.ca Domain Name Registration FAQ
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What is this all about?
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For the past 12 years UBC (University of British Columbia) has voluntarily looked after the .ca domain. There are now over 80,000 .ca domain names registered with them and the demand for new names has become too great for a volunteer organization to handle effectively. Three years ago a public consultation process began to establish a new method of dealing with the demand. CIRA was created as a result of this process, and effective November 1, 2000 the registry will be transfered to their control. CIRA is a not-for-profit organization which has been mandated to operate the top-level .ca registry. On November 1, 2000 the "operational transfer" will take place, and the registry run by UBC will cease to operate. CIRA has been busy certifying various registrars to handle domain name registration services for them. Webexceed is proud to be an RSP (Registration Service Provider) with OpenSRS/Tucows. OpenSRS was among the first registrars to receive certification from CIRA, and as a result, we are now able to offer .ca registration services to you!
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How much does it cost?
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Believe it or not, this is not an easy question to answer! There are several factors at play when determing the cost of a .ca domain name. It can be summed up by saying that webexceed is offering an introductory special of $40 (Canadian) per year for .ca registrations. If you are simply registering a .ca name for the first time, then the cost is exactly $40.
However, if you are a current .ca domain name holder, then you must "pre-register" your domain name, and a special formula has been setup by CIRA for calculating your registration period. Click here to see how this is calculated.
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What is "Pre-Registration"? / I already have a .ca domain name!
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"Pre-Registration" is a term given by CIRA which applies to all current .ca domain names (those registered before September 18, 2000). Effective November 1, 2000 any .ca domain names that are not pre-registered through a CIRA Registrar (such as webexceed) will EXPIRE. If you do not pre-register you very well could LOSE your domain name. As with .com, .net and .org names, CIRA charges a yearly fee for the use of a .ca domain name. To avoid problems in the future, CIRA has adopted a formula for calculating a domain names registration term. In short, a pre-registration is for a 1 year term (minimum, max. is 9yrs.), PLUS the number of months counting from November 2000, up to the month your domain was originally approved. For example:
Original Approval
Date (month) | Pre-Registration
Term Requested | Pre-Registration Cost |
| December | 1yr. | 1.09yrs x $40 = $43.60 |
| February | 1yr. | 1.25yrs x $40 = $50.00 |
| May | 1yr. | 1.50yrs x $40 = $60.00 |
| May | 2yr. | 2.50yrs x $40 = $100.00 |
| November | 1yr. | 1.00yrs x $40 = $40.00 |
Still not sure what that all means? Send us an e-mail at: domains@webexceed.com along with your domain name and we can tell you how your pre-registration fee would be calculated.
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What is "Advanced Registration"?
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"Advanced Registration" is the term CIRA has designated for anyone wishing to request a .ca name before the actual registry transfer takes place. These registrations will be processed under the new (relaxed) rules for registering a domain name. As you can imagine, there are many excellent names still available, however these will be going quickly as name speculators snatch them up.
An advanced registration is not guaranteed due to the way CIRA has set up the process. Each registrar places advanced registrations into a Queue and when CIRA is ready to accept them, names will be registered in a "Round Robin" format. This means that registrations will take place starting with the first registrars first request, then the second registrars first request, then the third registrar, etc. until all registrars have processed their first request. Then it goes back to the first registrar who can process their second request, then the second registrar, etc. This process ensures fairness between registrars.
The downside of this process is that there is no way for us to verify whether a .ca advanced registration request is already in the queue of another registrar. It is for this reason that you request could fail. The sooner you place your request, the better your chances of it being accepted. In the event that the request does fail, we will immediately refund your credit card with the registration fee, less a processing fee of $6.50. We regret having to implement the processing fee, however, it is necessary due to our very low domain name prices. Should there be a high number of names rejected we could quickly be faced with VERY large credit card processing fees (we have to pay processing fees for the original charge AND for the refund).
Is it worth the risk? Considering how valuable some domain names will be, and how quickly they are likely to be snatched up, we feel it would be wise for anyone with an interest in domain names to act NOW to advance register whatever names they can think of. Please note that if you wish to BULK order .ca names, we can provide special pricing, depending on the number of names. As well the processing fee for refund would only be applied ONCE to the batch. ie. if you requested 15 names, all in one order, and 5 failed, we would refund your credit card with $193.50 (($40 * 5) - $6.50).
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at: domains@webexceed.com.
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Who do I contact for additional assistance?
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If you have other questions or need information that is not contained above, send us an e-mail at:
domains@webexceed.com and we will be happy to answer your questions.
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