The process and cost to register your own custom TLD?

[dothuglife]

Hi, I was searching for info on this topic. I came across an old thread from a few yrs ago discussing the fact that ICAAN was going to vote on it. Noticed a lot of people in the know here, so rather than waste a few more hours scouring the hundreds of thousands of results that come up with search strings such as "register your own TLD", etc...

Figured I'd pose the question here...

Can someone familiar with the process please explain the costs and steps needed to be taken to register your own TLD?

Or refer me to a company that can handle the logistics for me?

Also, what ballpark expense can I expect?

Thanks!

 

[Domagon]

$200,000 USD is the ballpark number I've seen.

PLUS yearly fees, and various technical requirements that must be met to maintain the TLD.

So in short, you're going to likely need several hundred thousand dollars to get and maintain a TLD.

Due to financial and political pressures, TLDs are likely going to be very difficult and expensive to register; some likely won't be accepted (ie. .xxx, .kids, .web) due to challenges by others / political pressures.

Ron

 

[SiberForum]

I think that people first of all should think over this to understand if they need such TLD variety.

 

[Gerrit]

Don't waste your time on that unless you got enough money to spend for the next 200 years. Also, there's so many TLDs already that ICANN is getting very careful when approving a new one. Some were backed very seriously and still the proposals were rejected. Also, is it worth the investment? People were seriously believing .name would be a success for example, but it turned out ICANN could have just saved the time and effords invested in that one. Except for a few notable exceptions, people are getting too confused with all the new obscure extentions and hence most new extentions remain obscure and not commonly used (think of how many .travel or .museum sites you ever saw promoted in advertisements ; I saw exactly 2 commercials using .travel and not a single one using .name or .museum)

 

[mrjohn]

Also bear in mind you will have to pass a test proving you know how to deploy and maintain the server technology required to maintain a TLD.

It's not a minor task.

 

[tricolorro]

Can someone familiar with the process please explain the costs and steps needed to be taken to register your own TLD?

Or refer me to a company that can handle the logistics for me?

Also, what ballpark expense can I expect?

Thanks!

what ballpark expense can I expect?

You should know that some serious $ is required up front for just submitting an "Expression Of Interest" which is a prelude to an actual application.

There is no guarantee your desired new TLD will even be approved.

And there may not be a refund if it's not. (see below)

Andrew Allemann of DomainNameWire.com has covered this topic a lot.

You can use the search box there for "new TLD" and "new Top Level Domains".

Here's one link:
Domain Name Wire » News » Expressions of Interest for New TLDs Still a Long Wait - The Domain Industry's News Source

Quote: "the draft plan suggests a price tag of $55,000 to submit an Expression of Interest. This is an upfront payment for the actual application, although refunds will only be given if the actual launch date of reviewing applications is delayed beyond a certain point."
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refer me to a company that can handle the logistics for me

Antony Van Couvering of Minds + Machines has started a consultancy helping interested parties with the entire process of applying for and then managing an approved new TLD.

That info can be found here:
New Top-Level Domain (TLD) Consultants » Names@Work

He also has a New TLD resource page here:
ICANN New TLD Resources » Names@Work

The first resource listed is:
ICANN’s Guide to Applying for a new TLD which is a 97 pages, 1.9MB PDF guide you can download.