SMOTI Enterprises Inc - Domain Registrar Terms SMOTI Enterprises Inc



Domain Registrar Terms

Information on the KMITCHELL Nominet tag

Some time ago Nominet, (after another of its pseudo-"consultations" on policy) changed the classification of its registrars into three categories: self-managed tags, channel partners, and accredited channel partners. I'm a registrar in a personal capacity under the tag name KMITCHELL, and have been for over 15 years. In essence I only register domain names for my personal use, personal use by my family members, and for entities of which I am an Officer, Director and/or co-owner.

There are too many of them for a self-managed tag, so I need to be a channel partner. Easy enough? You would have thought so. But apparently not: Nominet's new system means I have to put lots of exciting information about what the deal is with my "customers" on this web site. The text below is unlikely to be of interest to anyone but Nominet's seat-squeaking box-tickers, but here goes anyway, enjoy..

Your contract with me

If you want to register or renew domain names with me, this will proceed strictly under the terms of the following contract:

  1. In this contract "You" means the registrant of the domain names, and "I" or "Me" means Keith Mitchell, trading as SMOTI Enterprises Inc.
  2. "Emailing me" means sending an email to my @smoti.org email address detailed here
  3. "Abuse email" means email concerning potential abuse coming from my registrants, rather than being an opportunity to send me abusive email; that happens anyway. This should go to abuse@ the contact domain above.
  4. "Telephone me" means ring me on one of the numbers here. I travel a lot, please leave comprehensible voicemail if I don't answer in person.
  5. "Write to me" means send a letter to SMOTI Enterprises Inc, c/o 325 S College Avenue, Suite 101#5, Indianapolis, IN 46203, USA
  6. "Nominet's Ts & Cs" means Nominet's terms and conditions here.
  7. I do not offer domain name registration or renewal to the general public. I offer this service purely to people and entities with whom I have a direct personal relationship with. If you want a professional domain name registrar, there are quite literally thousands of them most of whom will be only too happy to take your money. (Please consider those who support DNS-OARC, which funds a significant proportion of my time, as they care rather more about DNS integrity than those who don't.)
  8. I am not obliged to register or renew your domain names at all. My doing so is entirely at my discretion. Even if I say I am going to, I might well forget, in which case an email to remind me would be helpful.
  9. You are not obliged to give me any money at all. For commercial domain names, I'll likely expense it. It might be nice if you bought me a glass of wine or something once I've done it. Certainly saying 'thank you' would be appreciated.
  10. Customer service is obtained by emailing me. I'll get around to it, normally expect a reply within a week. If emailing me doesn't work, you can telephone or IM me.
  11. Apparently (registrar agreement section D.1.2) I have to provide details so that members of the public (as well as customers) can contact me by email, phone and post, despite the fact I don't provide service to members of the public. If there are any members of the public reading this, the details are above. You should expect your enquiry to be resolved, or not, at my convenience.
  12. Complaints and refunds: if you have a complaint, do feel free to email me. In general I'll be only too happy to provide you with a full refund. Note that in general you won't have paid me anything - see above. This will make the refund procedure simpler.
  13. Any name I register for you will be in your own name. I don't want your stinkin' domain registration.
  14. If you register or renew a Nominet domain, Nominet's Ts & Cs form a contract between you and Nominet. By asking me to register or renew such a domain, you indicate not only that you agree to these Nominet's Ts & Cs, but that you've read them, understood them, and consider them close to your heart. There may be a test later.
  15. Any domain names I register for you will be registered with autorenew set on (unless of course you tell me you don't want me to renew them). This saves a pile of hassle because you are probably about as bad at remembering when domain names might expire as I am. This means they won't expire, and hence there'll be no need to send you an expiry notice.
  16. If you want to transfer your domain names to another registrar, be my guest. I don't make any money out of this, remember. Just email me and I'll change the tag. Alternatively, you can email Nominet and pay them some money for the privilege.
  17. On the basis you aren't paying me, I try my hardest to get out of any responsibility if anything goes wrong. In legal terms that means I disclaim any responsibility to the maximum extent permitted by law. Oddly enough, that's what most people do even if you do pay them. If you have given me some money and it all goes pear shaped, then if it's my fault I'll give you your money back - only seems fair. Oddly enough, that's not what most people do when you pay them.

(End of contract)

With thanks to Alex Bligh