4 ms·

Ask HN: What's the best way to register a foreign domain name?

15 points by jayro 17y ago

Specifically, I'd like to register a domain name ending in .er (Eritrea). Does anyone know of a reliable and reasonably priced registrar that can facilitate this?

yish 17y ago
First, a really good site to find available domain names is http://domai.nr/ http://domai.nr/ They link to a bunch of registrars, but I do have the same question, which of those registrars are a reputable.
jmonegro 17y ago
Usually, though not always, domain.tld or register.tld lead to a registration agency.
- quilby 17y ago
  Also, try en.wikipedia.com/wiki/tld to find the official registrars site.
jusob 17y ago
101domain has a lot of TLDs: http://www.101domain.com/ http://www.101domain.com/ (I've never bought a domain from them)
- quilby 17y ago
  Do not buy from these guys or any other similar sites if you can find a person that speaks the language of the country you want to buy a domain from. For example they sell a .co.il for 65 dollars / year while you can easily find an Israeli registrar that sells for 18 dollars / year if you speak Hebrew. I also saw .co.il s selling for $200 + a couple of weeks ago on a similar site.
  - callmeed 17y ago
    Yeah, I bought an .ly domain recently ... it was $199 on 101domain.com but available from the Libyan Spider network for $75 (and they're fairly reputable).
asb 17y ago
If you're hoping for a great domain hack, I think you're out of luck. I don't think you can register at the second level, so you'd have to register a .com.er or similar. The Wikipedia article seems to indicate it's not a well-supported TLD at all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.er http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.er Here's the official registry: http://www.tse.com.er/aboutus.htm http://www.tse.com.er/aboutus.htm They are your best (probably only) contact. It might also be worth searching namepros.com/dnforum.com to see if anyone there has had experiences with the TLD.
adamhowell 17y ago
Be careful w/ foreign domains. I bought rankin.gs (South Georgia) a couple years ago from Godaddy, developed and launched a small side project for it, and a couple of months in the .gs registry went down indefinitely.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
auston 17y ago
domai.nr
shaderlab 17y ago
Searches for .er are our most popular viewed results. Unfortunately, Eritrea’s TLD management is in about as solid a state as the state itself—which is to say, not very. We’ve no anecdotal evidence of anyone managing to register an Eritrean domain name. Funny thing though—the technical contact for the TLD is right here in SF. Randy http://nb.io http://nb.io - http://domai.nr http://domai.nr

15 points by jayro 17y ago

Specifically, I'd like to register a domain name ending in .er (Eritrea). Does anyone know of a reliable and reasonably priced registrar that can facilitate this?

yish 17y ago

First, a really good site to find available domain names is http://domai.nr/ http://domai.nr/ They link to a bunch of registrars, but I do have the same question, which of those registrars are a reputable.

jmonegro 17y ago

Usually, though not always, domain.tld or register.tld lead to a registration agency.

quilby 17y ago
Also, try en.wikipedia.com/wiki/tld to find the official registrars site.

jusob 17y ago

101domain has a lot of TLDs: http://www.101domain.com/ http://www.101domain.com/ (I've never bought a domain from them)

quilby 17y ago
Do not buy from these guys or any other similar sites if you can find a person that speaks the language of the country you want to buy a domain from. For example they sell a .co.il for 65 dollars / year while you can easily find an Israeli registrar that sells for 18 dollars / year if you speak Hebrew. I also saw .co.il s selling for $200 + a couple of weeks ago on a similar site.
- callmeed 17y ago
  Yeah, I bought an .ly domain recently ... it was $199 on 101domain.com but available from the Libyan Spider network for $75 (and they're fairly reputable).

asb 17y ago

If you're hoping for a great domain hack, I think you're out of luck. I don't think you can register at the second level, so you'd have to register a .com.er or similar. The Wikipedia article seems to indicate it's not a well-supported TLD at all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.er http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.er Here's the official registry: http://www.tse.com.er/aboutus.htm http://www.tse.com.er/aboutus.htm They are your best (probably only) contact. It might also be worth searching namepros.com/dnforum.com to see if anyone there has had experiences with the TLD.

adamhowell 17y ago

Be careful w/ foreign domains. I bought rankin.gs (South Georgia) a couple years ago from Godaddy, developed and launched a small side project for it, and a couple of months in the .gs registry went down indefinitely.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

auston 17y ago

domai.nr

shaderlab 17y ago

Searches for .er are our most popular viewed results. Unfortunately, Eritrea’s TLD management is in about as solid a state as the state itself—which is to say, not very. We’ve no anecdotal evidence of anyone managing to register an Eritrean domain name. Funny thing though—the technical contact for the TLD is right here in SF. Randy http://nb.io http://nb.io - http://domai.nr http://domai.nr