How to register a domain name - Domain Names - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

Before you begin

Create a registrant profile: On the Registrant Profiles page of the Alibaba Cloud Domain Names console, create a registrant profile and submit it for approval.

A registrant profile stores contact information about the domain name registrant. You must associate a registrant profile when registering a domain name. Creating and verifying the profile in advance speeds up registration. For instructions on creating a registrant profile, see Create a registrant profile.

A registrant profile must pass review after you submit it. Review usually takes 1 business day and, in some cases, 3 to 5 business days. You can use a profile to register a domain name only when its status is Verified. To check the review status, go to the Registrant Profiles page of the Domain Names console.

Register a domain name

Registering a standard domain name involves three steps.

Search for and select a domain name: Look up a domain name and check availability.
Confirm the order and complete the payment: Set the registration period, provide registrant information, and pay.
Verify the registration result and what to do next: Check the status of the domain name in the Domain Names console and complete the required configuration, such as DNS resolution.

Step 1: Search for and select a domain name

Go to the domain name registration platform, enter a domain name (for example, "wangwang.cc") in the search box, and click Query.

Domain names must follow specific naming rules, such as character type and length limits. For detailed rules, see Appendix: Naming rules for domain names.
Check if the domain name is available:
- If a Buy Now button appears, the domain name is available.
- If a TAKEN label appears, the domain name is already registered. To acquire it, click Make An Offer and learn more.
- If a Buy Now button appears, the domain name is registered but for sale. If you want this domain name, click Buy Now to learn more.

Important

a domain name that contains "China", "national", "Chinese", "nationwide", "china", "chn", or "sino", or any other Chinese or English characters with the same meaning, must be registered by the corresponding rights holder. An individual or any entity that is not the rights holder cannot register such a domain name without authorization from the corresponding organization, and a registered domain name of this kind cannot be transferred to an individual through a transfer-in. Otherwise, the domain name fails the naming review.
If the name of the registering entity begins with "China", "National", "Chinese", or "Nationwide"
After the registrant profile passes identity verification and you have topped up your account with the first-year registration fee, submit the following materials to apply by choosing to submit a ticket. Credit control, coupons, and vouchers cannot be used for this payment. Whether the registration succeeds depends on the review result.
- A color photo or scan of the domain name registrant's organization's organization certificate, and a color photo or scan of the domain name registrant's contact person's ID card.
- A Domain Name Application Statement stamped with the official seal of the domain name registrant's organization. The statement must specify the domain name you are applying for, the registrant name, the registrant contact person's name, the contact information, and the intended use. The name and contact information on the identity-verified registrant profile must match the registrant contact person and contact information on the statement.
Domain Name Application Statement

Domain to be registered: (Do not include www.)

Registrant name:

Registrant contact person's name:

Contact information:

Purpose of registration:

Date (Seal)

Step 2: Confirm the order and complete the payment

On the search results page, click Buy Now next to the domain name you want, add it to your list, and go to the order confirmation page.
On the order confirmation page, configure the following:
- Registration period: Specify a time from 1 to 10 years.
  
  For a core brand domain name, register for 5 to 10 years to reduce management costs and potentially improve search engine optimization (SEO).
- Registrant profile: The email address must complete email verification Verified. If you have not created a registrant profile, click Create and follow the on-screen guidance to create one and submit the materials.
A registrant profile records the identity information of the domain name registrant, whether an individual or an organization. Under ICANN and registry requirements, every domain name must be associated with a registrant profile.
Click Pay and complete the payment.

Important

Payment does not guarantee registration.

Payment submits your registration request to Alibaba Cloud, which then forwards it to the top-level domain registry. Some registrations, especially those for country code top-level domains such as .cn, require a naming review or qualification verification, which takes 1 to 3 business days. Registration is complete only when the status of the domain name changes to Normal.

Step 3: Verify the registration result and what to do next

Check if the domain name was registered successfully:

On the Domain Names page of the Domain Names console, if the domain name status is Normal, the registration is complete and the domain name can be used.
What to do next after the registration succeeds:
- Configure DNS resolution: After you register a domain name, configure DNS to point the domain name to your server's IP address so that users can reach your website or application. In the domain name list, click Resolve and add an A record or another type of DNS record. For detailed instructions, see Add DNS records for a website.

Register domain names in bulk

If you need to register more than one domain name at a time, for example for brand protection or a batch business launch, use bulk registration instead of registering them one by one.

Step 1: Check domain name availability

Go to the Bulk Domain Search page, enter the domain names that you want to check (one per line, up to 1,000 domain names), select the suffixes (more than 60 suffixes are supported), and click Start Search to view the availability of these entries.

