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Hendrik Coetzee
Domain name registration costs
Domain name registration costs depend on the costs levied by
the central domain authority PLUS the costs of an ISP to
support and provide infrastructure for the domain name.
Domain names are registered with central domain name
authorities. For instance, a .co.za domain name is
registered with Uniforum, while a .com domain name is
registered with, for instance, Dotster.
The domain authorities are responsible for keeping ownership
records for the domains registered with them (who-owns-what)
as well as to provide the infrastructure necessary to ensure
people can find (view web page or send email) your domain
name on the internet.
(If you need more info on what domain names are an how they
work, please see: "What is
in a domain name")
Cozahost domain name registration costs
Before we tell you more about how costs are calculated and
why they vary so widely between ISPs, here are the Cozahost
costs:
Domain name registration with Cozahost includes the
following bonus benefits:
Same price for .co.za and .com domain names
A web home page for your domain which you can edit any time
Optional URL forwarding (forward your home page to another web page)
Real time statistics on visitors to your home page.
Upload and publish your company logo, graphic or product specials.
Convert to full hosting at any time, without additional registration
costs.
Publish your contact information on the internet.
Move your domain to another service provider at any time, at no cost.
Cozahost domain name registration is R 249.00 for initial registration
and the setup of your home page.
Annual renewal is R 175.00 per year
after the first year, ie starting in 2009.
These prices exclude VAT for South African residents, because VAT
registered business do not pay VAT (they only collect and pay over to the
tax man), all other costs are included however - ie the domain authority
registrar fee, bandwidth costs, support, etc.
What do we mean by domain name "infrastructure"?
For instance, your cell phone contains and address book with
names of contacts and friends. You can dial one of
your phone book entries by selecting the name. The
telephone will then "translate" the name into a phone number
and dial...The telephone network itself does not know about
your friend's name - nor how to contact her - hence your
phone must "translate" the name into a telephone number that
can be understood by the telephone network.
Domain names work on the same principle. Domain names
are translated into IP numbers (the internet equivalent of
telephone numbers) by DNS servers (the internet equivalent
for a phone book).
Domain registrars maintain these DNS servers and charge a
yearly fee for the service they provide.
After registration, domain names must be renewed yearly. This is
necessary to ensure that domain names that are no longer in use by the
original registrant becomes available for re-registration, and to cover the
costs of keeping the domain name online.
The role of the ISP
A domain name by itself does not entitle you to a web page, email or anything
else. It's almost like registering a company name - it does not buy office
equipment, office space, or anything else.
Registering your company name simply allows to to trade with a specific name
- just as registering a domain name by and of itself does not automatically give
you an online presence.
It is here that the ISP of your choice should provide a service by making
your domain name "alive", ie provide you with a web page and/or email addresses
for the domain name.
Your ISP will then charge a fee to:
Register the domain name on your behalf with the relevant domain authority
Provide one or more options to make your domain "alive"
Depending on the costs levied by the central domain authority, and the costs
incurred by the ISP to make the domain "alive", your ISP will charge you a fee
for initial registration and for annual renewal. (The Cozahost costs are listed
a little later on this page)
Prices are not standard
The central domain name authorities charge a fixed and constant price for
domain name registration. This means that there is a flat fee payable for
.co.za domain registrations, and a flat fee for .com domain name registrations,
and so on.
ISPs provide additional services for your domain name (as explained above)
and will add an additional charge on top of the basic domain registration cost.
Depending on the level of the additional services, the profit margin of
the ISP and their pricing strategy, domain registration prices can vary greatly.
You are the best judge of when you are getting a fair deal, but consider the
following:
No business can give it's
product away for free and stay in business. Beware the "free" domain
name. Once you start using your domain name it is worth a thousand
times more than it's registration costs (and ISPs know this) - so read the
fine print!
Don't allow yourself to be
locked in - you must own your domain name 100% and be able to move it to
another ISP with complete freedom as and when you choose
Make sure you use a reputable
ISP - try to contact them before you buy to test their support. If you
have to wait days for answers before they get your business, imagine how long you are going to wait after they have your business.
The old saying: "Don't judge a book by it's cover", applies to price vs.
value too. Ask the lady who had her hair done by the cheapest stylist she
could find. ;-)
(Domain name registrations are normally tax deductible if you use it
for business purposes. We will send you a tax invoice as soon as
your domain name is registered and your home page is online.)
