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registrars ICANN shuts down Alpnames domain name registrar

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Domain name overseer ICANN has shut down registrar Alpnames after the registrar seemingly went dark.

I received an email from a customer about a week ago complaining about not being able to log in to his account. Kevin Murphy at DomainIncite has done a good job tracking the situation at Alpnames.

The termination will be a good test of the mechanisms ICANN put in place after RegisterFly was shuttered many years ago. Yes, other registrars have been terminated, but Alpnames is fairly large in terms of domains under management. It is the ninth-largest registrar for new top level domain names. At one point it had some common ownership with Famous Four Media, which offered its domains at cut-rate prices.

It was also shut down without warning.

Let’s hope that Alpnames was properly escrowing its domain ownership data.

Just last year in February, the company put out a press release stating that “Iain Roache has increased his ownership of AlpNames a leading domain registrar and web hosting company by acquiring a further 20% of the Company’s share capital for a consideration (including combined costs) of £3.9 million with a view to growing the business into a Tier 1 registrar.”

That didn’t work out.

The demise of Alpnames is another reminder to choose a domain name registrar you trust to be in it for the long haul.

https://domainnamewire.com/2019/03/14/icann-shuts-down-alpnames-domain-name-registrar/
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
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ICANN Invokes Process to Protect Registrants
LOS ANGELES – 15 March 2019 – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") today announced it has terminated the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) with registrar Alpnames Limited (IANA #1857), effective immediately.

The RAA was terminated after the ICANN organization determined that Alpnames was no longer performing required registrar functions as specified in the agreement. These functions include allowing existing registrants to renew domain name registrations and processing new registrations.

ICANN org has invoked the De-Accredited Registrar Transition Procedure (DARTP) to enable the successful transition of the names to an ICANN-accredited registrar and protect registrants. Once the gaining registrar is identified and confirmed, it will be listed on the Bulk Transfers page.

The time required to complete the transfer process varies by the number of registrations with the terminated registrar. ICANN org will work to facilitate the transfer of registrations to the gaining registrar as expeditiously as possible. Once the transfer of registrations has been completed, the new registrar will contact registrants with information on how to access and maintain their domain name registrations.

All domain name registrants are encouraged to visit this page for important information about managing their domain names.

https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2019-03-15-en
 
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The demise of Alpnames is another reminder to choose a domain name registrar you trust to be in it for the long haul.
Exactly, and it's not like there were no warning signs.
 
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Same thing should be do by ICANN with NetworkSolutions.com
 
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I was not able to unlock my .top names
but I was able to generate the auth code that way

I was using "remove theft protection"
is that the way to unlock the name at alpnames?
 
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I was not able to unlock my .top names
but I was able to generate the auth code that way

I was using "remove theft protection"
is that the way to unlock the name at alpnames?

It's possible that ICANN had the Registry put a lock on them, instead of just the Registrar lock. Usually this is done for legal purposes. I'm looking for ways to get my domains unlocked as well.

UPDATE: They do not have a Registry lock on them.
 
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Ninth largest registrar of ntld domains...

As Will Smith once sang... Bienvenidos a Miami
 
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Bienvenidos a Miami
WTF lmao! :xf.grin::smuggrin::xf.laugh::ROFL::happy::joyful::hilarious::hilarious::hilarious: welcome to Miami has nothing to do with a crappy registrar getting out of business… that phrase does not apply in this case... WTF!! lol but thanks for the laugh!
 
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I was not able to unlock my .top names
but I was able to generate the auth code that way

I was using "remove theft protection"
is that the way to unlock the name at alpnames?

Yes.
 
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As far as I know (certainly with "remove theft protection",and certainly when Alpnames began, the pricing etc...) this means that probably Alpnames is a reseller of Resellerclub.
(if you see in the whois "Publicdomainregistry", this usual means it concerns a registrar thats in fact a reseller of resellerclub).
It is so that usually you can MOVE a domainname free from one resellerclub-reseller tot an account you make at another resellerclub-reseller.
For instance : Whiz.in and whois.com are resellerclub-resellers.
But there are many more resellers.then these 2.
But i don't know if this functions. Maybe the can block to move.
But go to resellerclub.com and phone them about this and how to move free from one resellerclub-reseller-account to anothe account of another reseller of them. . And ask how you can move to another resellerclub-reseller-account.
I currently have no time to call them. Maybe later.
But I presume that ICANN will come with a solution.
 
