Buying a domain
Search for a domain, register it in your name and have it set up and connected to a project — without leaving Genesis.
You don't have to buy a domain somewhere else and point it at Genesis. Buy Domain on the Domains page searches available names, registers the one you pick in your name, sets up DNS and SSL automatically and connects it to a project — the whole thing in one flow.
Searching
Type a name — with or without an ending. acme checks the popular endings (.com, .net, .org,
.io, .co, .app, .dev, .ai, .me, .xyz, .info) and shows the registry's own suggestions below.
Type the whole name — acme.co.uk, acme.com.au, acme.de — to check any of the 398 endings
Genesis sells, country endings included. The name you typed (or its .com) is shown first with
its yearly price, and the rest are listed as alternatives, available ones on top.
Names the registry sells at a premium price aren't offered — the price you see is always the plain yearly rate.
Country endings with rules
Some registries only register names to people or businesses that meet their rules. Genesis shows who can register an ending under its price, says it again before you fill anything in, and asks the registry's own questions on the registrant step — so a name you can't hold is caught there, not after you pay.
| Ending | Who can register it | What you're asked |
|---|---|---|
| .au, .com.au, .net.au | Businesses registered in Australia, or owners of an Australian trademark | ABN, ACN or trademark number, the business's legal name, its type |
| .ca | Canadian citizens and residents, organisations registered in Canada | Your legal status in Canada, an address in Canada |
| .us | US citizens and residents, US businesses | An address in the US, a confirmation |
| .de | Anyone with an address in Germany | An address in Germany |
| .eu | People and organisations in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, EU citizens anywhere | Your EU citizenship if you live elsewhere |
| .fr | People and organisations in the EU or Switzerland, people 18 or older | Date of birth |
| .it | People and organisations with an address in the EU | Codice fiscale, partita IVA or an ID document number |
| .es | Anyone | DNI, NIE or CIF in Spain, a passport or national ID number elsewhere |
| .fi | Anyone | A Finnish identity code or Business ID in Finland, date of birth or VAT number elsewhere |
| .jp | People and companies in Japan | An address in Japan |
| .nl, .co.za | Anyone | Nothing extra |
| .berlin, .ruhr, .wien | A connection to the city or region | An address there, or a confirmation |
| .lawyer, .attorney, .dentist, .doctor, .engineer | People who hold the title the name claims | A confirmation that you do |
| .army, .navy, .airforce | Anyone, as long as the site doesn't pose as the military | A confirmation |
Identity numbers and birth dates go to the registry with your order and aren't remembered by your browser for next time.
Registering
Pick a name and choose a term — one to five years where the registry allows it. A few endings
register one year at a time (.de, .it, .nl, .jp), and .ai starts at two years.
Then fill in the registrant — the person or company the domain will be registered to. That's
you, not Genesis: the domain is yours, and you can move it to another registrar later.
Two things about the registrant details:
- The email address receives a verification message from the registry after the first registration. Click the link within 15 days, or the registry suspends the domain. Genesis shows a reminder until it's done.
- WHOIS privacy is on by default wherever the registry has it, so your address and phone
aren't published in the public domain record. A few registries don't offer it (
.us,.de,.com.auamong them) — the order summary says so.
Pay with a card. The total is the yearly price times the term. A completed registration is final — registries don't refund them. If the registry can't register the name (it was taken a moment before, say), you're refunded in full automatically.
What happens next
Registration takes the registry a few minutes, occasionally longer. You can close the window; Genesis emails you when it's done, and the domain appears on the Domains page with a Registered with ESTAGE badge.
From there the setup runs itself: the SSL certificate is requested, the domain is activated the moment the certificate is issued, and the wizard asks which project it should serve. Pick one (optionally on a subdomain), and the domain is live within a few minutes — serving the project's published site, or waiting for its first publish.
Renewal
The domain renews automatically each year at the rate you saw when you bought it, charged to the card you paid with about a month before it expires. The domain's page shows the renewal date and a switch:
- Turn off auto-renew — the domain expires on its date and stops serving your site. Nothing is charged.
- Turn on auto-renew — lifts a pending cancellation, or starts renewals again from your saved card.
If a renewal charge fails, Genesis retries for a few days and emails you. If it still can't charge the card, auto-renew is switched off and the domain lapses on its expiry date — update your card and turn renewal back on to keep it.
Good to know
- Your domain is locked against transfer after registration, as registrars require. It can be moved to another registrar after 60 days; contact support for the transfer code.
- Some emails — the verification message, renewal notices — come from the registry directly, not from Genesis.
- A domain bought here works exactly like a connected one afterwards: DNS records, subdomains, several projects on one domain, the community host — everything on Connecting to a project applies.