Frequently Asked Questions

If you are the registered Owner Contact for the domain, and it is still in its Redemption Grace Period, or is showing in the WHOIS as pendingDelete, you can keep the name by simply renewing it.

If you originally registered the name with a Regsitrar ...

• If you wish to stay with the registrar you should be able to renew the name with them.
• If you wish to transfer the domain to your direct control, you will need follow our transfer procedure.
• If you wish to transfer the domain to a different registrar, you will need to transfer the domain to your direct control first, then transfer it to your new registrar. You will only be required to renew the domain when you transfer it to the new registrar.

If you originally registered the name with us,

• If you wish to keep the domain under your direct control, you can simply renew it through our web interface
• If you wish to transfer the domain to a registrar, you will need follow our registrar transfer procedure.

We have a form you can fill out that will send an email message (of your choice) to the current owner without revealing their contact details to you.

It is necessary for you to register on our system and Login, to use this facility.

After the have logged in click the More Options button, then select Message the Owner of another domain

An AuthCode is officially called an AuthInfo Code, and an Auth-Info code by ICANN and registry operators. It is alternatively called an auth code, a transfer key, a transfer secret, an EPP code, EPP authentication code, or EPP authorization code.

You will need this in order to transfer control of your domain to or from a registrar, or you own direct control (using this site). The controlling registrar is the one you have to go to in order to edit your domain's details or renew its subscription. For NIC.TM you can use this site as your control point and come here to edit your contact details or renew your subscription.

If you domain is managed by a registrar, you will need to request an AuthCode from them.

If you can not obtain an AuthCode from your regsitrar you can take control of the domain yourself using the Owner's password - which can be reset if necessary.

If you manage your domain yourself through the NIC.TM web site, you will need to set the AuthCode yourself.

• Login
• Click on the My Domains button to go to the list of your domains
• Select Set an AuthCode from the drop down to the far right of the corresponding domain name.

For security reasons, all passwords are stored in an encrypted format so it is not possible to reveal the AuthCode in plain text after it has been set.

For the purposes of transfering the domain to your own direct control, the Password of the Owner or Admin contact will also work just as well (as an AuthCode) to authorise the transfer. However, to transfer to a regsitrar, you need an AuthCode, as this is the industry standard.

AuthCodes are single-use passwords - once the transfer has been completed the AuthCode will be removed. For this reason, it is safer to use an AuthCode when transfering your domain as the AuthCode will be erased once it has been used, blocking any further transfer.

• Get an AuthCode from the Registrar
• If you have not already done so, register your contact details on our system
• Login using the contact details you have registered
• They must now request a transfer using this AuthCode.
• Click on the More Options button
• Select Transfer control of my Domain from a Reseller to me
• Enter the domain name and AuthCode to transfer the domain name into your direct control

There is no fee charged to transfer my domain from a registrar's control to your own direct control.

If you are having trouble getting an AuthCode from your registrar (e.g. they are no longer in business), you can reset the Owner's password and use that password instead of an AuthCode.

NOTE: Please note - you can use a Registrar's Owner Contact Record to prove your owership of your domain, but you will never be able to login using this record. You will need to create a contact record that you own and control.

Ownership and control of contact records needs to be protected to ensure your contact records stay private to you, and their contact records stay private to them.

• Login into our interface using the email address and password of either the Owner or Admin contact.
• Set an AuthCode (single-use transfer password) on the domain.
• Give the AuthCode to the Registrar/Reseller of your choice
• They must now request a transfer using this AuthCode.

• Login using Account A
• Set an AuthCode on the domain.
• Log-out (from Account A)
• Login using Account B
• Go to More Options > Transfer control of my Domain from a Reseller to me.
• Enter the domain name and AuthCode

If the AuthCode matches, the domain name will be immediatly transferred to Account B, and Account B will be set as every contact for the domain.

NOTE: Account A must be either the Owner or Admin Contact for the domain to have permission to set an AuthCode on the domain.

• Get an AuthCode from the Registrar that currently control your name
• Give this to the registrar you wish to move to

You will be requied to renew the domain for at least one year as part of the transfer procedure.

Yes. Simply follow the Registrar to Registrar transfer procedure.

All transfers are immediate. After you give the AuthCode to your new Registrar the dot-TM Registry does not delay the transfer.

Note, it can take some time before the Registar updates their database to reflect the transfer. There can also be delays in card payments to the registrar etc. ... but if the AuthCode is valid, then we will transfer your domain to your new regsitrar as soon as they issue a request and use that AuthCode. If the transfer has not gone through on our system it can only be because we have not yet receive a valid transfer request.

