an Australian business you can register a .com.au or .net.au domain
an Australian incorporated non-profit organisation you can register a .org.au domain
an Australian citizen you can register a .id.au domain
an association of any form you can register a .asn.au domain

In most cases your domain name will need to relate to or be derived from your business, organisation or personal name. More details are available on our domain name registration guidelines page.

Can Anchor renew my domain?

Yes.

.au domain renewals

Domains ending in .au can only be renewed within 3 months of their expiry date. If you renew a domain ending in .au more than 3 months before the expiry date you will lose any part of the registration that you have already paid for.

If your domain is within 3 months of the expiry date, you can use our domain name renewal form.

If your domain is not within 3 months of expiry date you can transfer the domain name to Anchor free of charge and you will be notified when it is due for renewal via email. To transfer a domain name to Anchor, use our domain name transfer form.

How does the domain name renewals process work?

Domains already registered with Anchor

If your domain is already registered with Anchor you will simply receive a reminder prior to the expiry of your domain and you can renew your domain via our website. This is a quick and easy process. Alternately, when your domain name is within 3 months of the expiry date you can renew it via the domain name management interface.

Domain names registered with a different Registrar

If your domain is currently registered with another registrar and you would like to renew it with Anchor, the domain is ‘transferred’ to Anchor and renewed at the same time for a 2 year period.

To protect your domain against unsolicited renewals this is a 3 step process.

Step 1. You submit a renewal/transfer request via our website using this form.

Step 2. An email will be sent to the email address of the listed registrant contact for the domain. You need to reply to this email to authorise the domain transfer/renewal request. This step is important as it verifies that the person making the request has the authority to make such a request.

Step 3. Anchor will request that the domain be transferred to our account with the Registry and you will receive an email containing details to allow management of your domain through our web based domain name management system.

It will take a minimum of 3 working days for your domain to be transferred/renewed with Anchor.

Important: If the existing Registrant contact details for your domain are incorrect or are out of date you will be unable to renew the domain with Anchor. To check these details you should perform a whois lookup on the domain. If they are incorrect you must first update these details through your existing registrar. To find out who this is, you should perform a whois lookup on the domain.

What is a registry key, what is a domain name password?

A registry key is a MelbourneIT term, it refers to the password required to access their domain name management interfaces. The domain name password is a global term and refers to the authentication information used to validate requests for changes to your domain name.
I have sold my business, how do I change the registrant of the domain?

To update the registrant of the domain you will need to fill in the change of registrant form. On successful completion of the change of registrant process a new 2 year license for the domain will be issued resulting in the standard price of $69 per 2 year registration.

I’ve lost my domain name password, how do I recover it?

Your domain name password should have been provided to you when your domain was registered. If you have lost your domain password then:

If the domain was not registered through Anchor you need to contact the registrar of your domain name.
If you registered your domain with Anchor you can recover your domain name password.

How does the domain name transfer process work for .au domains?

Transferring an .au domain name is a free service. It does not change any of the settings on your domain name, or cause any downtime.

A transfer request must be submitted which includes your domain name password and current contact details.

Once the request is received a confirmation email is sent to the listed registrant contact for the domain name. A reply to this email must be received to authorise the domain transfer.

Once the confirmation is received a transfer is initiated. This is an automated process and takes 2 days to complete.

Once the transfer is complete you will be able to manage your domain name via our online management interfaces.

How does the domain name transfer process work for gTLD domains?

To transfer a gTLD domain name requires you to renew the domain name for an additional 1 year. This additional year is added on to the existing renewal date regardless of when this is.

To initiate a transfer you must submit a request with your contact information. A confirmation email will be sent to the listed administrative contact. This request will ask you to go to a website to confirm the transfer. You will need to know the auth info or domain name password to complete this process.

The losing registrar may also send you an email requiring you to accept the transfer away from them. You must respond to this or the transfer will be blocked.

What are the payment options?

We accept payment via:

Cheque or Money Order
Electronic funds transfer
Credit Card: Visa and Mastercard

Note that if you place an order and elect to pay by any means other than credit card your order will not be processed until we have received and cleared the payment.

Is my application approved?

You will receive confirmation of approval of your application via email upon completion. Please do not hesitate to call us to check on the status of urgent orders.

Why was my application rejected?

We have to reject applications that don’t conform to the auDA .au policies. If you feel your application fits within the criteria specified, you need to provide enough details to ensure we can make a valid policy decision. Generally you will need to resubmit an application if it has been rejected, with correct details, we cannot modify applications.

What is delegation and re-delegation?

Delegation is the assigning of name servers to a domain name. Re-delegation is the re-assigning of name servers to a domain name. To delegate or redelegate a domain name to a particular name server use the domain name management interface, you will need your domain name password.

Can Anchor host my website?

Yes. Anchor specialises in provided highly reliable professional web hosting. Our packages start from just $198/year. Find more details on Anchor’s website hosting.

If you register your domain with Anchor your web hosting service can be setup within 1 hour of ordering.

Can you register my domain if I host my site elsewhere?

Yes. When we register your domain you are the owner, you have full control over the domain (via a web based management interface) and can delegate the domain to any web hosting company of your choice.

Do you provide domain parking or DNS hosting?

Yes. Primary and secondary DNS hosting can be provided for $50/domain/year.

How does the domain system work in .au?

The domain system in Australia is made up of 5 different groups of people: auDA, Registry, Registrars, Re-sellers and Registrants. An article has been produced by auDA explaining who these different groups of people are and what they do.

For gTLD domains, what are my rights and responsibilities as a domain registrant?

Full details of your rights and responsibilities can be found online