ICANN Announcements

Read ICANN Announcements to stay informed of the latest policymaking activities, regional events, and more.

Expressions of Interest Sought for Bulk Transfer of Registrations

28 October 2008

In addition to the U.N. six languages, this content is also available in

Request For Information: ICANN Seeks Expressions of Interest from Registrars to Receive Bulk Transfer of Names from De-Accredited Registrar EstDomains

As the result of the de-accreditation of EstDomains, Inc. (IANA ID 832), ICANN is seeking Statements of Interest from ICANN-accredited registrars that are interested in assuming sponsorship of the gTLD names that had been managed by EstDomains.

EstDomains managed approximately 280,000 gTLD registrations, including registrations in the biz, com, info, mobi, net, and org registries, including approximately 7 second-level internationalized domain names. EstDomains, Inc. is organized in Delaware, United States

Registration data held in escrow is believed to be complete and in a proper format as described in the Registrar Data Escrow Specifications posted at http://www.icann.org/en/rde/rde-specs-09nov07.pdf [PDF, 33K].

Request for Statements of Interest

ICANN-accredited registrars who wish to be considered as a potential recipient of a bulk transfer of the names should be in good standing with regard to all ICANN-obligations and submit a written statement of interest by no later than 23:00 UTC on Monday, 3 November 2008, with a description of qualification, which includes at least:

  • Registrar experience, including number of registrations and customers managed;
  • Availability of sufficient customer service staffing to timely respond to customer service requests during and shortly after the bulk transfer;
  • Ability to communicate with customers in languages other than English;
  • A list of the gTLDs in which accredited and operational;
  • Experience with and knowledge of bulk-transfer procedures;
  • Documentation of procedures to resolve potential disputes of domain name control or registration rights (in the event of contested ownership or inaccurate Whois data);
  • Experience as a customer-facing / "retail" registrar business;
  • Experience with second-level IDNs;
  • Ability to provide ICANN with regular status reports.

Expressions of interest should indicate, approximately, the amount of time needed by the applicant-registrar to prepare to receive the bulk transfer.

This request for information/expressions of interest is made pursuant to the De-Accredited Registrar Transition Procedure posted at http://www.icann.org/processes/registrars/de-accredited-registrar-transition-procedure-01oct08.pdf [PDF, 121K]. ICANN reserves the right to entertain any or none of the statements of interest submitted in response to this request and to select or approve a bulk-transfer recipient outside this process. To the extent confidential treatment of trade secrets or financial information in the submission is required, such information should be designated accordingly. Questions and submissions should be submitted by email to mike.zupke @ icann.org.