Domain Registration Terms

1. What these terms cover

When you buy a domain through Mailyte, we order it for you from our registrar partner and set up its DNS and email ourselves. These terms apply alongside our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and alongside the rules of whoever runs that domain ending: ICANN and the registry for endings such as .com, and the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) for .ng. If you don’t agree to them, please don’t buy a domain through us.

A registration only takes effect once all of these have happened:

• you have agreed to these terms;
• we have accepted your order;
• you have paid; and
• the registry has approved the registration.

Until then, no name is guaranteed.

2. Our registrar partner and its agreements

We are a reseller. We order domains through Host Africa Nigeria Limited, known as GO54 and WhoGoHost (“our registrar partner”), which acts as the registrar or as a reseller for the registrar shown in the domain’s public record.

When you buy a domain through us, you also enter into our registrar partner’s agreements for that domain, and they apply to you as its owner:

• Domain Registrant Agreement
• Registration Agreement for endings other than .ng
• .ng Domain Name Agreement
• .ng Domain Name Policy

The rest of this page explains what those agreements mean for you and adds how Mailyte works. On payment, refunds and support, this page sets out what applies between you and us. On the registration itself, the rules of the registrar, the registry, ICANN and NiRA come first.

3. We look after the domain for you

Mailyte is your point of contact. Our registrar partner deals with us about your domain and may not contact you directly, so please bring any question or request to us.

You authorize us to place the order and manage the registration for you, including its nameservers, DNS records, transfer lock and contact details. We may list ourselves as its technical contact. Changes we make for you, or to run the service, count as authorized by you. The registrar and registry can also act on a domain where their rules allow it.

4. You own the domain

The person or company in the owner details is the domain’s legal owner, not Mailyte. If you register a domain for someone else, or for a company, you confirm that you have the authority to bind them to these terms. The listed owner, or a suitable officer of a listed company, can always ask to take control of the domain.

If you let someone else use your domain, you stay the owner of record and stay responsible for meeting these terms. You are also responsible for harm caused through their use, unless you give their identity and contact details within 7 days to anyone who shows reasonable evidence of that harm.

5. Your details must be accurate

ICANN and the registries require real contact details: a name, postal address, email address and phone number for the owner and the domain’s other contacts. Give true and complete details, and update them within 7 days of any change. Placeholder or made-up details are not allowed, such as a phone number like 000-0000.

• The owner’s email address must be confirmed within 15 days of registering, transferring or changing the details. If it isn’t, the domain and its services will be suspended straight away.
• If we or a registry ask you to confirm your details, answer within 10 days, or sooner if the request says so.
• If you find a mistake in your details, tell us straight away.
• If the required details have changed when a domain comes up for renewal and you don’t provide them, it may not renew.
• False details, not updating them, or leaving these requests unanswered is a serious breach of these terms. The domain can be suspended or cancelled, with no refund.

6. Public lookups and sharing

We pass the owner and contact details to our registrar partner and the registry, because a domain can’t be registered without them. Some of these details may appear in public registry lookups (WHOIS or RDAP), and we don’t currently sell a privacy add-on that hides them. They may also be shared with ICANN, NiRA, dispute providers, courts and law enforcement where the rules or the law require it, both during and after the registration.

Registrars must also keep records about a registration, such as its dates, nameservers, contacts, orders and payments. Our registrar partner holds the rights in its domain database, but doesn’t claim ownership of your personal details beyond that.

If you give us someone else’s personal details, you confirm that they agree to this. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your data.

7. Choosing a name

Domains are generally first come, first served. It is your job to check, before you register, that a name doesn’t infringe anyone’s trademark or other rights. Registering a name gives you no right to any other name.

We may decline a name, for example one that imitates a bank or a well-known brand, and we may decline multiple registrations. A registry may reject any application. Some endings have their own rules about who can register them.

We don’t sell premium-priced names. If a name turns out to be premium-priced after you order it, we cancel the order and refund what you paid, or offer it to you at the corrected price if you’d like it.

8. Paying for a domain

You pay in full before we register the domain. The price at checkout includes VAT where it applies. Prices can change, and renewing often costs a different amount from the first year: we show the renewal price at checkout and again in our renewal reminder, and you pay the price that applies on the day it renews.

