Register a .com domain: who can, rules, price and transfer

A .com domain is the largest international domain extension in the world. Anyone can register one, wherever they live: you do not need a company, a business registration number or a link to any country. At LJPc hosting a .com domain costs €17.99 a year excluding VAT, with DNS management included, and you order or transfer it in the customer portal.

Below you can read what .com is, when it is a good fit, which rules a .com name follows, what it costs and how to register or transfer a .com domain.

What is a .com domain?

.com stands for commercial. It is one of the original extensions of the internet: according to the IANA root zone database it has existed since 1 January 1985, and on 15 March that year symbolics.com was registered, the oldest .com that still exists. The .com registry is the American company Verisign, which runs the extension under an agreement with ICANN. According to Verisign, there were 182.5 million .com and .net domains registered in total at the end of September 2026.

.com is a generic extension. Transfers, changes of holder, expiry and disputes therefore follow the global rules of ICANN, the organisation that sets the rules for generic extensions. How .com and the other extensions came about is covered in the history of domain names.

Who can register a .com domain?

Anyone. Although the name comes from business, .com is an open extension with no eligibility requirements: individuals, freelancers, associations, foundations and companies can all register a .com domain, in any country.

When you register, you do agree to a few ground rules:

• Correct details. The holder's name, address and email address are correct and kept up to date. ICANN requires this of every .com domain holder.
• Fair use. If a .com domain is used for malware, phishing, fraud, counterfeiting or trademark or copyright infringement, the domain can be suspended. Verisign also monitors the extension for this itself.
• Rights of others. Names are first come, first served. The registry does not check whether you have a right to a name; it is up to you to make sure your name does not infringe someone else's trademark or name.

When is .com the right choice?

A .com domain shows that you look beyond your own borders, and people all over the world know the extension. Whether .com or a country extension such as .nl suits you better mainly depends on where your customers are; register a .nl domain covers this in detail under .nl or .com: which is better?

A .com domain redirects to your main site as neatly as any other domain; see redirect a domain to another website. If your name is already taken under .com, another extension can be the answer, such as .org for an organisation with a mission or .info for an informational website.

Google treats .com as a generic extension: the extension itself does not tie your website to a country. Whether people in a particular country find you depends on your website itself, such as the language of your content, a local address and links from other local websites. That is explained in Google's guidelines for multi-regional websites.

What rules does a .com name follow?

• Length. Up to 63 characters, not counting the .com extension. Under its agreement with ICANN the registry holds back new names of one or two characters.
• Characters. The letters a to z, the digits 0 to 9 and the hyphen. A hyphen cannot be the first or last character of the name, and the third and fourth characters cannot both be hyphens.
• Accented letters. Verisign also accepts names with letters such as é, ü or ñ, provided you state the language of the name when you register it; see Verisign's registration rules for internationalized domain names. Not every email program or web form handles them well, so for your main domain a name without accents is the safer choice.
• Reserved names. The registry does not release some names, such as names related to ICANN and the running of the internet, for example example.com.

In the order wizard in the portal you type a .com name using the letters a to z, digits and hyphens. For a .com domain with accented letters, open a support ticket and we will look into it with you.

How much does a .com domain cost at LJPc?

A .com domain costs €17.99 a year at LJPc hosting, excluding VAT. You pay the same amount when you transfer an existing .com domain to us: a transfer adds a year to the domain's term. The .com registry has no premium prices, so every available .com name costs the same with us. Prices differ from one provider to the next. The order wizard shows the price before you order, and our domain names page lists current prices for all extensions.

You choose hosting for your website and email on top. You can also take DNS management only, or redirect the domain to another website. Our plans are on the web hosting page.

How to register a .com domain at LJPc

1. Log in at portal.ljpc.nl and click Add a website on the dashboard, or open the order wizard directly. No account yet? Create one first.
2. Choose I am looking for one or want to register one and type the name with .com, for example yourcompany.com. You see straight away whether it is available and what it costs per year, with other extensions alongside.
3. Select the .com domain and then what it should do: a hosting plan, DNS management only, a redirect plan, or a server or hosting space you already have with us.
4. In the cart, check the Registration contact: the details the domain is registered under. For .com your regular contact details are enough: the cart asks for nothing extra.
5. Accept the terms and conditions and complete your order. We then handle the registration with the registry.

