What does it cost to register a .NU Domain name and when is payment for registering a name due?

The registration fee starts at $55 for two years with discounts for additional years, up to 5 years. There is also a nominal fee for some domain registration modifications. Payment is due at the time of registration; names will be activated within 24 hours of registration. Registration renewal fees are due 30 days before the end of the registration period. If a renewal fee is not paid by 3 days after expiration, the name will be subject to deletion from the .NU Domain database and become available for others to register. We will try to stay flexible on this procedure assuming good faith evidence of attempts to pay can be shown.

What payment methods are currently acceptable for .NU Domain name registrations?

DNS Central accepts payment by credit card (American Express, Discover/Novus, Mastercard, VISA), check (payable by a U.S. bank), Paypal, and wire transfer. As a Certified .NU Domain Registar, DNS Central processes all paperwork and payments on behalf of the .NU Domain.

What characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and -) and how many characters can a .NU Domain name have?

As few as one and as many as 62 characters are permitted, although some mail programs do not accept more than 26 characters in a combined TLD and second level domain name and we therefore do not recommend more than 23 characters for the second level domain (plus .NU = 26). Names may not begin or end with a dash, and upper case and lower case are treated as lower case only. Besides the - character, only alphanumeric characters a-z, 0-9 are accepted. Spaces and any other characters in a name will not be accepted.

Is there a limit to the number of .NU Domain names one organization or person may register or a limitation as to where that company or person must be located in order to register a .NU Domain name?

Any person or single organization located anywhere in the world may register any number of names as long as the names are actively supported by a name server at the time of activation. You *must* have name server support in order for us to keep it active in the .NU zone. If name server services are not available, the .NU Domain may at its discretion cancel your registration with no refund. Several sources exist for low cost domain name services, including those offered by DNS Central.

How long after a registration application is submitted will it take for a name to become active on the Internet and how will you be notified?

When your registration is successfully processed, you will be notified immediately at your billing email address. It is important that the billing email address be a working address or your registration may fail. Your name will become active on the Internet within 24 hours of that notification. If no payment authorization is received within 72 hours, however, your name will be subject to deactivation and deletion from the registry database.

What is the .NU Domain policy concerning trademarks and registration of names in the .nu Top Level Domain?

We will accept any name for registration and activation, and will not deactivate any name for any reason (excepting nonpayment) other than by direction by the registrant and/or by the High Court of Niue, with the following proviso:
Registrants must agree at the time of registration that, to the best of their knowledge, the name they are registering does not violate trademark law in their own jurisdiction. The .NU Domain registry is not bound to maintain a name registration in active status if this agreement is violated. Registrants may also wish to consider putting any trademark disputes before the World Intellectual Property Organization's domain name challenge panel for resolution.

Are there any reserved names in the .NU Domain?

Yes. Here are the officials ones: com.nu, co.nu, net.nu, org.nu, mil.nu, gov.nu, edu.nu, int.nu, web.nu, info.nu, firm.nu, store.nu, arts.nu, rec.nu, nom.nu, and niue.nu. These are reserved for possible future use and are not available to be registered at this time, nor are they available for third-level domain name registration. Certain administrative names -- such as nunames.nu, www.nu, mail.nu, nic.nu, and support.nu -- are also not available.

When will annual renewal notifications be sent out? Will my credit card automatically be charged?

Renewal notifications and bills are sent via email 30 - 60 days prior to your annual date. It is important that your billing email address data in our registration database be kept current for this reason. Because we use an outside, secure credit card processing service, we have no record of your credit card number and so can not automatically charge you for a renewal. Renewal fees must be paid prior to the anniversary date, and if not paid by 3 days after the anniversary date, names will be removed from the registration database and the DNS server records. Again, we will try to stay flexible in the event of a showing of a best-effort to pay.

Can registration fees be paid further in advance than for one year?

Yes. We can accept payment for any period from two to five years for the annual .NU Domain registration fee.

Where does the .NU Domain name come from? Is it an official name, and if so, why isn't ICANN managing it?

The .NU Domain is an official Internet Country Code domain name, just like .UK (for England), .FR (for France) or .CA (for Canada). Delegation for registration of .NU domains has been granted to the Internet Users Society - Niue by the government of Niue. Niue is the country to which .NU refers - it is the Country Code for the nation of Niue, an island in the South Pacific area of Polynesia. You can learn a bit more about Niue (pronounced "new way") and its Polynesian South Pacific island location at http://www.nunames.nu/visitniue.

Once I register my .NU Domain name, how to I get to my Web or receive email?

When you register a domain name, you do not also automatically receive a Web site or email service. You must obtain these from your ISP or other service provider (such as www.dnscentral.com) By registering your .NU Domain name, you are guaranteeing that you will control that name for as long as you pay the annual maintenance fee. That is the primary service provided by any Domain Name Registry, including InterNIC.