Designated register

which contract with domain registrars to provide registration services to the public. The registrar that an end-user selects to provide the registration service becomes the designated registrar for the domain chosen by the user.

A domain name in registry database. It is not unusual for an end user to switch registrars invoking a domain transfer process between the registrars involved, that is governed by specific domain name transfer policies.

It must pay a maximum annual fee of US$6.790 to VeriSign, the registry operator for com, and a US$1.12 annual administration fee to ICANN. Most domain registrars price their services and products to address both the annual fees and the administration fees that must be paid to ICANN. Barriers to entry into the bulk registrar industry are high for new companies without an existing customer base.

An end-user registers either directly with a registrar, or indirectly through one or more layers of resellers. As of 2009, the cost generally ranges from a low of about $6.89 per year to about $25 per year. The maximum period of registration of a domain name is generally 10 years.

Some registrars are offering longer periods , but such offers involve the registrar renewing the registration for their customer. The one hundred year domain name registration would not be in the official registration database. such as web hosting, include the domain registration in the total package pricing.