Buying a Domain Name

[WickedLester]

Has anybody got any experience of buying a .co.uk domain name through a broker?

For example the legalities, how you can guarantee you don't get ripped off by sending 1,000 Bitcoin to Lagos never to hear about the whole arrangement.

Is it so difficult or fraught with risk? I'm asking because I am thinking of trying to buy a domain name for myself.

[the0ni0nking]

When I ran my own business, I simply went and bought something COTS from 123reg it was at the time.

This got me some emails that ended in @0ni0nking.co.uk etc as well as a website that was the equivalent of www.0nionking.co.uk

As to whether that was due to some simple re-direct or a great deal more stuff sat underneath it, I don't know but it worked for my purposes.

If you don't need email and simply web hosting, I suspect it's remarkably cheap - I can't remember what I was paying (it's probably over a decade ago now) but it was in the 10s I think for website and email hosting together with a simple website design tool too.

[Infrasonic]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=best+ ... -serp#ip=1

What do you want to do with the domain?

Set up a business with a website, business email addresses etc.?

If so then go with one of the bigger domain hosting companies that will be able to do all of the website/email hosting for you in one place with £ add on packages like MS365/Google Workspaces linked to your domain if needed, without you having to become a networking expert on configuring DNS/TXT.

If you have no technical knowledge be aware that in taking on your own domain without any (or limited) support in place either at your domain host or via third party providers/consultants you are going to be facing a very steep learning curve.

We've seen a few bruised domain casualties here over the years...

[didds]

When I ran my own business, I simply went and bought something COTS from 123reg it was at the time.



If you don't need email and simply web hosting, I suspect it's remarkably cheap...

And if you do need email you can just (at least with 123reg, though id imagine others have similar)

* create a eg gmail email account eg the0ni0nking@gmail.com
* set an email forwarder to the gmail account eg bert@the0ni0nking.co.uk ==> the0ni0nking@gmail.com
* set the0ni0nking@gmail.com config to masquerade emails sent from that gmail account to appear to come from, and to reply to, bert@the0ni0nking.co.uk

* if one uses an email clint, configure that to retrieve mail from the0ni0nking@gmail.com and set reply to etc config to be bert@the0ni0nking.co.uk
* if one uses the gamil web browser interface... use as is (see the third point above)

Its what I do for our family domain.

[Lanark]

I haven't bought domains through a broker, but I did sell one once.

The important thing is to use an escrow service, I used Escrow.com
Escrow.com do not accept bitcoin and I doubt if any legitimate alternatives do either.

if the seller doesnt want to use escrow, then run away.

[Infrasonic]

If buying an existing/active domain check the validity here...https://lookup.icann.org/en/lookup

[mc2fool]

And if you do need email you can just (at least with 123reg, though id imagine others have similar)

* create a eg gmail email account eg the0ni0nking@gmail.com
* set an email forwarder to the gmail account eg bert@the0ni0nking.co.uk ==> the0ni0nking@gmail.com
* set the0ni0nking@gmail.com config to masquerade emails sent from that gmail account to appear to come from, and to reply to, bert@the0ni0nking.co.uk

* if one uses an email clint, configure that to retrieve mail from the0ni0nking@gmail.com and set reply to etc config to be bert@the0ni0nking.co.uk
* if one uses the gamil web browser interface... use as is (see the third point above)

Its what I do for our family domain.

It's a long time since I used 123Reg. Do they now have a wizard to automatically set up SPF, DKIM & DMARC for your domain to be used as you describe, so that receivers won't just dump your messages into spam folders, or do you have to do the DNS setup for those yourself?

If that's gobbledygook then if you send an email from bert@the0ni0nking.co.uk to ping@tools.mxtoolbox.com does the email you'll get back have all green ticks in the summary in the message and in the page you'll get when you click on "View your full deliverability report"?

[didds]

It's a long time since I used 123Reg. Do they now have a wizard to automatically set up SPF, DKIM & DMARC for your domain to be used as you describe, so that receivers won't just dump your messages into spam folders, or do you have to do the DNS setup for those yourself?

thats a good question!

TBH I don't know a definitive answer to that (as our emails arent anything but personal use etc) but if there isnt anything automagical, then the dns interface at 123reg is very simple and it should be easy enough to set your own up.

I only sued 123reg as an example cos thats what I/we use - id imagine other domain providers have similar offerings etc .


UPDATE: I have now found this wrt 123reg
https://www.123-reg.co.uk/support/serve ... ing-email/
cheers

didds

[Infrasonic]

It's a long time since I used 123Reg. Do they now have a wizard to automatically set up SPF, DKIM & DMARC for your domain to be used as you describe, so that receivers won't just dump your messages into spam folders, or do you have to do the DNS setup for those yourself?

thats a good question!

TBH I don't know a definitive answer to that (as our emails arent anything but personal use etc) but if there isnt anything automagical, then the dns interface at 123reg is very simple and it should be easy enough to set your own up.

I only sued 123reg as an example cos thats what I/we use - id imagine other domain providers have similar offerings etc .


UPDATE: I have now found this wrt 123reg
https://www.123-reg.co.uk/support/serve ... ing-email/
cheers

didds

That link doesn't solve the issue that mc2fool is on about. I've customised my domain email DNS/TXT to allow Gmail/Outlook.com SMTP sending and it still drops a bit on deliverability scores across all the various testing sites compared to my domain hosts native sent email setup (Fasthosts).

The only way you can really effectively use Gmail or MS Outlook/exchange with domain email these days is if you have the email portion hosted with them so that all the DNS ducks align.

123Reg offer MS365 as an add on domain package (via MS' domain host GoDaddy) that should solve all the DNS issues if it's being done correctly.
Google sold their domain hosting to Squarespace last year and I couldn't see any offering for Google Workspaces as an add on package on 123Reg.

For Gmail there is third party Gmailify as a $6.99 per annum option to run free Gmail accounts with domains - lengthy explainer here...https://www.gmailify.com/docs

Deliverability could still potentially be an issue as they explain in their documentation here...https://www.gmailify.com/docs#t2-16

The major email companies are tightening up on spammer issues this year for both received and sent email, aliasing is one of the main routes for spammers so expect inbox deliverability scores to go down if you use the free workarounds for sending domain email from anyone but the designated email host.

The way it works with the third party bulk email companies like Sendrgid etc. is they generally have nominated subdomains to work from with their own DNS/TXT settings (partially to get around the SPF lookup limits) and they will rotate their SMTP IP addresses to keep off 'ze lists' (DNSBL et al).

They also have the size and clout to deal with MS/Google directly about any deliverability issues, smaller outfits don't - as many have blogged about like Tutanota with their MS blanket SMTP IP blocks that took a tech media coverage blitz to eventually get resolved...