The IEDR, who run the .ie domain registry, have always offered organisations and people the option to register domain names directly with them ie. instead of using a registrar like us you could go to the IEDR directly. However, IEDR always charged a higher rate than companies such as ourselves and don’t offer any services with domains, so no email, no website hosting service and, in fact, not even a DNS service.
As of the end of next month, however, they will stop offering that service completely.
Unless you have domains registered directly with IEDR the rest of this blog post is probably not that relevant to you so feel free to ignore it!
So what’s happening?
IEDR will be transferring their portfolio of domain registrations to an accredited registrar that IEDR will choose. They haven’t chosen who that’s going to be yet, but it’ll be announced in March. They’ve also published some FAQs over on their site.
What do you need to do?
That depends. If you have IE domains directly with IEDR you can choose to do nothing and they’ll be switched to the new registrar.
Will switching domains from IEDR to another registrar impact services?
No. IEDR does not provide any services with the domain registration, so none of them will be impacted when your domains are moved away from them.
However, if you don’t take any action then you won’t have any choice about which registrar you’ll be dealing with.
So you can choose to switch registrar now.
How much time do you have?
You have until the end of March 2020.
How much will switching registrar cost?
That’ll depend on how you approach this:
If you wait until the end of March IEDR will switch you to the registrar THEY have chosen. Cost to you: zero. If you choose your own registrar before March then you get to choose who you are doing business with. Cost: whatever they charge for a .ie transfer BUT you’ll also get your domain renewed for a year.
Top Tip: (here comes the sales pitch!)
It’s more cost-effective in the long run to transfer the domain before the March deadline.
Typically we charge €24.99 for a .ie renewal. However, if you chose to transfer the domain to us before the deadline, it will cost less. We currently have a promotion to transfer your .ie domain to Blacknight for only €5.99, which as mentioned above gets you an extra year added onto your domain. It’s a win win!
Don’t forget, our sales team are always happy to help, via phone or live chat.