If the Domain seller goes broke over night?

[malasorte]

Hello,

I've searched the forum but I can't seem to find the answer to this question. I'm about to buy a domain name. I understand that I can modify the host to witch it is pointing using a control panel provided by the company from witch I bought my domain. But what happens If the company goes out of buisness and their site is no more? Can I still modify/renew my domain? How?

Thanks

[Webwork]

Depends.

If it's a domain reseller account you ought to be able to manage the domain via the parent company's website (once the issues of the company going out of business are resolved).

If it was an accredited registrar then I would suggest you contact ICANN for guidance absent public information regarding another company taking over the accounts of the defunct company.

[gpmgroup]

If there are problems later it helps if your email address is the one in the Domain Admin Email Field in the WHOIS, plus if the your domain is from an EPP registry (.info .biz, .org) it helps to know the authcode.

[larryhatch]

I avoid dodgy 'wannabe' domain registrars like the Bubonic Plague. -Larry

[davezan]

First, you can only get a domain name thru: a) an ICANN-accredited registrar, or b) a reseller
for a registrar. Depending on whom you got it from, here's what can possibly happen:

a) If obtained thru a registrar that eventually went bankrupt, one of ICANN's policies dictate
that another registrar will take over the defunct one and the domains they managed. It's like
a bank taking over another where people might not know what happened.

There was a case of one registrar forced into court-ordered bankruptcy proceedings by its
creditors in Dallas. The court-ordered receiver took control and had another registrar take
over management of the names.

In an appearingly misplaced sense of revenge, the defunct registrar sued the "gaining" one for
loss of revenue, etc. But the other registrar won since they acted in good faith under the
court-ordered receiver's direction.

So far I've not found anyone complaining of losing his/her domain thru that defunct registrar.
I'll update this if I ever find one.

b) If obtained thru a reseller that went bankrupt, you should contact its partner registrar. The
registrar should have a mechanism in place to transfer the domain to either another reseller or
to itself and let you manage it via its own website.

[Digital Freelancer]

With "reseller" accounts the domains revert back to the parent operation. For example if "SampleDomains.com" goes broke and they are a reseller for GoDaddy or whoever then GoDaddy or whatever parent outfit takes over admistration of the reseller account.