Step 2: Register domain names in bulk

Log on to the Bulk Registration page of the Domain Names console.
Enter the domain names (separated by commas, spaces, or line breaks, up to 10,000 domain names), or click Import File to import them in bulk.
Select a Registrant Profile, set the registration period (1 to 10 years), and configure DNS settings and status settings for the domain name as needed.
Click Next.

Step 3: Complete the payment

After the system creates the bulk registration task, you can:

Select a payment method (account balance or online payment) and complete the payment immediately.
Check the progress later on the Bulk Operation Records page, and click Pay Now to complete the payment.

Note

An unpaid bulk registration order remains valid for 7 days. Complete the payment within this period; otherwise, the order expires.

Billing

Registration fees: Domain name prices depend on the TLD and registration period. The price shown on the order confirmation page is final.
Paid deletion for unwanted domain names:
- Some TLDs support paid deletion during the Add Grace Period (AGP), typically within 3 to 5 days of registration.
- Go to the Bulk Operations - Batch Paid Deletion page and click View Deletion Fee Details to check deletion eligibility and fees.
  
  Important
  Deletion incurs a non-refundable service fee, but the registration fee is refunded. Not all TLDs support this feature, and fees vary.

What to do next

Domain name security locks: For important domain names, enable the transfer lock and update lock to prevent unauthorized transfers or changes.

FAQs

What do I do if I cannot find a paid domain name in the domain list?

Go to the My Orders page and check if the Order Status for the domain name purchase is Paid.

Alibaba Cloud reviews orders on the same day. If registration information is incorrect, it will be corrected and resubmitted to the Registry. This process typically completes within one business day.
After completing payment for a domain name registration, the page has been showing a Registry Review in Progress status for hours without any changes. Do I need to repurchase the domain name?

No, you do not need to repurchase the domain name. The Registry Review in Progress status remaining unchanged for extended periods (hours or even longer) is normal behavior. The review is conducted by the domain name registry, not Alibaba Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud cannot retrieve real-time progress from the registry, so the page does not automatically refresh. You can safely close the page — your registration request has already been submitted to the registry, and there is no need to repurchase or resubmit. After the review is complete, the system automatically updates the status of the domain name. You can check the current registration status on the Domain Names page of the Domain Names console.
How do I view my domain name order information?

Navigate to the My Orders page and view your domain name order information. This includes the price, order status, purchase time, and more.
Is downloading the domain registration certificate supported?

In accordance with ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) rules, downloading domain registration certificates is not provided. The domain registration certificate is a product of the ICP filing rules in the Chinese mainland and does not apply to the overseas registrars of the Alibaba Cloud international site.

To prove domain ownership, use any of the following alternatives:
- Domain console information: Log on to the Domain console and view the domain holder information, registration date, and expiration date on the domain management page. For more information, see View basic domain information.
- Domain registration order: Go to the Orders page and check the payment record for the domain registration.
- Registration confirmation email: After successful registration, the system sends a confirmation email to the email address associated with your account. This email can serve as supplementary proof of ownership.
- WHOIS lookup results: Use the WHOIS lookup service to view the public registration information of your domain.
What do I do if domain purchase or renewal fails?

If a domain purchase or renewal fails, troubleshoot using the following steps:

Step 1: Check your account information
- Verify that your account name is correct and complete.
- Verify that your billing address is filled in and valid.
- Verify that a valid payment method is linked to your account and that it has not expired and has sufficient balance.
Step 2: Clear the shopping cart and try again

Old items in your shopping cart may interfere with new orders. Clear the cart first, then search for the domain again:
1. Go to the Shopping cart and remove all items.
2. Go to the Domain registration page and search for your target domain.
3. Add the domain to the cart and complete the payment.
Step 3: Check whether the domain is available for registration

Some domains may be unavailable for registration. See Domain registration restrictions to verify the domain status. Common reasons include:
- The domain is involved in litigation, arbitration, or penalty proceedings.
- The domain is reserved by the registry.
- The domain contains sensitive words prohibited by policy.
If the issue persists after these steps, submit a ticket to contact technical support.

Appendix: Naming rules for domain names

Different TLDs have different naming rules. You must follow the rules to pass the naming review. The naming rules for a Chinese domain name, an English domain name.

