Domain name registration FAQ

Reusing documents for multiple registrations

No. If you add multiple domain names to the shopping cart and pay for them in a single transaction, you only need to submit your verification documents once. If you register domain names with the same information at different times, after your identity verification documents are approved for the first registration, Alibaba Cloud saves the documents. The next time you use the same information to register a domain name, the system will match your saved documents, and you can choose to reuse them.

Verifying successful registration

Log on to the Alibaba Cloud domain name registration page and search for your domain name.

If the search result shows the status as Taken and the WHOIS information for the domain name is available, the registration was successful. You should verify that the registrant information is correct. If it is incorrect, log on to the Alibaba Cloud account that owns the domain name to update the registration information. For more information, see Modify registrant information.

Registering domain names with restricted words

If a domain name contains words related to "China" or "nation", in either Chinese or English, such as China, chn, or sino, it must be registered by the relevant rights holder. Please register a different domain name.

If the name of the registering organization meets the requirements (for example, it starts with "China", "national", "Chinese", or "nationwide"), you can submit a ticket to apply for registration after your information template is approved. The ticket must include the following documents: a photo or scan of the registrant organization's certificate, a photo or scan of the domain contact's ID, and a domain name application statement stamped with the registrant organization's official seal. The statement must specify the domain name to be registered, the name of the registrant organization, the name of the domain contact, and the purpose of the registration. After you provide these documents, customer service will forward them to the review team and submit them to the reviewing authority.

Registering domains for multiple companies

No. A single Alibaba Cloud account supports creating multiple information templates. You can create a separate information template for each company with its respective name, contact information, and other details. When you register a domain name, simply select the appropriate company's information template as the registrant.

Registration process and payment

Post-registration management and status

Changes and refunds for registered domains

No. Once a domain name is successfully registered, it cannot be changed and the registration fee is non-refundable.

However, some extensions support paid deletion during the deletion grace period. You can initiate this on the Batch paid deletion page. This action incurs a non-refundable service fee, but the remainder of the registration fee is refunded. Not all extensions support this feature, and fees vary.

Deletion after the grace period

No. A domain name cannot be deleted after its deletion grace period expires.

The paid deletion feature is available only during the deletion grace period immediately following registration. This period is typically five days but varies by extension. To view the specific grace period for an extension, click View deletion fee details in the console.

.cn domain name registration

Types of .cn domain names

• You can register a second-level domain name directly under .cn, such as aliyun.cn.

• You can register a third-level domain name under a specific .cn second-level domain. According to registry rules, the .cn top-level domain includes two special types of second-level domains that function as extensions: category domain names and administrative region domain names. These indicate the registrant's category, function, or region. For example, in the example.org.cn structure, .org.cn is treated as a single suffix that indicates a non-commercial organization.

Category domain names classify the registrant's organization. The following table describes the nine category domain names.

Administrative region domain names correspond to the abbreviations of China's 34 administrative divisions (provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities). The following table describes these 34 domain names.

Requirements for .cn domain names

• Regional requirements:

  CNNIC has not authorized the Alibaba Cloud China site to provide registration services for .cn and .中国 domains to personal users from Hong Kong and Macao, or to personal and enterprise users from Taiwan. These users cannot use the Alibaba Cloud China site to register these domains or perform identity verification. To register a .cn or .中国 domain, go to the Alibaba Cloud international site. Identity verification is required when you register a .cn domain.

• Naming rules:

  • Domain names can contain Chinese characters, English letters (a-z, case-insensitive), numbers (0-9), and hyphens (-). Spaces and other special characters (such as !, $, &, and ?) are not allowed.

  • A hyphen (-) cannot be used at the beginning or end of a domain name, and the name cannot contain consecutive hyphens.

  • The total length of the domain name cannot exceed 63 characters. For Chinese domain names, this limit applies to the Punycode version of the name.

  • Some extensions, such as .com.cn, .net.cn, and .org.cn, do not support Chinese characters.

  • If a domain name is registered for an organization and contains words such as '中国' (China), '国家' (nation), '中华' (Chinese), or '全国' (national), or other Chinese or English characters with the same meaning (such as China, chn, or sino), the domain must be registered by the corresponding rights holder. Individuals or unauthorized organizations are not permitted to register the domain. Otherwise, the domain will fail the naming audit.

Requirements for .cn category and region domains

You cannot directly register a category or administrative region domain name specified by the registry, such as ac.cn. However, you can register a third-level domain name under it, such as example.ac.cn.

Supported .cn category and region extensions

Alibaba Cloud supports the registration of five category domain name extensions (.com.cn, .net.cn, .org.cn, .gov.cn, and .ac.cn) and all 34 administrative region domain name extensions. You can go to the Domain name registration page and select CN domain names to search for and register a domain name.

.hk domain name registration