www.orf.at, www.ebay.at, www.amazon.at - all these are addresses resp. websites on the internet. In these cases "orf.at", "ebay.at" and "amazon.at" are the domains. They consist of an individual domainname of choice (e.g. orf) and a code (e.g. .at for Austria) to indicate, where the domain is registered.

Anyone full of age and contractually capable can register a .at-, .or.at- or .co.at-domain. Neither an Austrian citizenship, nor an Austrian address is required. Just check if your domain of choice is still available (see column to the right) and contact a registrar-partner, who will take care of the administrative process of the domain-registration.

The owner can also use his domain as an e-mail-address - independet of whether he also sets up a homepage. The owner of the domain example.at can also use the e-mail-address max@example.at.

Your own domain is just like a business card. Whether used for your private homepage or for your business e-mail-address: It brings identity and your personal touch to your appearanence on the internet. In short: It is an essential factor for your success on the net.

Just like in real life, it is a major differance, whether you appear in a personal way on the net or not. If this is not the case, the chances are good, that you will desperatly perish in the postbox of your contact person as cookie-cutter@hotgmax.com. Your own domain however puts one major thing across to your vis-a-vis: You know who you are, what you stand for. You represent your own concerns. On the internet, as well es in real-life.

This is especially crucial in the working life: How professional is the image of someone, who uses "willi2503@freemailing.at" as his business e-mail? Or a service provider presenting his virtual appearance under "http://members.providerxyz.at/niceguy"? There you go! Your registrar-partner will gladly help you on the way to your domain!

Valid characters in a domain name may be letters (“a-z”), numbers (“0-9), hyphens (“-“) and 34 additional characters (the respective list can be found here. Two hyphens in a row as the third and fourth characters of adomain name are not allowed. The name must not begin or end with a hyphen.

Length:
domain names under .co.at and .or.at: at least one letter (e.g. t3.co.at and s.or.at),
domain names under .at: at least three characters.
Maximum length: 63 characters.

Just switch from .at to .co.at or .or.at. Or register different versions of the desired domain name, like e.g. instead of example.at

ex-ample.at
ex-ample.co.at
e-x-a-m-p-l-e.at
bestexample.at
example-vienna.at
my-example.at

However, if you have rights to an already delegated domain (e.g. trademark right, right to a name), please contact the nic.at legal department, which will inform you about the so-called Wait-status.

You finally want to send e-mails from your-lastname.at? No problem! In the right column of this page you can check, if the domain of your choice is still available or search for an alternative domain. Got any luck? Then simply contact a registrar - this can be a telecom-provider, ISP or web-hoster. Here you can find a competent contact person near you.

The registrar takes care of the administrative details of the registration. The pricing of the service can vary, depending on the extent of the product-package (webhosting, number of e-mail-addresses, etc.). After a successful registration of a domain, the domain-holder receives a certificate via mail as a confirmation.

The legal requirements for the registration of a domain are contractual capability and age of consent, an organisation must be stated with a valid legal form. The allocation of .at-domains is based on the terms & conditions of the registry nic.at.

.at-domains can basically be registered by anyone, no matter whether it is a person, organisation or an association. Private persons must be of age and capable of contracting. An organisation must be specified with its full and valid legal form.

The delegation of .at domains is based on the general terms and conditions of the registry nic.at. It doesn’t matter who registers the domain on behalf of the holder – nic.at’s contractual partner is always the domain holder.

As with each other top level domain (e.g. .at, .de, .com, etc.) the Austrian top level domain .at is administrated by a central registration entity: nic.at.

Registrars are Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecom companies or plain domain vendors, who have signed a contract with nic.at for the registration of domain names. They are the first contact for customers and offer extensive information and consulting services. Here you can find a nearby registrar.

This structure only needs a minimum of administrative efforts while at the same time guaranteeing service and customer proximity. The efficiency of this system allowed for considerable cost reductions which have been directly passed on to the end customer. Therefore the price of the .at domain could be continuously lowered, although the price is most often depending on the complete service package of the registrar.

Across Austria more than 400 registrars are Internet Service Providers (ISPs), web hoster, telecom companies or plain domain vendors. They are the first contact if you want to register your own domain name and willingly inform you about technical and content-related possibilities, service packages, costs, etc. They also take care of the domain registration at the central Austrian domain registration entity nic.at.

Our partner list fast and easily allows you to contact a registrar in your area – have fun on your way to your own domain!