Chinese domain names

When you register a Chinese domain name, follow these naming rules:

A Chinese domain name must contain at least one Chinese character. The rest can include English letters (a to z, case-insensitive), numbers (0 to 9), and hyphens (-).
You can only register either the simplified or traditional Chinese version.
Note
- Most Registries treat simplified and traditional Chinese characters as equivalent. For the same domain name, you can only register either the simplified or the traditional Chinese version. Register the version you intend to use.
- If you have registered the simplified Chinese version of a domain name and need to use the traditional Chinese version, you must first cancel the simplified domain name and then register the traditional one, and vice versa.
  
  After you cancel a domain name, another party may register it. Proceed with caution.
The domain name cannot begin or end with an invalid character, such as a hyphen (-), plus sign (+), at sign (@), ampersand (&), or space.
A hyphen (-) cannot be registered on its own and cannot be placed at the beginning or the end. Different top-level domains have different rules for whether a hyphen can appear consecutively, so the registry system is the final authority.
Note
- For a generic top-level domain such as .com or .net, a hyphen (-) cannot appear consecutively in the second and third characters of the domain name prefix, but it can appear consecutively elsewhere.
The domain name can contain a maximum of 63 characters.
Some TLDs, such as .com.cn, .net.cn, and .org.cn, do not support Chinese SLDs.

English domain names

When you register an English domain name, follow these naming rules:

You can only use English letters (a to z, case-insensitive), numbers (0 to 9), and hyphens (-). Spaces and special characters such as !$&? are not supported.
A hyphen (-) cannot be registered on its own and cannot be placed at the beginning or the end. Different top-level domains have different rules for whether a hyphen can appear consecutively, so the registry system is the final authority.
Note
- For a generic top-level domain such as .com or .net, a hyphen (-) cannot appear consecutively in the second and third characters of the domain name prefix, but it can appear consecutively elsewhere.
The domain name can contain a maximum of 63 characters.

".hk" domain names

Alibaba Cloud Domain Names supports the registration of ".hk" domain names. You can register a ".hk" domain name directly on the Alibaba Cloud Domain Names page.

Note

Second-level domain ("***.hk") registration: Any entity or individual from Hong Kong (China), the Chinese mainland, or outside China can apply to register a second-level domain. No certification documents are required, except for the banking and insurance industries.
Third-level domain ("***.com.hk", etc.) registration: Not supported.

When you register a ".hk" domain name, follow these naming rules.

Naming rules for Chinese ".hk" domain names
- A Chinese domain name must contain at least one Chinese character. The rest can include English letters (a to z, case-insensitive), numbers (0 to 9), and hyphens (-).
- A hyphen (-) cannot appear at the beginning, at the end, or as the third and fourth characters.
- The total number of characters cannot exceed 15.
Naming rules for English ".hk" domain names

An English ".hk" domain name follows the same naming rules as any other English domain. For more information, see Naming rules for an English domain name prefix.
General naming restrictions for ".hk" domain names
- Bank: If the domain name contains "bank" or its Chinese equivalent (银行), any of their English or Chinese derivatives, the letters "b", "a", "n", "k" in sequence, or the Chinese characters "银" or "行", you must provide written consent from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
- Insurance: Per the Hong Kong Insurance Companies Ordinance, if the domain name contains "insurance", "assurance", or their Chinese equivalent (保险), you must provide written consent from the Hong Kong Insurance Authority.
- Government: The registration authority rejects public applications for domain names that contain "government", its Chinese equivalent (政府), or related words.
- Reserved domain names: In addition to already registered domain names, the ".hk" domain name registry has reserved some domain names that are not available for registration. The list of reserved domain names is subject to the registry's regulations.

.cn, .china, .company, and .network domain names

According to the Notice on the Adjustments of Domain Name Audit Standards issued by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), Chinese domain names that use the .china, .cn, .company, or .network suffix and contain "China", "National", "Chinese", or "Nationwide" must be registered by their respective rights holders. Individuals or non-rights holders are not allowed to register them without authorization.

After successful registration, identity verification materials must be submitted within 5 days. The domain name can only be used after the entity's qualification verification is approved. If an individual or an entity other than the rights holder makes the request, CNNIC will reject the qualification verification and delete the domain name directly.

For example, to register chinalawyersassociation.cn, the request must be made by the rights holder, China Lawyers Association.

CNNIC has authorized Alibaba Cloud to provide registration services for the .cn, .china, .company, and .network suffixes. The following requirements apply to users who register these suffixes on the Alibaba Cloud international site.

User's location	Registration supported for enterprises and organizations	Registration supported for individuals
the Chinese mainland	Yes	Yes
Hong Kong, China	Yes	Yes
Macao, China	Yes	Yes
Taiwan, China	Yes	Yes
Other countries and regions	Yes	Yes