.UK domain names were introduced by the UK Registry, Nominet in June 2014 & they are shorter, sharper domain name extension for UK businesses, organizations or individuals. Nominet believe that the shorter extension (as opposed to .co.uk) will give more focus to the actual domain name.
If you want to register a .uk domain name then you first need to use the Nominet Rights Lookup Tool to check that you have the right to purchase it. The reason you need to do this is because if you do not own the .co.uk, .org.uk or one of the other UK extension equivalents, then you will not be eligible to register the .uk. Once you have established that you have the rights to the .uk domain name then you can just purchase your domain name as normal.
The UK Registry, Nominet has decided to protect the ownership rights of .uk domain names so that they can be purchased in the first instance by the owner of the equivalent .co.uk, .org.uk etc. domain name. In effect they are reserving them to make sure that people can claim their domains. The reservation has been put in place until 10 June 2019. You can find out more about the process on the Nominet website.
.UK domains are shorter & easier to remember than .co.uk. The aim is to make sure that the focus is on the domain name & the brand rather than on the domain’s extension.
You can register your .uk domain name for between 1 year and 10 years into the future.
There is no certificate - it is all done electronically. You can check that you are listed as the owner on the Whois search on the Nominet website.
Unfortunately not. A .uk domain name can be registered for up to 10 years into the future. For example, if you registered your .uk domain name for 10 years you would need to wait for 1 year before you can add another year to the registration period & then another year to add the next year. You just need to count 10 years into the future from today & your domain can not be registered past that date.
Before your .uk domain name expires you will receive several domain renewal reminders by email. These are sent by our automated domain registration & billing system to the email address in our system. Your renewal reminders will be sent 90 days, 60 days, 30 days, 10 days, 5 days before expiry & also on the expiry date. The renewal email has a link to the Pickaweb Customer Area & you can login & renew your domain name. Detailed instructions for renewing .uk domain names can be found here.
Yes, .uk domains can be set to auto-renew. This is done via your Pickaweb Client Login. We will use the card details on record & as long as they are up to date then your domain will be renewed automatically.
You have up to 30 days to renew your .uk domain after expiry. You just need to login to your Pickaweb Client Area to do this. However, if you are unable to renew your domain just contact our support team & we will check everything & assist you to renew it.
Nominet is the UK Registry & they administer all .uk domain names. Nominet usually leaves all general day to day enquiries regarding .uk domain names to accredited registrars, such as Pickaweb. Normally you would only need to contact them if you need to lodge a domain name ownership dispute (see below).
An IPS Tag just a way to recognise which Nominet accredited domain registrar is responsible for administering a .uk domain name. All domains issued by Nominet must have an IPS Tag & the IPS Tag identifies the company that administers the domain & provides a login to manage it.
Our IPS Tag is PICKAWEB (all in capital letters).
.uk domain name transfers are free. Detailed instructions for transferring .uk domains can be found here
Remember that .uk domains can be owned by individuals or companies. If the domain is registered to a company then that means that the company ownership determines who owns it, but legally speaking it is the company’s property. For this reason it is really important to make sure you set this when registering the domain to avoid issues in the future for example, if a member of staff registers the domain in their name. Nominet provides a Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) though if ownership can not be established & agreed.
You can check who owns a .uk domain name using the WHOIS search on the Nominet website.
If you have registered your .uk domain name on a personal basis, rather than for business use then you can register your .uk domain name on a personal basis. By doing this you are now permitted to hide your contract details from the WHOIS when someone runs a search. You can set this up when registering your domain. If you have already registered your domain & you now wish to make the details private, just contact s & we will make the changes for you. Please note that should you initially register your domain name as being for personal use & you use the whois privacy but you then subsequently use the domain for business purposes then you should update Nominet about this change. This will ensure that there are no issues in future with Nominet regarding whois privacy.
You can update your contact details via the Pickaweb Client Area
We have prepared some info to show you how to update Nameservers.
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