.com

.com is the oldest and largest namespace on the internet, in use since 1985 and holding well over a hundred million registrations. It carries no eligibility rules and no geographic meaning.

For an Australian business selling only to Australians, .com.au usually signals local trust better. .com earns its place when you sell overseas, or want to hold the matching name defensively.

• Anyone can register, anywhere in the world. There is no business number, residency or trade mark requirement.
• Names are allocated first come, first served.
• Your contact details must be accurate and kept up to date. A domain with false details can be suspended under ICANN policy.

• You can renew at any time before expiry, for a new term of one to ten years.
• If the domain expires there is a 45 day grace period in which it can be renewed at the normal price. The domain usually stops resolving during this window, so the website and email go down.
• After that it enters a 30 day redemption period. It can still be recovered, but only by paying a redemption fee on top of the renewal.
• After redemption the domain sits in a five day pending delete state and cannot be recovered at all. It is then released for anyone to register.

• You need the authorisation code (also called the EPP or auth code) from your current registrar, and the domain must be unlocked.
• A domain cannot be transferred within 60 days of being registered, or within 60 days of a previous transfer.
• The registrant is emailed to approve the transfer. Without a response it completes automatically after five days.
• A transfer adds one year to the registration term, so no time is lost.

• The registrant can be changed at any time through your registrar.
• ICANN policy requires both the outgoing and incoming registrant to confirm the change by email.
• After the change the domain is locked against registrar transfers for 60 days, unless that lock is declined at the time.
• Changing the registrant does not change the expiry date.

• Contact details and dispute policies are published on the registry website linked above.
• Disputes are handled under ICANN's Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP).