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What is the best (cost and safety) to register a .cn domain name? We recently received 2 emails from companies (px-vps.org and one other) in China saying that another company was trying to steal/register our .com domain name in china (.cn). They then gave us a list of 15 domains from China to India that we should register through their company. Now they are saying we need to register for a 5 year minimum at $100 per domain. It's starting to sound like a $10,000 scam.

We called 101domains and they said it would be $30 for the registration fee and $30 for the law firm in Shanghai.

Who should I go through to avoid spending a lot of money and be sure we don't get ripped off in the process?

Trevor Allred
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Be ware these are known scam tactics.

http://www.joewein.net/blog/2008/12/08/domain-registration-scam-in-china/ http://professionalwebservices.blogspot.com/2007/10/chinese-domain-name-scams-from-china.html http://blog.sinohosting.net/beware-of-chinese-domain-names-fraud/

slacker
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Do you actually want a .cn domain or are you doing this purely because of the "Someone wants to register a domain name similar to your company name"?

Lots of registrars will register .cn domain names these days.

Have a look here http://www.neustar.com.cn/buycn/index.html

It depends where you are as to whether you have any preference but there's enough reputable companies on that list.

flooble
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  • We weren't looking for the domain and aren't planning any operations in China in the foreseeable future but I could see it happening in 5-10 years from now (yes, those are in "Internet/Dog" years, so who really knows). – Trevor Allred Sep 25 '10 at 04:12
  • OK so I can't comment on whether you should be registering it as that's really a mix of a business/marketing decision (do you want to register it just so no-one else can and so on). However I would start by asking your existing domain registrar if they can register .cn domains as any Tucows/OpenSRS reseller *should* be able to do so. I also believe the requirement for any presence (physical or legal) in China has been dropped so anyone can now register a .cn domain name - as I said have a look at Neustar as they're responsible for handling .cn domain registrations outside of China. – flooble Sep 25 '10 at 13:59
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*.cn and *.ru are very very hard to register you MUST GET LEGAL advice on this matter DO NOT take any advice from the internet alone. For a *.CN must have a licence to have a website from the government plain and simple. You will need a law firm that knows international law and get get the proper forms filed in the proper places. DO NTO QUOTE ME ON THAT. But that was my understanding as of a couple years ago.

Liam
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Unfortunately currently you needs to be registered as a company in mainland China to register a .cn domain, in order to meet with the ICP licensing requirements of the government.

Regarding the email you have received it is a scam you can safely ignore it.

China Hosting
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