Problems buying a Canadian domain name
November 22, 2006 8:07 PM Subscribe
I'm trying to buy a Canadian domain name (.ca) and every registrar that I've tried tells me that my Canadian corporation name is not valid.
I need to buy a domain name for the Canadian branch of the organization I work for (I'm in the US).
We are incorporated in Canada, as well as being a registered charity in Canada, and as such we meet the requirements for buying a .ca domain name. However, when I fill out the domain registration form, it says the name of our organization is invalid (I tried this at a few different registrars).
I called one to ask why, and was told that we need to use our full official name, which must contain a suffix such as Inc, Ltd, Ltee, Corp, etc. (they gave me a full list of about 25 different possibilities). All the registrars have their forms set up so it won't validate unless one of those words are included in the corporation name.
However, our official name doesn't include any of those words. It's simply "Organization Name." I double-checked on our incorporation paperwork.
Am I supposed to just add "Inc" after our legal name, since we are incorporated? This doesn't seem right, since the form clearly says to enter our "full legal name," which doesn't include an "Inc." But I can't figure out how else to get past the name requirement in the form.
I don't want to do it wrong and then end up with them canceling the domain registration later.
I keep thinking there must be a simple answer to this, but I can't find anything on google, and the domain registrar I called didn't know what to do either. They kept insisting that I must not have the correct name.
Anybody gone through this before and have any ideas?
I need to buy a domain name for the Canadian branch of the organization I work for (I'm in the US).
We are incorporated in Canada, as well as being a registered charity in Canada, and as such we meet the requirements for buying a .ca domain name. However, when I fill out the domain registration form, it says the name of our organization is invalid (I tried this at a few different registrars).
I called one to ask why, and was told that we need to use our full official name, which must contain a suffix such as Inc, Ltd, Ltee, Corp, etc. (they gave me a full list of about 25 different possibilities). All the registrars have their forms set up so it won't validate unless one of those words are included in the corporation name.
However, our official name doesn't include any of those words. It's simply "Organization Name." I double-checked on our incorporation paperwork.
Am I supposed to just add "Inc" after our legal name, since we are incorporated? This doesn't seem right, since the form clearly says to enter our "full legal name," which doesn't include an "Inc." But I can't figure out how else to get past the name requirement in the form.
I don't want to do it wrong and then end up with them canceling the domain registration later.
I keep thinking there must be a simple answer to this, but I can't find anything on google, and the domain registrar I called didn't know what to do either. They kept insisting that I must not have the correct name.
Anybody gone through this before and have any ideas?
FWIW, you should not get in any sort of trouble by adding 'inc.' to your name for the purposes of the registration, since you -are- incorporated in Canada.
posted by Kickstart70 at 8:17 PM on November 22, 2006
posted by Kickstart70 at 8:17 PM on November 22, 2006
I've bought multiple .ca domains from netfirms.ca and don't recall ever being asked for that information.
posted by dobbs at 8:17 PM on November 22, 2006
posted by dobbs at 8:17 PM on November 22, 2006
dobbs, Presumably you didn't indicate that you were a corporation when they asked what type of legal entity you are?
posted by winston at 8:27 PM on November 22, 2006
posted by winston at 8:27 PM on November 22, 2006
A lot of domain registrars (namely the American ones) have problems registering .ca domains through their automated services. I think this has to do with the fact that you need to register through CIRA as well. The best thing to do is just e-mail the registrar, or call them.
Alternately, you can use a Canadian registrar, like NamesPro -- though they're more expensive.
posted by DrSkrud at 9:12 PM on November 22, 2006
Alternately, you can use a Canadian registrar, like NamesPro -- though they're more expensive.
posted by DrSkrud at 9:12 PM on November 22, 2006
I've registered through namespro.ca and don't recall having to jump through any hoops. (Then again, I'm canadian, so no problems there.) $12.88 a year. Yeah, it's a little bit more, but those are canadian dollars (or about $11.30 american).
posted by cgg at 9:37 PM on November 22, 2006
posted by cgg at 9:37 PM on November 22, 2006
Response by poster: DrSkrud - all the registrars I tried are Canadian registrars. And I went to the NamesPro site just now and had the exact same problem - it said the name I entered wasn't a legitimate corporation name.
I already called one registrar, who didn't have any idea how to fix the problem. I tried contacting a couple others without any response, but will keep trying if I can't find another solution.
