.US Domain Names

Make America's Internet Address Yours!

DOT-US is the official Internet address of the United States. From 1985 until Fall 2001, the dot US country code top level domain (ccTLD) could only be used by government agencies. On February 1, 2002, the US Department of Commerce and contractor NeuStar Registry Services, the official .US registry, announced the launch of dot US (.US) registrations to the general public.

A dot US web domain name is patriotic and practical. Unlike other crowded domains such as .com, you have a great chance of being able to secure the unique online name you really want — for life. You'd much rather have YourCompany.us than TheOnlyDomainNameLeft.com, right? Use your .US as your primary email address, to launch your own personal or business web site, or both. The possibilities are endless. Every individual, business or organization with a substantive connection to the United States of America is eligible to purchase a .US domain name, so buy yours today!

.US for Individuals

Whether you use your domain name for email, a Web site, or both, a dot US Internet address is perfect for individual Americans, families, and local groups.

Get an email address that's all yours, not some company's. If your name is Lynn Smith, why get stuck with an address like lynn85392 at something dot-com? The problem is, the company providing your email may already have thousands of users named Lynn, and several named Lynn Smith.

With a dot US Internet address, your email address could be lynn@lynnsmith.us. Very cool.

You can use your .US address with the ISP of your choice. So if you change providers, you still keep your address. It doesn't have to change when some company buys your ISP out.

Have your own Web site. Millions of Americans have their own sites, for convenience, for exchanging information, and just for fun. Use your .US Web site to:

• Share photos, artwork, recipes, craft ideas, resumes, school reports, your family history, etc.
• Advertise items in a yard sale.
• Post the latest schedules for team sports, carpools, or play dates.
• Promote your local church or a fundraising event.
• Support your community or homeowner's association.
• Host fan pages for music groups, movie stars, or TV shows.

Promote your business - or start a new one. A memorable .US Internet domain name can make it easy to find your web site. Many .US online retailers can help you list your site with search engines and take credit card payments online.

.US for Businesses

The Internet is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity - for businesses, associations, charities, and other organizations that need to inform people and enable online transactions. However you currently use or want to use the Internet, a dot US address can be a key part of your strategy.

Use your .US address with any Internet Service Provider or Web hosting firm, for email or a web site or both. If you change vendors, you still get to keep your .US Internet address as long as you keep renewing the domain's registration.

Businesses can use .US as their sole Internet address or in addition to another address, such as .com, .biz or .net.

International firms can distinguish their United States operations with a .US address.

Associations can use .US to supplement their .org address and to demonstrate an American focus.

Educational institutions can use a .US address when trying to reach a broader audience than with .edu alone.

Organizations of all kinds can use a .US address to show their American spirit and appeal to those who share it.

The bottom line: A dot US domain address is a great new way for people to find you on the Internet. And the more ways you can be found, the better. Order your .US domain now!

Prices for .US Domain Registration

At Web Design by Cookie, .US domains are competitively priced with other domain names like .com or .net. Typically registrars charge $20 for a .US domain name, but with WDBC you can get your own .US domain name for a web site or e-mail address for just $14.89 per year or lower with our discount pricing.

Check Availability of your DOT-US

.com .biz .info .net .org .sr .tv .us & more domains

.US Frequently Asked Questions

General Info about .US Domains

• What is .US?
• What makes the .US internet address unique?
• Why would I want a .us domain name?

.US Domain Registration

• Who can register a .US domain name?
• What is the .US Nexus requirement?
• What is allowed in a .us domain registration and what is not?
• What are the registration terms for .us domain names?
• What is the price of a .US domain name?

.US Domain Transfers

• Do you accept .US domain name transfers?
• How do I transfer my .US domain name?
• What is the <AUTHINFO>, <AUTH>, or Authorization code needed to transfer a .US domain name?
• How do I request my <AUTHINFO>, <AUTH>, or authorization code needed to transfer a .US domain name from WDBC to another registrar?
• How much does it cost to make a .US registrar-to-registrar transfer?

.US Lookup and Dispute Resolution

• How can I find out who has the .US domain name I want?
• What is the .US WHOIS?
• What are the .US dispute-resolution policies?

