I'm wanting to change hosts, and registrar. I'm not happy with the service and I can get a lot more for less money.
I've got a fair few .co.uk's and I tried to change the IPSTAG on a single domain as a test. However I received the following email from my Account Manager:
Me:
I've been trying to change an IPSTAG on a domain and its asking my for £15? Why is this?
ISP:
There is a fee to change the IPSTAG on all .co.uk domains. This charge is set by Nominet the .co.uk NIC authority. If you have any questions regarding this please do not hesitate to contact me.
This seems like a total con to me, but I can't find anywhere where that backs that up, although the following link (totally unrelated to me or my ISP) implies it:
<snip>
Any experience guys and girls?
Similarly, I'd like to move all my .com's and .net's - should this incur a charge? It's funny that the ISP I want to move doesn't charge a 'transfer to' fee..
[edited by: Webwork at 8:32 pm (utc) on June 25, 2007]
[edit reason] Charter [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]
All your registrar needs to do is send a signed PGP email to Nominet's automaton with the new IPS tag (= 30 seconds work).
Nominet does not charge your registrar anything to process the change (which happens instantly and automatically).
However...
If you have a dodgy registrar who refuses to change your IPS Tag, or over charges just to fleece you before you leave, Nominet can change the IPS Tag for you - and Nominet will charge you direct £10 + Vat to cover their costs (I think used to be £15).
It is, of course, up to your registrar to charge you for anything they do for you. But, they are lying when they say Nominet is going to charge them £15 for each name. They won't pay a penny.
In short, speak to Nominet, because you can probably get all your .uk domains changed for a one-off £10 + vat charge.
PS. I am member of Nominet.
Make your customers aware of the charges associated with domain name registration, renewal and maintenance.
Check your existing contract and/or terms with your Registrar; if charges for releasing a tag aren't mentioned, then the Good Practice Terms may have been breached and you could potentially complain to Nominet [nic.uk] about the issue. Nominet take such things quite seriously and Registrars who break the rules run the risk of having their IPS tag suspended.
As a random aside, Registrars are not charged by Nominet for making changes to a domain name; that includes the release of a tag to another Registrar.
It is possible for a Registrant to go directly to Nominet in order to request the tag change, bypassing the Registrar in the process; Nominet make a £10 charge for this service. This scenario is most likely to occur when a Registrant is sick of the Registrar's inertia, incompetence or inexperience and just wants to get the transfer over and done.
As regards the moving of your .COM and .NET domains, this is a considerably different process and yes, you will have to part with some cash. The difference here is that in order to transfer to another Registrar, you will most likely have to pay your new Registrar to renew the respective domains at the same time. Essentially, the transfer is free, but must be done with at least a year's renewal at the same time; this extra time is simply added onto the domain's expiry date.
As for the .com's and .net's I'm thinking of using GoDaddy. I think they have a descent reputation and seem cheap. Shame they can't handle .co.uk's really. 123-reg will do for those..
