FAQ. What you ought to know about our business and others.
 

Questions

  1. How much does each registration cost?
  2. Are there any additional charges beyond the $14 per year, per registration fee?
  3. How can this be so affordable?
  4. What Top Level Domain's can be registered through TLD Vixa.com ?
  5. Is there any limit to how many years can be pre-paid in advance for a registration?
  6. Who is responsible for maintaining the databases?
  7. How does OpenSRS deal with domain hijacking and other related security issues?
  8. Will modifications and transfers be allowed through Vixa.com?
  9. What is the dispute policy? 
  10. What method of payment will be accepted?
  11. If I change my registrar to Vixa.com will I lose the time I have paid for with another registrar?
  12. Do I have to host my domain with Vixa.com?
  13. What is Free Parking?
  14. I have seen places where they offer free registration ?

Answers

    1.    How much does each registration cost?
    Prices are currently $14 US per registration per year. This is the registration fee being paid to the Dept of Commerce (US). We have prepaid "rights" like a wholeseller from them.

    2. Are there any additional charges beyond the $14 per year, per registration fee?

    The $14 fee is the only one.

    3.How can this be so affordable?
    With the opening of domain registrations to many companies, and ICANN accrediting multiple registrars, there is greater competition for the business of registering and renewing your domain.  More competition results in pressure to provide the best services at the lowest possible prices.  You benefit from this competitioin by being able to register your domain at reduced fees.   Current policies put into place by ICANN and agreed to by Network Solutions have opened up domain name registration services to many companies.. Essentially, by partnering with OpenSRS and others, Vixa.com is able to offer these discounted domain registration services.     Vixa will source for the cheapest rights so to secure lower cost.

    4. What Top Level Domain's are offered ?
    The service only covers .com, .net and .org registrations.     In the near future, we will be offering domain names in non-english format like chinese Big 5.

    5. Is there any limit to how many years can be pre-paid in advance for a registration?
    You can register and renew domain names for terms of one to ten years.

    6. Who is responsible for maintaining the TLD databases?
    Network Solutions Registry is still responsible for maintaining the "A" Root server and the publication of the relevant zone files.     OpenSRS is responsible for maintaining the Whois service for all registrations made through Vixa.com.

    7. How does OpenSRS deal with domain hijacking and other related security issues?
    OpenSRS authenticates all transactions between the client and server, as well as between the registrant and the OpenSRS client. We feel that the processes in place to ensure that the verification of identities is in most ways superior to the vast majority of registrant identification and authentication procedures in place today.

    8. Will modifications and transfers be allowed ?
    Yes. The client software is designed to allow for complete transfers and modification of the domain record.

    9. What is the dispute policy?
    The ICANN Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy as found at     http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.html.

    10. What methods of payment will be accepted ?
    Please see our     pricing and payment information.

    11. If I change my registrar to Vixa.com will I lose the time I have paid for with another registrar?
    No, any time you have paid for already will be transferred.  That means that if you have one year and three months remaining on your current registration and transfer your domain to Vixa.com for registration purposes you will still have your one year and three months.  Should you choose to purchase renewals for two additional years then you would have three years and three months on your current registration.

    12. Do I have to host my domain with Vixa.com or have my web site designed by Vixa.com?
    No you are not required to use any other services. We also provide Free Parking, some sites will charge US 10 per year for this.

    13. What is Free Parking ?
    Free Parking refers to the two name servers for registration. In most cases, people will buy a domain name first before using it. However, to host your website, you will need your own name servers so traffic can be point to it. The current ruling is that at the time of registration, Internic requires this to be available hence we provide this service. You can always transfer it later to your permanent site. In another words, Free Parking is like a P.O.Box which is shared by many people until they really need it, then they should get their own P.O.BOX.

    14. I have seen places where they offer free registration ?

    In life, there is no such thing as Free. If any, there are certainly catches behind. For example, most of the Free registration means, the registrar like us is paying for the fee for you. In recent months, we have seen at least two big names providing this service and we are considering this. The catch is that while you may be the registrant of the domain name, you do not have control over the admin, tech, and billing. Without this "legal" control, the domain name is only in name yours by being the registrant. In return for having a free registration (costing US 14) you will need to agree to receive tonnes of advertising from sponsors or be an advertisement tool for them. And finally, most of these free services reserve the right to transfer the name to you (ie giving you proper admin, technical, billings right) either at a preset price or negotiable later. I have not read any terms that says they have to sell to you, period. Consider that most startup are risky and if they should go under, what would happen to your domain name ? As seen in recent cases, they will sell your privacy, your data and anything else that will bring a buck to their creditors. Now if you have spend 200 K building your site and find yourself losing your domain name just to save some US 14, is all this worth it ? My recommendation for vixa, is that we will only sponsors domain names for worthwhile purposes. In ending, this is quite a complex area so do be careful when you deal with such free things and read the terms and conditions (fine print) very carefully.

CK 5 Oct 2000