Cgg and others - when you fill out the form, it asks what category you fall into - Canadian citizen, corporation, etc. If you check the "citizen" box you won't encounter this situation.
posted by clarissajoy at 4:55 AM on November 23, 2006
I already called one registrar, who didn't have any idea how to fix the problem. I tried contacting a couple others without any response, but will keep trying if I can't find another solution.
Cgg and others - when you fill out the form, it asks what category you fall into - Canadian citizen, corporation, etc. If you check the "citizen" box you won't encounter this situation.
posted by clarissajoy at 4:55 AM on November 23, 2006
Have a trusted MeFi Canook buy the domain you want and also register the one you have to with the correct suffix. Then 301 redirect the proper one to the suffix one.
posted by Mick at 5:45 AM on November 23, 2006
posted by Mick at 5:45 AM on November 23, 2006
Have a trusted MeFi Canook buy the domain you want and also register the one you have to with the correct suffix. Then 301 redirect the proper one to the suffix one.
The problem isn't that the domain name itself needs the suffix -- the "Organization Name" field in the registration information needs the suffix.
When you fill out the registration, what "Organization Type" are you choosing? My suspicion is that you are choosing "Corporation" when you want "Organization".
posted by mendel at 6:28 AM on November 23, 2006
The problem isn't that the domain name itself needs the suffix -- the "Organization Name" field in the registration information needs the suffix.
When you fill out the registration, what "Organization Type" are you choosing? My suspicion is that you are choosing "Corporation" when you want "Organization".
posted by mendel at 6:28 AM on November 23, 2006
er, I mean: you are choosing "Corporation" when you want "Association".
Failing that, I'd run it past a large .ca registrar like Internic.ca (which also happens to be the government's registrar) to see if they've ever heard of the problem.
Hrm, now that I look, there are lots of non-profit organizations that have domains with Organization Names that don't contain an incorporation suffix, but I noticed that quite a few of them have "(NFP)" after their name, including CIRA itself. Maybe that's the magic incantation?
posted by mendel at 6:35 AM on November 23, 2006
Failing that, I'd run it past a large .ca registrar like Internic.ca (which also happens to be the government's registrar) to see if they've ever heard of the problem.
Hrm, now that I look, there are lots of non-profit organizations that have domains with Organization Names that don't contain an incorporation suffix, but I noticed that quite a few of them have "(NFP)" after their name, including CIRA itself. Maybe that's the magic incantation?
posted by mendel at 6:35 AM on November 23, 2006
Best answer: Aha! According to this CIRA document, "(NFP)" is it:
For Charities - the NFP should be included in the organization name - if this is a not-for-profit organization - you are also required to submit the registration number i.e.: 123456789 RR0001posted by mendel at 6:37 AM on November 23, 2006
Response by poster: Mendel - I tried adding the (NFP) and submitting as a corporation and that worked. I had actually tried that earlier but the document that I got the instructions from didn't include the parenthesis, which apparently are required for it to be valid.
Incidentally, we don't fit the requirements for an Association - which is that 80% of members and directors/employees are residents of Canada. It also seems that you can only be an Association if you are not incorporated.
posted by clarissajoy at 7:18 AM on November 23, 2006
Incidentally, we don't fit the requirements for an Association - which is that 80% of members and directors/employees are residents of Canada. It also seems that you can only be an Association if you are not incorporated.
posted by clarissajoy at 7:18 AM on November 23, 2006
Excellent, glad it worked. I hate CIRA because of things like this.
(What I did, btw: Looked for domains of small, newer non-profits, who wouldn't have been grandfathered in like the United Way would've been -- saw the "NFP" in interpares.ca's registration and in CIRA's own, googled "site:cira.ca ltd inc nfp", and then found that document I linked to.)
posted by mendel at 8:48 AM on November 23, 2006
(What I did, btw: Looked for domains of small, newer non-profits, who wouldn't have been grandfathered in like the United Way would've been -- saw the "NFP" in interpares.ca's registration and in CIRA's own, googled "site:cira.ca ltd inc nfp", and then found that document I linked to.)
posted by mendel at 8:48 AM on November 23, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
CIRA (the registry for .ca) makes some odd hoops for domain registrants to jump through. Looks like they accidentally eliminated a legitimate type of name here. Luckily, the CIRA board is elected by registrants of .ca names, so it should be possible to knock some sense into the organization.
posted by winston at 8:14 PM on November 22, 2006