Buying Domain From Web Developers

Domains Should Legally Belong to owner of Company

Mostly when we commit with a development agency we generally  offload the process of buying domain name to the development agency. The fact is  “You should never, ever let a web developer buy a domain name for you. Even if he/she does so, they should be registering the domain name *in your name*. The only exception to this is when you've given them a business name. In that case, have someone from your company listed as the point of contact. At most, the developers might need to list themselves as the technical or administrative contact if they're on retainer-ship to provide those services long-term. But the domain itself should legally belong to you or to your company.

Have a legal contract with the development agency / developer

In many cases, the client looking for buying a domain often has a little familiarity about the technical part of it. Hence, it is the web developers  or agency will be the one who are in charge of the whole process. If they include  the website on their server and domain in their outlays make sure you recognize that they take care of everything and sign the agreement accordingly.

It has been seen that even after being careful and taking due measures, one faces issues with web developers who may suddenly act funny and make unfair demands including money. Cases have been recorded where the web developers have held a site hostage when their clients tried to leave them.

“In such cases, the first step is to check under whose name the domain name is currently registered. If it is legally in your name, you may be able to retrieve it by approaching the registrar directly and filing a complaint. Usually, providing your identity details  will be enough to get them to reset a password for you. However, if the domain is purchased in the developer’s name, you'll have to file a case in the civil court.

Always Keep a full backup

Developers often allow their clients access to the site and sometimes also permit hosting rights, but for security of the site, they allocate restricted entry to site files and the hosting cpanel account.

To be safe one has to keep a full backup of his/her current site in a place detached from the web developer's server. This can be done by the clients if they know what to do, or the developer can get it done for them. Source code, images, other contents  and database need to be kept backed up frequently.

It is sensible to always rely on a written contract before allowing web hosting companies to book domain on your name. If web hosting companies are handling your business which is true in many cases, get an NDA signed.