Can I Permanently Own a Domain Name?

A question we get about domain names every now and then is, “Can I permanently own a domain name?” The simple answer is no. In fact, you never really buy a domain name at all. You more or less rent the right to use it for a set period of time.

Domain names are commonly registered for one year at a time. After that year, you just renew the registration and keep using the domain. As long as it is renewed, you can keep using that same domain year after year.

Even though you can’t permanently own a domain name, you can keep the domain name for as long as you’d like. The bigger concern is making sure the registration never stops being renewed.

Can You Permanently Own a Domain Name With a Longer Registration?

Any domain registrar (the companies you register a domain name through) should allow you to register a domain for multiple years at a time.

At Full Scope Creative, we register and manage hundreds of domain names. Most are registered one year at a time, but we do have a select few clients who choose a multiyear registration.

Even with a longer registration, it doesn’t mean you permanently own a domain name. If you register it for five years, you have it for those five years. After that, it needs to be renewed again.

You can save a little money by registering a domain for multiple years at once. The savings just won’t likely be all that much.

I’m a fan of saving money. If I can save a few dollars here and there, great. The savings I could get by registering FullScopeCreative.com for 10 years, though, aren’t enough to make me want to pay for 10 years at once.

Out of the hundreds of domain names we manage, I believe we have one client with a 10-year registration. The 10-year registration is more about convenience for that client than saving money.

If you’re wondering how to own a domain name permanently, there really isn’t a way to do it. Registering it for several years gets you a longer registration, but eventually that registration still comes to an end.

Auto Renewal Is More Important Than a 10-Year Registration

Instead of trying to find a way to permanently own a domain name, I would put much more attention on auto renewal.

I’ve never seen a registrar that didn’t have an auto renewal option. If they don’t, you might want to find a new registrar. If your domain is registered for one year or 10, it will at some point need to be renewed.

At Full Scope Creative, every domain name we manage has auto renewal enabled. Every one of them.

As long as the account and payment information stay current, auto renewal greatly reduces the chance of someone simply forgetting to renew the domain. That means the website can keep working and, if email is connected to that domain, the email can keep working too.

A 10-year registration can sound safer because you don’t have to think about the renewal for a long time. It still doesn’t make you the permanent owner.

A one-year registration with properly managed auto renewal can stay with the same business year after year after year.

Make Sure You Are Actually the Registered Owner

Even though you don’t own the domain name, you should be listed as the registrant of the domain. That makes you the rightful owner of that registration.

This is an important distinction.

Your web designer, IT company, or another trusted company can manage the domain for you without being the registrant. In many cases, I think having someone manage it for you is a good idea. There are a fair number of technical settings involved with domain names, and most small business owners have better things to do with their time.

Full Scope Creative manages hundreds of domain names. I am only the registrant of the domain names that belong to Full Scope Creative.

For our clients, we can be listed as the technical, administrative, and billing contact. That gives us the access we need to handle the technical and management work, while our client remains properly listed as the registrant.

You should also know where your domain is registered, know how to access the account, and know who is listed as the registrant. Even if another company handles everything for you, that is information worth keeping track of.

Can Someone Else Ever Take Your Domain Name?

For almost every business, if you keep renewing your domain name, you can keep using it.

There are some rare exceptions, usually involving trademarks and domain name disputes. We had a pretty well-known example of that here in Green Bay several years ago involving TitletownTech.com.

A local business had registered the domain, but the Green Bay Packers later brought a domain dispute through the World Intellectual Property Organization related to their Titletown trademarks and TitletownTech venture. After reviewing the case, WIPO ordered that TitletownTech.com be transferred to the Packers.

Those situations are very uncommon. They also involve trademark and legal questions that go well beyond simply renewing a domain name.

You Can’t Own a Domain Name Permanently, But You Can Keep It

There isn’t a way to buy a domain name and own it forever. You’ll need to renew it at some point.

The good news is that you don’t really need to.

Make sure your business is listed as the registrant. Know where the domain is registered and how to access the account. Most importantly, make sure auto renewal is turned on.

You can certainly use a multiyear registration if you prefer. For most businesses, though, a one-year registration with auto renewal works just fine.

At Full Scope Creative, we manage the technical side of hundreds of domain names for our clients while keeping our clients properly listed as the registrants. That allows us to worry about the technical stuff while they keep control of one of their business’s most important online assets.