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

A .events domain is an international extension for events, such as a festival, conference, trade fair, wedding or sports competition. Anyone can register one, wherever they live: you do not need a company registration number or a local address. At LJPc hosting a .events domain costs €54.99 a year excluding VAT, with DNS management included, and you order or transfer it in the customer portal.

Below you find what .events is, when it suits your event, which rules a .events name follows, what it costs, and how to register a .events domain, transfer it and handle it well once your event is over.

What is a .events domain?

.events is a generic extension, like .com, .info and .shop. It has existed since 2014 and comes from the large round of new extensions that ICANN opened in 2012. The registry is Identity Digital, formerly known as Donuts; officially .events is held by Binky Moon, LLC, part of Identity Digital.

Because .events is a generic extension, ICANN's worldwide rules apply to transfers, changes of holder, expiry and disputes. ICANN is the organisation that sets the rules for generic extensions. How all these extensions came about is covered in the history of domain names.

Who can register a .events domain?

Anyone. .events is an open extension: individuals, clubs, foundations, event agencies and other businesses can register a .events domain, wherever they are based. You do not have to prove anything up front, and names go to whoever registers them first.

When you register, you do agree to the registry's rules:

• Accurate details. The holder's name, address and email address are correct and you keep them up to date. If they are wrong or out of date, the registry can suspend the domain.
• Fair use. If you use a .events domain for phishing, malware, spam or other abuse, such as a fake site selling tickets for an event that does not exist, the registry can block, suspend or cancel the domain.
• Other people's rights. The registry does not check up front whether you are entitled to a name. It is up to you to make sure your name does not infringe someone else's trademark or name, such as the name of a well-known festival.

When should you choose .events?

With .events, visitors can tell from the address that it is about an event. It works best for a named event that comes back every year, so you put the same address on your posters, tickets and social media posts each time.

You redirect a .events domain to another website as neatly as any other domain, for example to your ticket page or your main site; redirect a domain to another website explains how.

To Google, .events is a generic extension, like .com: 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 websites in that country. That is set out in Google's guidelines for multi-regional websites.

Which rules does a .events name follow?

• Length. 1 to 63 characters, not counting the .events extension.
• Characters. The letters a to z, the digits 0 to 9 and the hyphen. A hyphen cannot be at the start or end of the name. So a year in the name is fine, as in yourfestival2027.events, but a name without a year lets you keep the same address every year.
• Accented letters. The registry also accepts names with accented letters from the Latin script, such as é, ë and ü, and characters from other scripts, such as Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese and Japanese. You choose one language or script when you register, and all characters in the name come from it. Not every email program or web form handles such characters well, so for your main address a name without accents is the safer choice.
• Two-letter names. A two-letter name that matches a country code must not be used to suggest that you are linked to that country's government or country-code extension.
• Reserved and premium names. The registry holds back some names, for example names that ICANN requires to be reserved. It offers others as premium names at a higher price.

In the order wizard in the portal you type a .events name using the letters a to z, digits and hyphens. For a .events domain with accented letters, open a support ticket and we will look into it with you. If the wizard shows Premium domain, contact us next to a name, you order that name through a support ticket; the button opens the ticket for you. See order a domain and hosting in the customer portal for how that works.

How much does a .events domain cost at LJPc?

A .events domain costs €54.99 a year at LJPc hosting, excluding VAT. You pay the same amount when you transfer an existing .events domain to us: a transfer adds a year to the domain's term. Prices differ between providers. The order wizard shows you the price before you order.

You add hosting for your website and email, so you can also send email from an address like info@yourfestival.events. 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 .events 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 .events, for example yourfestival.events. You see straight away whether it is available and what it costs per year, with other extensions alongside.
3. Select the .events 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 .events 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 choice in the order wizard is described in register a domain and link it to your hosting. You then find your .events domain in the portal under Services > Domain names. If the name you want is taken, backorder a domain name explains how to claim it for the moment it becomes available.

What LJPc takes care of for your .events domain

• Automatic renewal every year. Automatic renewal is on by default, so your .events domain keeps running as long as your subscription does, including the months between two editions of your event. 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 .events 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, for example the foundation that runs your event from now on, see change the owner of a domain: for .events you first give your approval through an email in your portal inbox.

Transfer your .events domain to LJPc

You transfer a .events domain with a transfer code, also called an authorization code or EPP code. You get that code from your current provider.

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. Pick a quiet moment for it, not right before your event or the start of ticket sales.
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 .events 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 .events 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. How to follow the transfer, what to do with an approval email and what to do if it gets stuck is covered in transfer your domain to LJPc.

Transfer your .events domain from LJPc to another provider

If your .events 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 .events 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 the end of your subscription with us, is covered in get your transfer code and move your domain.

Keep your .events domain at another registrar

If you want to keep your .events 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.

After your event: keep, redirect or let it expire

Once your event is over, the address is still on posters and tickets, in newsletters and in links on other websites. If you keep the domain, anyone following those links still reaches you. You can leave the website up as an archive with photos of the last edition, or redirect the domain to your main site.

If you let the domain expire, a .events domain follows the same ICANN rules as .com after its expiry date: first a period in which only the holder can get the domain back through their registrar, after which the name becomes available to everyone. Someone else can then register the address and send visitors who follow your old links to a site of their own. 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 a .events domain you want to keep, open a support ticket right away.

Received an invoice or renewal email for your .events 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 .events 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. Anyone with a legitimate reason can request them through the registrar.

If someone claims rights to a .events name, for example because it is the trademark of their event, that goes through ICANN's dispute policy (UDRP), the rapid suspension procedure URS, or the courts. The registry's rules, such as its policy against abuse, are on Identity Digital's policy page.

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