If you have a problem with a charge, please contact us before asking your bank or payment provider to reverse it. This doesn’t affect your legal rights. If a payment is reversed or charged back, we may suspend the domain and your other services until it and any fees are settled. The domain can be transferred to us or our registrar partner, who may then sell it. Getting it back after that is at our discretion.

9. Refunds

A domain can’t be refunded once it is registered, because the registration can’t be taken back. That stays true if the domain is later suspended, cancelled or transferred away. Renewals and transfers can’t be refunded once they are made.

You do get your money back in these cases, once our team has checked the order:

• We couldn’t register the domain, for example because someone else got the name first.
• You paid twice for the same order. Tell us if we haven’t already spotted it.

Refunds go back to the way you paid, where possible, and can take up to 15 days to reach you. There is no refund for a domain flagged as suspicious or for improper use, or one suspended or cancelled because these terms were broken.

10. Renewing a domain

Keeping a domain renewed is your responsibility, and you can renew at any time before its date. We email you before the renewal date, but we are not liable if a reminder doesn’t reach you or a renewal fails.

Auto-renew is on for a new domain, and you can turn it off at any time on the domain’s page. While it is on, you authorize us to charge your saved card for one more year at the current price, on or before the renewal date. Please keep your card details up to date. We only renew a domain once its renewal has been paid for, so a failed payment means it won’t renew.

11. If a domain expires

If a domain isn’t renewed by its date, it expires and your rights to it can end. For endings such as .com, this is what usually happens:

• From the next day. The domain and its email may stop working. It may show a parking page, or other messages or advertising chosen by the registrar.
• Up to about 36 days. You can usually still renew it. From then on, someone else may be able to buy it, and you won’t be able to renew it if they do.
• From about 40 days. It enters the registry’s redemption period of about 30 days. Getting it back needs our support team and can carry an extra fee on top of the renewal.
• Released. After a further 5 to 7 days, the name is no longer yours, and anyone can register it.

Country endings such as .ng work differently. Renew them before their date, because they may have no grace period: they can go straight to a redemption period with their services off, and then become available to anyone.

These periods vary by ending and can change. After a domain expires, the registrar may show its own contact details in public lookups, and may renew the domain and transfer it to someone else. After a domain is released, its Mailyte mailboxes stay read-only for 30 days so you can copy your mail, and are then removed.

12. DNS and email

While your domain is with us, we host its DNS and add the records it needs for email. You can add your own records, but the ones we manage are locked so email keeps working. If you point the domain elsewhere, email through Mailyte may stop.

13. Changing the owner

You can change the owner from the domain’s page. Under ICANN’s Transfer Policy, a significant change to the owner’s name, company or email must be approved by both the current and new owner within 60 days. You authorize us and our registrar partner to act as your designated agent to approve a change you ask for. The new owner must also accept these terms.

A change can be refused if the domain has expired, it isn’t properly authorized, or the domain is part of a dispute or court order. Changing the owner can also stop the domain being transferred to another registrar for 60 days. The change can be reversed if the previous owner asks in writing within 5 days, or if fraud is suspected.

14. Transfers and leaving

The domain is yours to move. You can request a transfer code from the domain’s page, and we notify the owner when you do. A domain can’t be moved to another registrar during the first 60 days after it is registered or transferred in, or after it has expired. A transfer can also be refused if fees are unpaid, or there is a dispute or a question about who owns the domain. There is no refund for a domain that has been transferred away.

If you remove a bought domain from Mailyte or close your account, the domain stays registered to you until its date, and transferring or renewing it is then up to you.

15. Misuse and takedowns

You may not use a domain for phishing, malware, spam, fraud, identity theft, impersonation, forgery, infringement or anything unlawful. If we find or are told about misuse, or a court or regulator orders it, we may stop the domain’s outgoing mail, remove its DNS records, suspend it or ask the registry to act. Where harm is likely we may do this without notice, and there is no refund.

If a domain looks suspicious, for example because its name is close to a bank’s, we may ask about your business and what the domain is for. If you can’t show a legitimate purpose within 7 working days, the domain can be suspended and the service ended.

To report misuse, email support@mailyte.com with the domain name and any proof you have, such as links or screenshots.