If you transfer a domain to be under your direct control, then the account you are logged in with (when you execute the transfer) will automatically become the contact for all fours roles in the domain (Owner, Admin, Technical & Billing)

If you transfer a domain to a registrar, the details of all the domain's contacts will be copied and the new copy-contact records will be assigned to the receiving registrar.

If you are transferring from one registrar to another, if the loosing registrar is assigned as any of the contacts (e.g Billing Contact), then the contact details will not be copied, instead the receiving registrar will assume that role.

As part of this process, all current privacy settings will be copied and transferred along with the contact's details.

If the AuthCode is correct, the most common reason for a transfer to fail, is becuase there is an outstanding operation on the domain.

For example, if your domain is currently under your direct control, and you have applied for it to be renewed, but have now decided to renew the domain through a registrar, the outstanding renewal application will cause the transfer to fail and the registrar will see an error message that says "There is already an outstanding operation in that domain (transfer_domain:pending_operation)"

If this is your problem, you can remove your unwanted renewal application by logging-in to the NIC.TM interface, clicking the My Domains button and selecting Cancel Renewal Request from the drop down to the far right of the corresponding domain.

To register & buy a domain name use our Application Form. That page allows you to register both the domain name you want and your contact details in one step.

If you have already registered your contact details with us please login before registering & buying a new domain name, to ensure the domain name is correctly linked to your account.

- OR -

Register & buy the domain name though one of our Registrars

Please note: it is important, when asking a registrar to buy a name on your behalf, that you know they may have their own (different) terms of service, that you should ensure you are fully aware of, before making a purchase.

For example, because registrars often offer names in a range of different TLDs, to keep their costs down, they may well offer a uniform terms of service across all TLDs. However, because some TLDs offer different terms than other TLDs, by registering through a registrar you may not get offered the same terms of service by the registrar as we would offer if you purchased the name directly.

They may also, for example, have terms of service that relate to web site hosting / forwarding, email hosting / forwarding that are all part of the same "terms of service" document such that their provision of web hosting may cease on the day the domain name expires, causing access to the domain name itself (through their systems), to also cease on that day.

However, if you are still the registered owner of the domain, registering the name through a registrar does not affect your ownership rights, even if these rights can not always be fully enjoyed through the regsitrar of your choice.

• If you are inside the UK, VAT Tax must be paid at the UK rate. There are no exceptions to this.
• If you are inside the EU, but outside the UK, tax must be paid at the rate set in your country, unless you are a business with a valid tax / VAT registration identification number for your country. This identification number must be presented at the time of purchase.
• If you are outside the EU, tax is not paid.

You can register your contact details using New Contact Form.

If you wish to register a new contact record to assign to your domain you should first login, before creating the record to ensure the system knows it belongs to you. This ensures the details are kept as confidential as you require and ensures you have full control over the contact record.

Use the Login Form to login, using the email address & password you entered when you registered your contact details with us.

You can reset the password of the contact associated with your domain using our Password Reset Form.

You can also reset a password associated with an email without giving the domain name.

Once you have clicked on the reset link you have been sent, the web page you are sent to that asks for the new password, will also give you the option of resetting all passwords associated with that email address.

Normally, all operations for a domain name that was registered through a registrar, should be done through their systems. However, the Owner password can be reset even if the domain is managed via Registrar.

This option allows you to transfer the domain (to your direct control or another registrar) in case of problems with the exiting Registrar (e.g. they are no longer in business).

To reset the Owner password use Password Reset Form .

In the WHOIS for your domain, if your domain is managed via a Registrar, there will be a Registrar section which gives all the contact details for the Regsitrar.

The WHOIS query form is available in the upper-right corner of every page on our website, or you can use http://www.nic.tm/whois.html.

After logging in, click on the My Domains button to see a list of all your domains, then select Modify Name Servers / Forwarding from the drop-down at the righthand end of the row for the domain name in question.

On the page you are taken to, you can configure nameservers of your dot-TM domain or configure web & e-mail forwarding.

For Advanced users, you can point your domain name to the external name servers you have already set up and you will have total control over all the DNS for your domain name.

If you do not want to worry about managing your own DNS data, you can use our simple Web & Mail forwarding.

This option allows to redirect web traffic for your dot-TM domain to an existing website, e.g. http://your-domain.tm/ goes to http://example.com/

You can also configure forwarding for e-mails received by your dot-TM domain (e.g. john@your-domain.tm -> john@example.com). Remember to configure the account at your Email Provider to allow sending messages using your dot-TM e-mail address.

If you bought your domain through one of our registrars, you must use their systems to set up your own DNS data. There is no exception to this.

