and Hyphens starting April 2, 2012

We were just informed by VeriSign, that ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has approved VeriSign's registry service request to remove pure numbers and combinations of numbers and hyphens from the list of second-level reserved names.

As a result, Verisign will be making updates to the .NAME naming space that will enable the following registration:

• Add second level domain names with pure numbers and/or combinations of numbers and hyphens
• Add domain names with pure numbers and/or combinations of numbers and hyphens  at the second level of a third level domain name;
• Add standard and premium Defensive Registrations with pure numbers and/or combinations of numbers and hyphens; and
• Add Email Forwarding registrations with pure numbers and/or combinations of numbers and hyphens.

These changes will be made available on Monday April 2, 2012.

REMINDER: .ORG Price Increase - July 1, 2012

PIR - Public Interest Registry - announced that they will also be increasing the annual prices for .ORG domains starting July 1, 2012.

• .ORG Prices: increasing by 0.49 USD per Domain/Year.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A REGISTRY (PIR) PRICE INCREASE ONLY.  HEXONET will not be adding additional margin on top of this price increase.

* The GROSS price includes Germany's 19% VAT; many resellers pay the lower NET price without VAT.

.ORG.TW Domains - No longer Available  - April 1, 2012

We regret to inform you that of April 1, 2012 due to a policy change at the registry level, HEXONET will no longer be supporting .ORG.TW Domains.