Help
Our customers often ask these questions so we've provided the answers on this
page for quick reference. If your question isn't answered here, please contact
us.
Registration
Payment
Email
Web forwarding and web hosting
Transfers
General
Registration
What is a domain name?
A domain name is an identity on the Internet. This web site's domain name
is ukcentric. You'll need a domain name if you're thinking of setting up
a web site or you want to have an email address that reflects your identity
on the Internet.
For example if you want to set up a web site called www.widgets.co.uk and
use an email address of info@widgets.co.uk, you'll need to register the domain
name widgets.co.uk.

Why should I register a domain name?
You need to register a domain name if you're setting up a web site, if you
want to use a distinctive email address, or if you think you might want to do
either of these in the future.
Thousands of domain names are registered every single day. Use our domain name
checker to see if the domain name you want is available. If it is, don't
hesitate, register it straight away because somebody else might register before
you.
Getting hold of a domain name before anybody else gets it is very easy and
cheap with UKcentric. Getting hold of a domain name after somebody else
has registered is extremely difficult and can be hugely expensive, time-consuming
and involve complex litigation.
Domain names are offered on a first-come first-served basis so if you find
a domain name that's available you may register it.

How do I register a domain name?
Simply use our domain name checker to
find out if your desired name is available. If it is, proceed through our checkout
to pay for the domain name, then we'll do the rest. We'll notify you
by email as soon as the domain name has been registered.

How do I find a domain name that is available to register?
Use our easy domain name checker.

How much does it cost to register a domain name?
Click here for the current prices.

How long does it take to register a domain name?
Once we receive your order, we automatically begin the registration process.
This can take up to 12 hours to complete, but is usually completed within 20
minutes. Once your domain name has been successfully registered you will receive an
email confirmation, together with details of how to make changes to your name.

.com or .co.uk? What's the difference and which should I buy?
Although there are no hard and fast rules, .com domain names normally denote global firms, whereas .co.uk usually denote UK
based companies. Either way, they are both visible to anyone in the world on
the Internet. If you are buying a .co.uk we strongly recommend that you buy
the .com version of your name at the same time. Together they have a resale
value far in excess of the separate names.
Furthermore it is our experience that if you start a web site using one name,
somebody else will pick up on this, register the other name and try to sell
it to you or compete with you.
.org and .org.uk names are usually used by non-profit-making organisations.
.biz is a new possibility for global commercial web sites, and .net is normally
as a complement to .com.
.info is used for informational web sites.
.me names are usually registered by individuals for their personal web sites.

Payment
Is my payment secure?
Yes. Your payment is taken through Worldpay (owned by Royal Bank of Scotland),
the leading UK providers of secure online credit card transaction facilities.
Your credit card details are not passed to us, but instead are only held for
the duration of the transaction.

What will my credit card statement show?
Your credit card statement will show a payment to UKCENTRIC LTD, our parent company.

Email
Can I forward emails I receive at my domain name to my existing email address?
Yes! We now offer full email forwarding services for free with every single
domain name purchased. You can designate up to five separate email forwarding
addresses.
For example if you registered the domain name mysite.co.uk you could set up
sales@mysite.co.uk to forward to one email address, and george@mysite.co.uk
to forward to another email address. You can also set up a "catch-all"
email address to forward emails that arrive at any address on your domain name
so you will never miss any email sent to your domain name.
Note: email forwarding does not allow you to send emails, only receive them.
To send emails through your domain name you will need web hosting.
To use email forwarding, log in and click "Domains", then go to the domain name you wish to receive email to, and click "Email forwarding".

Can I get an email address with my domain name?
Yes! If you add one of our low-cost web hosting and email plans to your domain name
during registration, you can have up to 50 email addresses for your domain name (see plans for details). Alternatively, we provide free email receiving and forwarding facilities with all domain
name registrations (see above).

Web hosting and web forwarding
Can I use my new domain name to take web users to my existing web site?
Yes! This is called web forwarding and we provide it free with every domain
name purchase. To use web forwarding, log in and click "Domains", then go to the domain name you wish to use, and click "Web forwarding".

Why do I get an error message when I visit my domain name?
Although registrations are immediate, it can take up to 48 hours for a domain
name to become "visible" to the Internet. The average length of time
it takes is about 12 hours. During this time your web browser may display an
error message. After this time, your domain name will show a standard page from
this web site.
If you want to change what you see when you visit your name, please see web
hosting, below.

How do I set up my web site once I've registered my name?
You can purchase low cost web hosting
from us which will give you full access to set up your web site and use email
once your domain is registered.
New to web hosting? Read our beginners guide
to web hosting.

Can I use my new domain name to divert web users to my existing web site?
If you want to divert traffic to your existing web site which is hosted with
a company other than ourselves, there are two ways to do it.
1: You can update your nameservers to those of your hosting company. They will
be able to provide you with the nameserver names. To do this: log in to your UKcentric account, click "Domain names", click the relevant domain name, then click "Nameservers".
2: You can use our "web forwarding" facility. This is a simpler method
which allows you to just divert web users to your web site URL. To do this: log in to your UKcentric account, click "Domain names", click the relevant domain name, then click "Web forwarding".

Transfers
How do I transfer a domain name into UKcentric?
To do this you must first have a customer account. If you do not already have one, please create an account.
The fees for transferring a domain name into UKcentric are identical to our low-cost registration fees.
How do I transfer a domain name away from UKcentric?
Unlike other companies, we do not charge for transferring domain names away.
However, we do stress that transfers are time-consuming, can incur charges from the receiving company, and
are totally unnecessary. If you want to host your domain name with another company you can easily
do this by updating your nameservers (see above). If your hosting company have told you that you must
transfer the name to them to host it, this is technically not the case.
General
Who are UKcentric?
We're a web development
company based in London, and we've been trading successfully since 1999. We're
friendly, approachable, and in this virtual world we are very real! We welcome
your comments and questions:
ukcentric
UKcentric Ltd
Midsummer House
15 Arlington Road
Surrey
KT6 6BW

What are your credentials?
We're proud to say that we are full members of Nominet, the body which administers
the .uk domain, and members of Joker.com and eNom, two of the .com administration
bodies.
As well as this we've won numerous awards for web site design and services
and we are members of Kingston Chamber of Commerce.

What if I need further support or help?
We put the "gone" into "jargon". We're experts but very approachable so please
don't hesitate to contact us. We're available during office hours to answer
your emails and calls.

What happens when my domain name expires?
Your domain name is registered for a period of years (2 years minimum in the case
of .uk names). Before this time is up we'll contact you using the email address
you've given us. You then have the choice to register your domain name again or leave
it to expire. Re-registration will involve a charge similar to your initial
registration fee.
To make sure you receive our renewal notices, please ensure your spam filters and junk mail filters are set up to be able to receive emails from ukcentric.com. If you don't you may
miss our renewal notices, and your domain name may expire.
It is a very good idea to make a note in your diary a week or two before the expiry date - our renewal notices are sent as a courtesy to help remind you when your name is going to expire, but
the responsibility for renewing in time lies with you.