If you bought your domain name directly from us, you have two options for setting up the DNS records within your domain

• OPTION: 1 - For a relatively simple DNS configuration with a small number of DNS records (to up 20 records), NIC.TM can host your DNS data for you

  You can maintain your DNS data through this site and we will ensure it is reliable published to the rest of the Internet.

  To do this ...

  • Login into your account
  • Cick the Domains button to get the list of your domains
  • To the right of the domain you wish to configure, from the drop-down select Modify DNS / Forwarding
  • On the next page, select the option DNS Data for this Domain is hosted here and you will get a table to fill in your DNS information.

  Shortly after you post your changes to our systems the new data will be live to the Internet.

• OPTION: 2 -For a more complex DNS configuration, please use an external DNS hosting provider, for exmaple a Free or Paid-For DNS Service provider to setup DNS records for your domain, and then point your domain to the name servers as advised by the provider you have chosen.

  For example, if you decided to use the free DNS service from Hurricane Electric, you would need to

  • Register yourself with us, then buy a domain name
  • Register yourself with H.E, then set up you domain's DNS using H.E's DNS Web Interface
  • Change the DNS records in the domain you have with us to point to H.E's DNS servers - H.E will tell you which ones they have put your domain on

  DNS Data for this Domain is hosted here

  We would then recommend you use a service like MyDnsCheck to ensure everything is set up correctly.

  If you simply wish to forward your domain's web & email traffic to other existing accounts, then we recommend you use our Web & Mail Forwading Service.

The first thing to do is check in our WHOIS to see what the status of your domain is. If you bought your domain name through a registrar, we will make the name live as soon as we receive the order for it, unless there is some problem with their payment to us.

If you bought the name directly from us we will make the domain name live as soon as we receive payment for it. From the point we receive the payment, this will take a few seoncds, but not much longer. However, there can be processing delays in the payment processor's systems (e.g. PayPal). Again, check in the WHOIS to see the status of your name. You can also check the status of your name in the My Domains section of your login. For a new application the status column will show either Live - we have recieved the payment, or Payment Required - we have not yet received payment.

If you use our Web and Mail forwarding service, check the web site you have chosen to forward to works on its own without the forwarding. There are many on-line web site testing tools, so we would recommend you use one of those.

If you tested your new domain very soon after you bought it, it is possible that it was not quite live at the time you tested it. We will make a new domain name live within a few seconds of receiving the payment from you, but not before. If you test a new domain name before it has gone live, your ISP may retain the information that it didn't work for a while, so even when you re-try the site, they will still say it doesn't work, but this may be old information.

This is where using more than one external web site testing tool is useful.

If you manage your DNS yourself, if you think your DNS is all correctly set up, the best thing to do is use a DNS checker to check all your dns is correctly set up and visible from the Internet. We often use MyDnsCheck, but there are many others out there.

If you are using DNSSEC and wish to check your zone will verify correctly, we usually use the Verisign Labs DNSSEC checker.

Login, click on the My Contacts button and, from the drop down to the far right of the contact you wish to change, select Modify Contact.

First, Login, and click on the My Domains button to go to the list of your domains.

If you have already chosen to pay by PayPal, then you should see a web-link with the words Payment Required against the domain name. Click on the link and it will take you to the correct site to make the payment.

As soon as we receive the payment from the external payment site, we will process your transaction.

If you have chosen to pay by credit card, we will try the card three times, 24 hours apart and email to tell you if it failed or succeeded. If you wish to change your card detail or payment method, on the My Domains page, select Change Payment Method. from the drop down to the far right of the domain name.

The domains that show up in your list of My Domains are those domains for which one or more of the contacts on those domains match the email address and password (credentials) you logged in with.

If one or more of the domains that you own are not showing up in the list My Domains, this is probably because the email addresses or passwords of the contacts (for the missing domains) do not match the credentials (email+password) you have logged in with.

You should:

• Run a password reset procedure on your email address and/or domain, and select the option to reset all matching contact records. This is the best procedure to follow to recover any missing domains
• Change the credentials (email+password) of one of the contacts, for your missing domain, to match the credentials (email+password) you have logged in as, or
• Log-out and log back in using the credentials (email+password) of one of the contacts of the missing domain.

More info on missing domain you can find at Missing Domains page.

Yes - names released within the last 30 days can be found at http://www.nic.tm/released/YYYY-MM-DD.txt

Each new day's list will be generated at the end of the delete phase of the overnight processing, so should appear shortly after 00:30 UTC.

Please note, although these names were released to the open market during the overnight processing, there is no gurarantee they will still be available at any point in the future.

Names acquired by back-order will not appear in the list.