Every option in the order wizard is covered in register a domain and link it to your hosting. Your .com domain then appears in the portal under Services > Domain names. If the name you want is taken, domain backorders explains how to claim it for the moment it becomes available.

What LJPc takes care of for your .com domain

• Automatic renewal every year. Automatic renewal is on by default, so your .com domain keeps running as long as your subscription does. To stop, see cancel a domain or hosting.
• DNS and DNSSEC. Your domain gets our nameservers ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network, and we switch DNSSEC on automatically. How that protection works is explained in what is DNSSEC.
• Your transfer code always at hand. On your domain's page in the portal, the transfer code is in the Authorization code block.
• The transfer lock under your control. With the Transfer lock switch you turn the transfer lock of your .com domain on or off yourself.
• Your details under your control. You update the contact details of your domain yourself in the portal, as described in manage the WHOIS data of your domain. If the domain needs to move to someone else's name, see change the owner of a domain: for .com you first approve the change through an email in your portal inbox.

Transfer your .com domain to LJPc

You transfer a .com domain with a transfer code, also called an authorization code or EPP code. Your current provider gives you this code.

1. Are your website and email moving too? Set them up with us first, because a domain transfer does not move your website and email for you. Migrate your website to LJPc explains how.
2. Ask your current provider for the transfer code and have the transfer lock on the domain turned off.
3. Open the order wizard, choose I already have one at another registrar, enter your .com domain and choose Transfer to LJPc. Enter the transfer code. The portal checks straight away whether the transfer can go ahead with that code.
4. Choose your hosting or DNS management only and complete your order. We start the transfer and you follow its status in the portal.

Under ICANN's transfer rules a .com domain moves within five days at most, as long as your current provider does not reject the transfer. That provider may block a transfer in the first 60 days after registration or after a previous transfer, and after a change of holder a 60-day transfer lock applies by default. What to check beforehand, how to follow the transfer and what to do if it gets stuck is covered in transfer your domain to LJPc.

Transfer your .com domain from LJPc to another provider

If your .com domain is moving to another provider, you handle the transfer code and the transfer lock yourself in the portal:

1. Open the page of your .com domain in the portal.
2. In the Authorization code block, click Show to see the transfer code, or Copy to copy it.
3. In the Domain overview block, find Transfer lock and click the switch so it shows Off.
4. Give the code to your new provider, who uses it to request the transfer.

What else is involved, such as ending your subscription with us, is covered in get your transfer code and transfer your domain.

Keep your .com domain at another registrar

If you want to keep your .com domain at your current registrar and only host your website or email with us, the domain does not need to move. You connect it with our nameservers, as described in change your nameservers, or with individual DNS records, as described in point a domain at another provider to LJPc hosting. Not sure where your domain is registered? Look it up with who manages my domain.

Expired or cancelled

A .com domain that has not been renewed is not released straight after its expiry date. First comes a period in which only the holder can get the domain back through their registrar, after which the name becomes available to everyone. How long each phase lasts and what the statuses in the portal mean is covered in expired domains and quarantine. If the portal shows Expired, Redemption period or Pending delete for your .com domain, open a support ticket right away.

Received an invoice or renewal email for your .com domain from a company you do not know? Hold off on paying. How to spot a fake domain invoice shows what to look for.

WHOIS and disputes

The public .com WHOIS shows which registrar manages a domain, its status and when it was registered and expires. The holder's name, address and email address are not in it: the registrar keeps those details, not Verisign. Anyone with a legitimate reason can request them through the registrar.

If someone claims rights to a .com name, for example because it is their trademark, that goes through ICANN's dispute policy (UDRP) or the courts. The arrangements between ICANN and Verisign, such as the reserved names, are set out in the .com registry agreement at ICANN.

Not sure whether .com suits you, or is a transfer stuck? Open a support ticket and we will look into it with you.