On 15 Mar 2005 at 15:45, Tony Owen wrote:

>  the only password that is available is Chesley's master reseller
> > password, so transfers to another registrar are not possible.  This is
> > particularly frustrated by the fact that registrant contact details refer
> > back to Domain Names Australia, even the phone and fax numbers.
> 
> Hi,
> 
> If the name is with Enom, your client could create a free enom account and 
> then 'request' the name be 'pushed' to that account.
> 
> This does not cost anything, all that DNA need is the enom account name your 
> client created, the process takes only seconds.
> 

Interestingly within the .au domain regime at least one registrar,  Namescout.com.au ("AU 
DOMAINS for AUSTRALIA!" - all the way from sunny Bridgetown in failed Barbados) 
operates the same way.

If an .au domain is purchased via one of their resellers it goes into a "master" account and 
the registrant cannot make any changes or transfer the domain without the acquiescence  of 
the reseller.

Additionally  Namescout.com.au by default obfusticate the registrant email address so 
registrants who use a reseller cannot readily check to see if the registrant contact details are 
corrct. They also  "lock" the domains by default.

All in all this adds up to a mini-nightmare when a new client comes to us with a  
Namescout.com.au domain registered via a reseller. Without the resellers co-operation a 
simple redelegation takes up to a week to accomplish.

How does this sit with auDA rules?

Namescout.com.au still advises registrants  "Please note: Namescout.com.au does not issue 
tax invoices for .AU domain name registrations". However when one purchases a domain at 
$88.00 GST is included. 

What is  the real GST status of this registrar? Do they pay auDA a domain fee net of GST for 
each domain registered via them? Are Australian based regsitrars comfortable with the 
apparent financial advantage extended to Namescout.com.au? In fact as previously 
discussed on this list just who does auDA think registrants are dealing with when they 
regsiter a domain with Namescout.com.au is it the Australian registered company which is 
registered for GST or the Barbadian entity which actually operates from Canada. 

It will be recalled by our readers that Namescout.com.au flagrantly broke auDA rules for two 
years by allowing doamin expiry dates to appear when doing a whois look up at their site. 
What sanctions were applied to them for that breach?

Is the apparently kid glove treatment given to Namescout.com.au (as compared to the 
vendetta like discourtesy extended by Chris D. to certain parties) unadjacent to the fact that 
when setting up here they employed a (now former) auDA director as a consultant? Was this 
consultancy disclosed to the board at the time?


cb