16. Trademark and copyright complaints

Email support@mailyte.com with “Trademark Claim” or “Copyright Claim” as the subject. Disputes about who should hold a domain name itself go through the process in the “Disputes over a name” section below instead. Please include:

• your name, address, email address and phone number, as the rights owner;
• the trademark or work involved, with its certificate if you have one, and for a trademark the date it was first used;
• how you believe your rights are being infringed, and where;
• the name and contact details of the person you are complaining about, and evidence that they are a Mailyte customer; and
• for copyright, a statement that you didn’t authorize this use.

We investigate and send your complaint to the domain’s owner. We may suspend or remove what is complained of while we look into it, and permanently if the claim is legitimate. We host DNS and email rather than websites, so for content hosted elsewhere we may only be able to act on the domain or its mail.

If something of yours was removed by mistake, email the same address with what was removed, where it was, why it was a mistake and your contact details. We pass that to the person who complained and put the material back within 14 business days, unless they tell us they have gone to court to stop it. We may end the accounts of customers who infringe repeatedly.

17. When a domain can be suspended or cancelled

A domain can be suspended, cancelled, transferred or changed:

• to correct a mistake by us, the registrar or a registry;
• to resolve a dispute under ICANN or registry rules;
• on a court order or arbitration award;
• if it infringes someone’s rights;
• if it is used for unsolicited email or illegal activity;
• if fees are unpaid; or
• if you seriously breach these terms and don’t put it right within 7 days of our notice.

We give notice where we reasonably can, which may be up to 7 days or none at all. We aren’t responsible for costs that result. If the breach is deliberate, there is no refund.

18. Disputes over a name

If someone challenges your right to a domain, the dispute goes through ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) before an ICANN-approved provider, or through NiRA’s complaints process for .ng. You agree to the version in force when the dispute starts, to take part, and that we and the registrar follow the outcome. If you don’t accept a change to that policy, you can cancel the domain or transfer it elsewhere.

19. .ng domains

A .ng domain is also governed by NiRA’s registrant agreement and domain name policy, published at nira.org.ng. In particular:

• NiRA may reject any application, and may cancel a registration for any reason within 30 days of it starting. The registrar can also ask it to cancel within 7 days.
• NiRA may check your details by email. If two requests of 7 days each go unanswered, the domain can be suspended for 60 days and then cancelled. While it is suspended, its email and web pages stop working.
• You may not lease a .ng domain or let others use it, except people who qualify for it or your affiliates.
• Names can use only the letters a to z, digits and hyphens, and can’t be only digits. Offensive and reserved names aren’t allowed.
• Each ending has a purpose. .com.ng is for commercial use, .org.ng for not-for-profits, .name.ng for people’s own names and .net.ng for internet and telecoms providers. .edu.ng, .sch.ng, .gov.ng and .mil.ng are limited to organizations that qualify for them.
• Tell us straight away about any legal claim concerning your domain.

20. What you confirm

By buying a domain through us, you confirm that:

• you have read and understood these terms;
• you are eligible and have the authority to enter into them;
• agreeing to them doesn’t conflict with any law or agreement that binds you;
• the name and how you use it won’t infringe anyone’s rights or break the law; and
• you are relying only on what these terms say, and your own judgement.

21. Claims against us

You agree to cover Mailyte, our registrar partner, the registries, ICANN and NiRA, and their people, against claims and costs, including reasonable legal fees, that arise from your breach of these terms, your domain or how it is used, or your negligence. This continues after these terms end.

22. Limits on our liability

Domains and the services around them come as they are, with no warranties beyond those the law requires. We don’t control registries or their decisions, and we can’t promise that a name will stay available or free from challenge, suspension or cancellation.

We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including lost profits or interrupted business. Nor are we liable for losing a domain, including because it wasn’t renewed; someone using your domain or login details without permission; delays, outages or attacks; lost or corrupted data; how a domain application is processed; how a dispute policy is applied; or events beyond our reasonable control.

As far as the law allows, our total liability for a domain is limited to what you paid us for it in the current registration period.

23. How long these terms last, and changes

These terms start when you accept them and last until the domain is cancelled, transferred to someone else or expires. Anything you owe by then stays payable.

We give at least 30 days’ notice of significant changes, on this page or by email. Changes that a registry, ICANN or NiRA requires may apply sooner, with or without notice. If you keep using the domain after a change takes effect, you accept the change.

24. Governing law and contact

These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. For a dispute about the use of a domain, you also accept the courts where you live and in the registrar’s country. Questions go to legal@mailyte.com.