When you register a domain, three parties are involved. Knowing who does what avoids misunderstandings — above all about one important question: who owns the domain.
The three parties
| Who |
What they do |
| Registry |
The organisation that runs an entire extension and keeps the official database of every domain ending in it. For country extensions this is a national body — .mz is run by CIUEM. It sets the rules for that extension — prices, deadlines and requirements. |
| Registrar |
The accredited company that handles the registration on your behalf, bills, renews, and gives you the panel to manage the domain. That is our role. |
| Registrant |
The person or company the domain is registered to. That is your role — and you hold the rights to it. |
The domain is yours, not ours
This is the part that causes the most confusion. We handle the registration, but you are the registrant. In practice that means:
| 1 |
You can take it to another provider whenever you want — see how to transfer a domain. You don't need our permission, only the transfer code, which we are required to give you.
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| 2 |
The registrant details are yours and should be accurate. They are what proves the domain is yours if there is ever a dispute.
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| 3 |
You don't buy a domain — you lease it. Registration runs in periods (usually years). If you don't renew, it expires and becomes available to someone else.
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Why your contact details really matter
| 1 |
Expiry notices go to the registrant e-mail. If that address is wrong or unreachable, you can lose the domain without noticing.
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| 2 |
Transfer confirmations go there too — without access to that mailbox, a transfer cannot complete.
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| 3 |
Keep them current in My Details and in the domain's own contact details.
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An expired domain can't always be recovered. Once the grace period passes it returns to the market and anyone can register it — competitors included. It is the most common way a business loses the address it has always used.
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Registering for several years at once removes the risk of forgetting and, on some extensions, costs less. If the domain is your company name, it's worth it.
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