About WDBC

• Who is WDBC?

Dot US is "America’s Internet Address." It is the official country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States of America within the global domain name system (DNS).

[Top]

Dot US is the only means of establishing an American address on the Internet. Now, all U.S. residents, government entities, public service organizations, and businesses can establish an American identity on the Internet with a short memorable domain name. (e.g., johnsmith.us, publicservice.us, mycompany.us). Because .US is new, your odds of finding a great .us domain name are much better than with other web domains like the older .com or .net. Register a .us domain name today.

[Top]

Market research has shown that USA domain names are very popular with consumers for applications like email, digital identity, and personal web sites. A recent Harris Poll (April, 2002) found that most Americans prefer .US to the more generic .COM Internet address. The poll results indicate that as many as 68 million Americans would choose .US if given a choice between the two Internet naming conventions. Government and public interest organizations use .US addresses to enable citizen-centric e-Gov applications and to serve the needs of the American people. Finally, businesses use .US domain names to promote themselves as American companies to inspire consumer confidence and to encourage consumers to "buy American." Purchase your US domain name.

[Top]

The .US ccTLD is a restricted country specific top level domain. Any U.S. citizen or resident, as well as any business or organization, including federal, state, and local government with a bona fide presence in the United States can register a .US domain and meet the Nexus requirement for .US domain name ownership. One of the following eligibility requirements must be met:

• A natural person (i) who is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States of America or any of its possessions or territories or (ii) whose primary place of domicile is in the United States of America or any of its possessions, or
• Any entity or organization that is incorporated within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or any of the United States possessions or territories or (ii) organized or otherwise constituted under the laws of a state of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, or any of its possessions or territories, or
• An entity or organization (including federal, state, or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision thereof) that has a bona fide presence in the United States.

[Top]

All applicants in the .US expanded domain namespace are expected to meet (and remain in compliance with) the U.S. Nexus Requirement. Prospective Registrants in the usTLD must certify that they fall in one of three U.S. Nexus categories demonstrating real and substantial lawful contacts with, or lawful activities in, the United States of America. This requirement is intended to ensure that only those individuals or organizations that have a substantive lawful connection to the United States are permitted to register for usTLD domain names. See more specific eligibility requirements above.

[Top]

You must meet the US Nexus requirements outlined above to register a .us domain. Dot US names can contain the English-language letters A through Z, and the digits 0 through 9. You can also use hyphens, but hyphens cannot begin or end your domain name. Spaces and special characters (such as !, $, &, ë, etc.) are never permitted. DOT-US domain names cannot contain more than 63 characters in length excluding the "www" and ".us" portions. In addition, certain domains are not allowed and are already reserved. Names are reserved to protect important local and national naming resources to reserve spaces within .US for future enhancement of the domain and to protect technical Internet interoperability. Lastly, you cannot register a .us domain name consisting of all numbers five digits and higher (e.g. www.02910.us or www.029109999.us), all numbers in the format five digits-four digits (zip codes e.g. 02910-4375.us), all telephone numbers including toll-free numbers (e.g. 555-123-4567.us, 555123456.us, or 1-800-555-5555.us), or tagged domain names--all labels with hyphens in the third and fourth character positions (e.g. "bq--kn2n4h4b.us").

[Top]

Until October 2002, .US top level domains required a two year initial registration commitment, however, now .US domain names can be registered for 1, 2, 5, and 10 year renewable registration terms. Register a dot US domain today!

[Top]

Market-based retail prices for .US domain names are established by .US-Accredited Registrars and their resale channel partners. Prices on the web vary greatly and are typically $20 per year. At Web Design by Cookie, .US domain names are offered at the same everyday low prices as .com, .net, or .org domains and registrations are available for $14.89 per year (or less). The pricing structure is an annual subscription fee with discounted multi-year subscription terms available. Full payment with a credit card is required at time of domain reservation. Consult our current domain name prices. See if your dot US domain name is available.

