Introducing Registrant contact verification

Category: Announcements

As part of the ICANN 2013 RAA, Synergy Wholesale is required to verify the Registrant contact in the following instances;

after a domain name registration,
at the time of a domain name transfer and,
at the time of an update to the Registrant contact

This is designed to lead to a higher accuracy level of WHOIS data and will be done by an automatic process that sends the Registrant contact a verification email (similar to a transfer confirmation email) that needs to be ‘clicked’ within a specific time period, or the domain will be placed in a ClientHold status (and any DNS resolution will be suspended).

We will be enabling this functionality on Friday, 30 May 2014 for ALL new registrations, transfers and contact updates.

As this requirement is relatively new (and open for interpretation), we wanted to commit to a process and method that wasn’t restrictive, easy to understand and flexible enough for our Resellers to implement. As such, we are introducing three new customisable email templates in to the Synergy Wholesale Management System — Registrant Contact Verification, Registrant Contact Verification Reminder and Registrant Contact Verification Suspension that are all completely brandable and you can modify them via the Account Functions > Email Templates section. More information on each of the templates is included below.

Registrant contact verification on new domain registration

In order to simplify the process, we verify the Registrant Firstname, Lastname and Email address as a ‘set’ of contacts and they only ever need to be verified once (unless they become invalidated which can happen in the circumstances discussed below).

If the Registrant contact data isn’t verified within 14 days of it being provided, any domain names that have that Registrant information assigned to it will be placed in a ClientHold status – which will suspend DNS resolution – until the Registrant contact data is verified.

For example, if you submit a registration with the the following information (and you click the verification link sent to the Registrant Email):

Registrant Firstname: Joe
Registrant Lastname: Banks
Registrant Email: mynameisjoe@gmail.com

and then months later you use the exact same set of Registrant data on another gTLD domain registration, then there will be no requirement to re-verify the contact information.

However, if you type the Registrant Firstname as Joseph in the next registration you submit, you will need to verify that new set of contact information (because it’s not an exact match to an already verified set of Registrant contacts).

How would my Registrant contact data become invalidated?

There are only a handful of circumstances that could cause your validated Registrant contact data to become invalidated and they are:

The WHOIS Data Reminder Policy (WDRP) email bounces back.
Expiration notice bounces back.
There is a legal change in your name and we become aware – and therefore need to manually initiate an invalidation on the Registrant contact data.
There is an update to the Registrant Firstname, Lastname or Email Address.

Updating Registrant contact data

If you update the Firstname, Lastname or email address on the Registrant contact, and it’s being updated to a never previously validated set of contact information, you will need to complete the verification process again for the new subset of information.

Email templates and when and what?

Okay, so we know it’s a bit of information overload, which is why we’ve put all the information in our FAQ to help you understand the process.

Essentially, there are three new Email Templates that you can modify with your own branding (we’ve put some basic information in it already for you):

Registrant Contact Verification: This email is issued at the time of registration (along with the regular ‘Registration Successful’ email) for Registrant contact information that hasn’t previously been validated; and at the time of the Registrant Firstname, Lastname or Email Address is updated or any other stage that any previously validated Registrant contact data has become invalid. It will list (in the email) the number of days remaining for verification. This is usually 14, however, can be less if the same unvalidated Registrant data is used on another domain registration within the 14 day period (that is, the time doesn’t reset if the exact same information is used again – it will simply follow on from the original verification request). This email is sent to the Registrant contact only.

Registrant Contact Verification Reminder: This is a friendly reminder email that is sent when there is 7 days until the domain name needs to be suspended, along with when there is 1 day remaining. This is sent to the Registrant email address only.

Registrant Contact Verification Suspension: This is the very final notice that is issued, and happens simultaneously as the ClientHold status is applied to the domain name. It is sent to the Registrant only, and includes the verification link (which, when clicked will unsuspend the domain registrations – that use the same Registrant contact data – immediately).

Okay, my brain hurts and I’ve just read through 920 characters… What does it mean?

Well if you’ve got this far, then good on you! It might feel like your brain will explode, but we have made this process as simple as possible, whilst remaining flexible enough for our Resellers to use. We have a heap of information, including some frequently asked questions, in the dedicated category on our FAQ.