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I was not able to unlock my .top names
but I was able to generate the auth code that way

I was using "remove theft protection"
is that the way to unlock the name at alpnames?

I was able to unlock my few .top at Alpnames, and I checked whois now on one still show as unlocked.
But I did it before ICANN announced Alpnames had been deregistered. I wonder if that is the difference?

Yes, that is the right way to do it.

I logged in now and tried to unlock one of my .top, and it now says failed, so I think they have disabled further unlocks until the bulk transfer happens, but the ones unlocked earlier seem still unlocked.

Bob
 
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I often think about Namesilo. I have most of my domains there. I love their Control panel

But the fact that they are more or less a price player worries me.
 
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Domain name overseer ICANN has shut down registrar Alpnames after the registrar seemingly went dark.

I received an email from a customer about a week ago complaining about not being able to log in to his account. Kevin Murphy at DomainIncite has done a good job tracking the situation at Alpnames.

The termination will be a good test of the mechanisms ICANN put in place after RegisterFly was shuttered many years ago. Yes, other registrars have been terminated, but Alpnames is fairly large in terms of domains under management. It is the ninth-largest registrar for new top level domain names. At one point it had some common ownership with Famous Four Media, which offered its domains at cut-rate prices.

It was also shut down without warning.

Let’s hope that Alpnames was properly escrowing its domain ownership data.

Just last year in February, the company put out a press release stating that “Iain Roache has increased his ownership of AlpNames a leading domain registrar and web hosting company by acquiring a further 20% of the Company’s share capital for a consideration (including combined costs) of £3.9 million with a view to growing the business into a Tier 1 registrar.”

That didn’t work out.

The demise of Alpnames is another reminder to choose a domain name registrar you trust to be in it for the long haul.

https://domainnamewire.com/2019/03/14/icann-shuts-down-alpnames-domain-name-registrar/

looks like alpnames was a reseller
of resellerclub

so how come ICANN can shut them down?

to me it looks like they have prevented the domain alpnames.com from resolving

thats a different story

OR?

do miss something?
 
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Is there anyway we can get back domain name? Just noticed I got one domain there.
 
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Is there anyway we can get back domain name?
All domains will be transferred (without fee and without added year) to the bulk transfer partners. These have been announced as Moniker (for most legacy extensions) and to Key-Systems (for .pro and for all other extensions). I have no idea when the transfer will be actually done. The partners were just announced by ICANN. See link in preceding post for a bit more information on bulk transfers.
Bob
 
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AlpNames domain names are being transferred to Moniker.

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/bulk-transfers-2017-10-06-en

Yup, and I just got email from Moniker about an hour ago
alpnames-moniker.jpg
 
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Part of the process is arranging the transfer of the names into our management. Please be assured that we are working closely with the relevant domain registries to restore access to the domains as quickly as possible. We ask customers for their patience as we complete this process, we will only be creating the customer accounts once the domains have been transferred. Customers that own ccTLDs with Alpnames and require assistance in accessing and transferring these names please get in contact.

We will send a further email shortly with information on how to access your account at www.moniker.com, where all domains previously managed via Alpnames will be migrated.

A dedicated email address, [email protected] has been set up, where our support team can assist you. Our team will also be present on forums and blogs to answer questions.
 
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Thanks @ET76 so that seems to say Moniker will also handle the country code names (I doubt many were at Alpnames, but don't know).
 
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@Bob Hawkes I guess so and they will split between three registrar (to their own group) for this case. I already have an account with Moniker and DD24. If they creating and transfer to my new account I will simply push all domains to my previous account. I like DD24 and Moniker, their GUI are user friendly and very easy to manage.

As you may be aware ICANN has made the decision to de-accredit Alpnames as a registrar and has ordered the transfer of Alpnames gTLD portfolio to the CentralNIC Registrar Group, with the domains to be split between three of its ICANN accredited Registrars – Key-Systems GmbH, Key-Systems LLC and Moniker Online Services, LLC
 
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I had 2 domains at alpnames ^_^. finally I've gotten an email from Moniker telling me the last one was safely in their clutches.

Looks like the alpnames fiasco turned out not to be as bad as it would've been!

Every1 telling ppl to fear "shady" registrars -- oh well! Trust the system. If it fails, ICANN is there.

jk, it's still scary. But I think some of us got lucky. Ppl with expired domains... I hope ICANN figures out what to do with that :/
 
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