Here you will find all the information regarding .com domains.
On January 1st, 1993, the National Science Foundation (NSF) took over the management of the first non-military domain names: the .COM domains. The NSF granted the maintenance and monopoly of .com domain registry operations to Network Solutions. In 1997, the U.S. Department of Commerce took over the management, and currently Verisign is the entity that manages .com domains.
Although .com domains were initially created to identify commercial entities, there have never been registration restrictions, and it is currently by far the most widely used extension.
Why register a .com domain
Anyone or any entity can register a .com domain. It is the most widespread extension today. It is no longer possible to register .com domain names with fewer than 4 characters.
Registering a .com domain
To register a .com domain, you can go to our website. You also have a tutorial explaining the steps to register a domain.
Restrictions on registering .com domains:
- .com domains can have a maximum of 63 characters and a minimum of 4.
- The characters accepted for registration are: a–z, 0–9, and the hyphen "-". The hyphen cannot appear at the beginning or end of the domain name.
Restrictions on renewing .com domains:
- A .com domain can be renewed for a maximum period of 10 years.
Restrictions on transferring .com domains:
- .com domains cannot be transferred if they are expired.
- .com domains cannot be transferred if they are in the clientTransferProhibited status.
- To start a transfer, the AUTHCODE is required.
- To approve a .com transfer, you must have access to the administrative contact email of the domain.
As domains have an expiration date, they follow a lifecycle made up of different phases. This lifecycle is established by ICANN, the entity responsible for domain name policy. The following diagram shows the lifecycle of a .com domain and its statuses.
- Available domain: the domain has not yet been registered and is available. Once a registration request is submitted, it will be assigned to the first request received.
- Registered domain: when a request is submitted for an available domain, it is assigned to the requester. Registration can be made for 1 to 10 years.
- Active domain: the domain will remain active for the number of years it was registered. During this period, the registration can be extended to avoid expiration.
- Grace period: the domain has expired and stops working. This period lasts 30 days and you can renew the domain without penalty.
- Redemption period: this phase lasts 30 days, during which the domain has been deleted but may still be restored and renewed at a higher cost.
- Pending delete: the domain can no longer be restored and will be released.
Registering domains with special characters (IDN)
For .com domains, registration using special characters such as ñ, ç is allowed. Accented and umlauted vowels are also allowed: á, à, é, è, í, ï, ó, ò, ô, ú and ü. When you register an IDN .com domain, you do not need to own the equivalent ASCII version; they are independent. For example, one person may own lópez.com and another lopez.com — they are different domains.
How do I register an IDN .com domain?
You must request the domain directly with the special character from the domain registration page. The system will indicate whether it is available and you will be able to proceed with the registration.
Transferring domains with special characters (IDN)
You can also transfer your .com domain registered with another provider from our domain transfer page. You must enter the .com domain with the special character. The system will tell you if it can be transferred and you will be able to follow the steps.