When a domain name is registered on behalf of a customer we rely on registrars to manage all aspects of that registration. We do however send a number of emails directly to the registrant and provide information in lookup services such as WHOIS and on www.keepyour.co.uk. These emails and lookup services always reference the registrar to which the domain name is assigned.

Some registrars provide a reseller programme to allow other companies to register domain names on their account. However, in these instances the registrar is listed as the main point of contact associated with the domain name.

We have found that this often causes confusion to the registrant as they usually do not know that they are using a reseller and are not aware of the relationship between the registrar and the reseller.

Our reseller data service allows registrars the option to provide us with information about their resellers and then link domain names to those resellers. This allows all of our registrant communications and lookup services to reference the reseller.

As a result the information that we publish about who hosts a domain name will be clearer and allows the customer, reseller, registrar and Nominet to more effectively deal with any queries relating to the domain name registration.

How to use the reseller data service

Registrars that want to take advantage of the reseller data service need to do three things:

1. Supply us with data about your resellers
2. Link existing domain names to their appropriate reseller, and
   
3. Ensure that ongoing registrations include the appropriate reseller reference