Domain Name Registration...

I am a bit confused on this process.
Currently I have the Crazy Domain Insane Package for a year. I already have my registered domain that came free with the package - joshellington.com. I want to host ******.com, which has not been registered anywhere yet. I can register it elsewhere for as low as $9, but when reading through the Knowledge Base, I read something that said with all transferred domain names you had to purchase a $14.95 year extension. This is where I am a bit confused.
Would it just be easier to register through my Dreamhost account?
Go with the cheaper outside registrar?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Josh

Edited by joshellington on 02/08/05 07:46 PM (server time).

> I want to host my-great-example.com, which has not been registered anywhere yet.

That's asking for somebody to grab it while you hesitate. :-)

> Would it just be easier to register through my Dreamhost account?

Slightly easier.

> Go with the cheaper outside registrar?

Depends. What's more important to you - $6 per year or the slight bit easier?
How do you feel about having all eggs in one basket?
Is the cheaper registrar good/reliable?
Will they stay in business with the lower price or cause you a hassle when they go under?
Will you be OK with having another registrar account, password, etc.?
Will DH cooperate if you decide to move to a different hosting company? (I think so, but one never knows for sure)

Regards,

BobS

Thanks for the quick reply. And yah, I do see that it might be less of a hassle by just going through Dreamhost.

But what I was really curious about is in this article - https://panel.dreamhost.com/kbase/index.cgi?area=2768 - it states that -

"By ICANN decree, every time you transfer a registration to a new registrar, you need to renew the domain for exactly one more year. Even if you've got four years left, after the transfer you'll have five!

We charge $14.95/year for domain registration, so the cost to transfer a domain to us is $14.95, which includes the year renewal..."

So, if I did register the domain through another company, I would have to extend it another year with Dreamhost??

Thanks.
Josh

> So, if I did register the domain through another company, I would have to extend it another year with Dreamhost??

Not just to have DH host the site. You could leave the registration with the other registrar and have them point the domain to DH's name servers; DH does not charge extra.

The DH extension is if you some day transfer registration (not hosting) to DH some time after registering (not hosting) with another registrar co.

Clear as mud?

BobS

Yes, yes. Thanks very much for everything. I think I'll just go with purchasing the domain through Dreamhost. It'll be easiest, and its only $6 difference.

Thanks again!
Josh

I have domains registered with other registrars, and have no problem hosting them on Dreamhost. I just have to set the DNS server info to the appropriate values for DH.

-- Dan