Registry, Registrar, Reseller & Holder: understand the Domain Name’s Industry

The domain name industry is a complex one for the uninitiated.
And for good reason — its multi-level hierarchy and institutional diversity can be confusing right from the start. What’s more, the similar names of the various organisations only add to the confusion for even the most curious users.

But don’t worry!
Netim lifts the veil on this little-known industry and explains the key differences between each key player.

What are the different entities? What hierarchical relationships exist between them? What are their respective roles?

These are the questions we’ll be answering in this article!

But first, here’s a diagram showing the different players in the industry — helping to clarify who does what and how they interact with one another:

ICANN, the Master Coordinator

Everything starts with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Founded in 1998, this non-profit organisation has the primary mission of managing the digital resources of the internet, such as domain names, and coordinating the various stakeholders in the market.

ICANN is also the body responsible for setting the rules and regulations that apply across the entire domain name system.

Among its many responsibilities, ICANN has three main roles:

• Managing domain names

• Allocating IP addresses

• Overseeing the root DNS servers

Registries: the organisations in charge of domain names extensions

Here is the second key player in the domain name industry: the Registries.

A Registry is an organisation that manages an extension, such as .fr or .org. It acts as the technical and administrative manager of an extension and plays a vital role in ensuring that domain names can exist, are reliable and function properly.

Here are a few examples of registries:

• The .fr extension is managed by Afnic
• The .com extension is managed by Verisign
• The .paris extension is managed by the City of Paris, in collaboration with a technical registry operator (Afnic)

The purpose of Registries is to market available domain names to customers. The sale of a domain name can be carried out in two different ways:

1. The most common method: the Registrar is involved in the registration of the domain name. It purchases the domain name from the Registry and then resells it to the Holder.

2. The less common method: the Registry sells the domain name directly to the Holder.

Registrars, like Netim

A Registrar is an ICANN accredited organisation (like Netim) that has the authority to issue domain name operating licenses to the Holder (end-user).

In fact, unlike the Registry which manage its own extension, a Registrar deals with multiple extensions (several hundreds or thousands). A Registrar is in contact with multiple Registries in order to offer a large variety of extensions to its customers.

A Registrar can deal directly with the Holder (end-user) or with Resellers. 

A Registrar is an accredited company that has the authority to issue domain name licences to the Holder (the Holder being the end customer).

💡 For example, Netim is a Registrar.

Unlike the Registry, which manages its own specific extensions, a Registrar manages multiple extensions (several hundred or even thousands). It works with many different Registries in order to offer its customers the widest possible range of domain names.

A Registrar can deal directly with the Holder, but also with Resellers.

Resellers: An Intermediary Between Registrar and Holder

Resellers operate in much the same way as Registrars. They sell domain names to Holders.

However, they do not hold any official accreditation with Registries and simply purchase domains through accredited Registrars. Since they are not Registrars themselves, the range of services they offer is often more limited.
Additionally, Resellers do not have direct contact with the Registry that manages domain names, but instead liaise with Registrars.

There are many different types of Resellers: web agencies, freelancers, and more. In most cases, selling domain names is not their only activity.

Holders – The End Users

Holders are simply… the end users. They are the individuals or businesses who choose to register a domain name, whether for a professional or personal project. In other words, they are the ones who have the rights to use the domain name (such as creating a website, setting up email addresses, etc.).

A Holder also has certain responsibilities, including:

• They have the authority to renew, transfer, or even delete the domain name.

• They are the legal representative for any content published on the website linked to the domain name.

• In the event of a dispute, they are recognised as the “official owner” of the domain name.

Still lost? Think of it differently

Take the bakery sector, for example. In this metaphor, ICANN would be the governmental body regulating the wheat court, its quality, its distribution etc.

The Registries would be the Holders of flour which they would then distribute to the bakers. The bakers would be the Registrars who would sell their bread either directly to customers or to merchants in remote villages. These merchants would be the Resellers. They would come and get their bread from the bakers and then sell it to the inhabitants of the village.

If all this hierarchy seems complex and tedious for an uninitiated audience, understanding the functioning of this structure also allow the customers to grasp the process involved when assigning a domain name. The back and forth are sometimes numerous with some Registries as they can be very fast with others.

Besides that, these trades are presents in our daily lives. They represent an international structure that regulates the creation of domain names: the cornerstone of websites that we consult daily.