GlossaryThe domain name
Registrar
Definition
A registrar is the company you register a domain name with and renew it through. It stands between the registrant, the person or business the name belongs to, and the registry that operates the extension.
Why it matters to an agency
The registrar holds the account that controls the domain. Anyone who can log into it can change the name servers, start a transfer, or let the renewal date slide. That is why the first question on a site handover is not where the site is hosted. It is which registrar holds the name, and whose name it is in.
A registrar is not a host, even when the same company invoices you for both. Two contracts, two renewal dates, and usually two separate customer portals. A site can keep running for months on a domain nobody is watching any more, right up to the morning it expires.
Where the name shows up
The registrar shows up in the domain's public registration data. Here is the part you want.
Domain Name: EXAMPLE.COM
Registrar: EXAMPLE REGISTRAR, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 9999
Registry Expiry Date: 2027-03-14T09:12:00Z
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibitedThe IANA ID identifies the registrar unambiguously; its trading name often does not. And the date here is the registry's, which is the only one that counts.
The usual mistake
The domain gets registered from the agency's own account, with the agency as the registrant, because that was faster on launch day. Two years later the relationship ends, and the client's domain name is on the wrong side of it.
How to avoid it: Register in the client's name from day one, or move the registrant details over as soon as the site ships. Done calmly it takes ten minutes; done in the middle of a breakup it takes weeks, and sometimes a dispute procedure.
Source: ICANN accredits the registrars for generic extensions (.com, .net, .org) and publishes their IANA IDs. For .fr, registrars are under contract to Afnic, the registry that runs the extension.
Related terms
Where to go next
Knowing the words is half the job
The other half is knowing which of your domains is about to become a problem. DomainVigil watches expiry, DNS, certificates and reputation, and tells you before your client does.
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