Domains are the home addresses of the World Wide Web. Each and every internet presence can be reached under a globally unique, explicit address consisting of a domain name and a top-level domain (TLD):
www.domainname.tld
These addresses are decentrally assigned through a network information center (NIC). This issuing agency is responsible for allocating domains within a defined territory of the DNS (domain name system). The DNS is structured hierarchically, so when it comes to the top-level domain, .com, for example, everything that is located to the left of this top-level domain is subject to the rules of a corresponding NIC, which in this case is the company, Verisign.
So how do businesses and private individuals obtain the rights of .com domains? Registries like Verisign offer TLDs at regulated prices to domain name registrars (e.g. GoDaddy.com), which in turn go on to sell these acquired domains to private individuals and businesses. However, such domain registrations are only possible for domain names that haven’t been claimed yet. Those who are interested in purchasing an already-occupied domain name need to find its current owner and offer them a price for it. We’ll show you just how this process works in the following paragraphs.