[Top]

Yes. You can perform a registrar-to-registrar (R-to-R) .US domain name transfer and move your domains from other higher priced registrars or consolidate all your domains in one place. R-to-R transfers are $9.75, 35% off our regular .US annual registration price. We'll add an additional year to your registration term for free. You will need your <AUTHINFO> or Transfer Authorization code which can be obtained from your existing registrar to initiate a .US transfer. Ownership transfers or registrant name changes within the WDBC domain registration system are FREE and can be performed within the current domain owner's account instantly. Transfer your US domain.

[Top]

Domain name transfers fall in one of two categories:

• Registrant Transfer or Name Change: Each Registrar has unique requirements for making changes to the registrant field of a domain name. WDBC Domain customers can make these changes by logging into their domain account 24/7. In addition, you can transfer ownership of a domain name to another WDBC domain name account instantly for FREE through the current owners domain account. The new owner will need to sign up for a FREE WDBC account if they do not already have one. Login or sign up for an account.
• Registrar-to-Registrar Transfer: .US Registry rules require that a domain name be registered for a minimum of 60 days, and be in PAID status with the current sponsoring Registrar before it can be transferred to another Registrar. If your domain name meets these requirements, contact your current sponsoring Registrar and request the domain's <AUTHINFO> code, which we will need in order to initiate the transfer process for your domain. With <AUTHINFO> code in hand, complete our simple domain transfer form and sign up for a WDBC domain account if you don't already have one to transfer your domain registrar sponsorship to WDBC and save!

[Top]

An <AUTHINFO>, <AUTH>, or transfer authorization code is a six- to 16-character "password" assigned by a sponsoring Registrar. It identifies your domain name in the Registry. No DOT-US domain name transfer request for any registrar can be successfully executed without this password.

Registrars are contractually required to provide this code upon registrant request. Registrants are advised to protect their <AUTHINFO> codes to avoid unauthorized transfers of domain names.

[Top]

If WDBC is your domain's current sponsoring registrar and you need an <AUTHINFO> or <AUTH> code to transfer your name to another registrar follow these simple steps:

1. Login to your domain account
2. Click on the .US domain name you want to transfer to another registrar under Quick Links area
3. Click on the "Request Transfer Authorization Code" link for the domain (under the services area)
4. Wait for an e-mail from wdbc.com with your <AUTHINFO> code. It will be e-mailed to the domain owner's email account within a matter of minutes.

[Top]

Market-based retail prices for .US domain names are established by .US-Accredited Registrars and their resale partners. At WDBC, Registrar-to-Registrar .US domain transfers are competitively priced at $9.75 per domain transfer. Each registrar-to-registrar transfer will receive an additional year extension added to the current registration term. Ownership transfers and registrant changes are FREE and can be performed in the existing domain owner's account without our "Move Domain to Another Account" feature. Initiate a dot US domain name registrar transfer.

[Top]

You can search the .US registry's public WHOIS at http://www.whois.us/ to determine the name and contact information for a given .US domain name. If WDBC, a Dotster dotReseller, is the registrar of record you can also search the WDBC Whois database.

[Top]

WHOIS is a search tool that is used to look up records in the .US domain name space. Each record within the WHOIS database has a "handle" (a unique identifier assigned to it), a name, a record type, and various other fields. WHOIS provides a means to search for domain names using these specific fields. You can search the .US registry's public whois database at http://www.whois.us/.

[Top]

You can review the dispute resolution policy which all .US licensed registrars and retail channel partners must abide by at http://www.nic.us/policies/docs/usdrp.pdf [PDF].

[Top]

Web Design by Cookie (WDBC) is a proud member of the Better Business Bureau, Connecticut since 2001 and a national BBBOnline Reliability Member. We've been in business since 1999 and offer high quality, affordable Internet solutions for our customers and site visitors including custom and template based web design, graphic design, web marketing, and other complimentary services to our clients and web visitors. As an official dotReseller in partnership with Dotster, an ICANN accredited registrar, we offer real time domain name registration services for the most common gTLDs and ccTLDS and url forwarding, email forwarding, DNS management, and web hosting services. All domain names that are registered through our simple and easy to use secure online domain management system are done in your own name — not ours, as some resellers often do.

[Top]

Search for your .US domain name