What is the difference between a "public" and "private" registration?

You should know that the information listed on your domain name has to be made publicly available per our Registrar’s agreement with ICANN, the international governing body of domain names. Using false information will violate the registration agreement and lead to the termination of your domain registration.

However, we do offer a solution to help protect your privacy. You can register your domain name with us using our private domain name registration services.

When you purchase our private domain registration services, the WHO-IS directory will list Domains By Proxy’s name, postal address and phone number instead of yours. Although Domains By Proxy is the Registrant of your domain name registration, you still retain the full benefits of domain registration. You can:

• Cancel, sell, or transfer your domain name registration.
• Revert the Registrant listing for your domain name registration back to you.
• Renew your domain name registration when it expires.
• Designate the name servers for your domain.
• Resolve claims arising out of a dispute involving your domain name registration.

More importantly, with a private registration, Domain By Proxy’s name, address and phone number are made publicly available in the WHOIS directory--and not yours.

Adding Privacy to Your Domains

Per our agreement with ICANN, we must add your domain and contact information to the Whois directory when you register a domain. However, you can add Private Registration to your domain and replace your contact information with the contact information from Domains By Proxy, our affiliate company used for private registrations.

To Add Privacy to Your Existing Domains

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. In the My Products section, click Manage Domains.
3. Select the domain name(s) to which you want to add privacy.
4. Click Upgrade.
5. Select Add Private Registration, and then click Next.
6. Select one of the following:

   Use Existing Private Registration Account

   If you already have an account with Domains By Proxy, enter your User ID and Password for the account.

   Create a new Private Registration Account

   If you do not have an account, we create a Domains By Proxy account for you. We send the user name and password in an email message after creating your account.

7. If you agree to the Domain Name Proxy Agreement, select I have read the Domain Name Proxy Agreement.
8. Click Next.
9. Continue through the checkout process.

Adding Privacy to Backordered Domains

If you placed a domain on backorder and do not want your personal information listed in the Whois directory during the backorder and registration process, you can place a backorder with privacy on the domain to capture it if it becomes available.

If your backorder with privacy is unsuccessful, you can apply your private registration to any other backorder.

NOTE: To complete this process, you must have a backorder credit available to apply to the domain. If you do not have one, purchase a credit from your Account Manager page, and then return to your Domain Manager.

To Add Privacy to a Backordered Domain

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. In the My Products section, click Domain Monitoring/Backordering.
3. Select the checkbox of the domain name(s) to which you want to add privacy.
4. Click Privacy.
5. Select Private Backorder, and then click OK.
6. Click OK again.

Can I hide my personal information in the Whois directory?

We must make the contact information you listed for your domain public, per our registrar's agreement with ICANN (the international governing body of domain names). Using false information violates the registration agreement and leads to the termination of your domain registration.

However, we do offer our private domain registration services to help protect your privacy. You can purchase our private domain registration services, and we will list the Domains By Proxy name, postal address, and phone number on the Whois directory. Although Domains By Proxy is the name on the registration, you retain the full benefits of domain registration. You can:

• Cancel, sell, or transfer your domain registration.
• Revert the registrant listing for your domain registration back to you.
• Renew your domain registration when it expires.
• Designate the nameservers for your domain.
• Resolve claims arising out of a dispute involving your domain registration.