EPP FAQ and Terms & Conditions

  1. Two Part FAQ
    The general FAQ should be checked as well. This one is more specific to EPP system.
  2. Getting EPP Access.
    To gain EPP access, please follow these steps:
    1. Initial Balance Requirement: If you already have ICANN accreditation, your initial balance requirement is $3,000. Without ICANN accreditation, the initial balance requirement rises to $10,000. Note, this is not a fee, you will be able to use all this money to buy domains.
    2. Discounts:
      • Discounts are available based on the number of ".ai" domains you currently hold. For each domain, you receive a reduction of $140 in your initial balance requirement.
      • If you pay in Bitcoin you only need half the initial balance requirement.
    3. Payment Methods: We accept Bitcoin, wire transfers, and credit card payments.
    4. Deposit Confirmation: After making the deposit let us know and if it was by wire transfer send a copy of the wire confirmation.
    5. Information Please provide the following information/details after your deposit has been made:

      1. Company Name
      2. Main email
      3. Phone number
      4. Physical address
      5. IANA Number
      6. Abuse email
      7. List of domains to move to your account (we will confirm by email with old registrar and expect they will confirm with you, then we will transfer for free)
    6. Do I need to sign a contract?
      We do not require a contract but if you want you can download our agreement and fill it out and sign it and email to Vince. He will sign and return. By becoming a registrar or continuing to be a registrar with us you are bound by these terms and conditions.
    7. Account Setup: Once your deposit is confirmed, and we have the above information, we will set up your account on epp.whois.ai.
  3. Where is web access for EPP users?
    You can login at https://epp.whois.ai.
  4. Recommended security proceedures
    For web portal logins we would like you to use Google Auth for 2FA. Note if this failes it is usually because the clock is wrong on your device. For EPP logins we recommend IP whitelist.
  5. How do I see credit balance and get Reminders for when credit gets low?
    In the web interface click "Account" then on the right "Credit Reminders". This will show your balance and credit limit and let you set a reminder threshold. It will then send an email if your credit gets below that threshold.
  6. The accounting information seems wrong.
    Note that if you do a search for some range that is more than 50 entries the web display does not show all the results and the totals are only for the results shown not for the full range. This is strange and seems wrong. To get the full picture you must do "Export Transactions" and look at the CSV file that is downloaded.
  7. How do I transfer domains?
    The Current registrant should get the AUTHCODE and give that to the new registrant so they can then pull the domain into their account. For a transfer to work all of these conditions must be met:
    1. The domain must be "unlocked"
    2. The domains must be paid up (can not be past expiration date)
    3. It is free to transfer away from auction.whois.ai but for any other transfer the account getting the domain must have the $140 transfer fee in it
    4. The contacts, phone, email have to be good
    5. The auth code must be correct. Some places have had some trouble with some characters so setting a new auth code might help. The characters to avoid when setting an auth code are " <>&'" "
    6. The registrar has to support .ai transfers, not all registrars do. Here is a list of registrars that support .ai transfers.
  8. Can I do renew in EPP transfer domains?
    We recommend not doing a renew on transfer but if you do set it to 2 years renewal.
  9. How do I get the AUTHCODE for a domain in web interface?
    CoCCA now stores only a cryptographic hash of an auth code. This is enough to test if someone has the correct auth code but it can not give you the auth code. This is more secure. So the way things work now is you make up a new auth code and set that. To set it click on the domain then click where it says, "Authorization Key Encrypted", and enter the new auth code. Then you know the auth code.
  10. How to I use an AUTHCODE to transfer a domain to my account in web interface?
    Click on "register", then "transfer request", then in the box put the name then a comma then the code.
  11. How do I get my company listed on your list of registrars?
    If you would like your company on the list of registrars or to change how it is listed just send email to vincecate@gmail.com.
  12. How can I test my epp software without paying for test domains?
    On the production machine epp.whois.ai you can register domains under *.ote.ai for free. If you register a domain like foobar.ote.ai we won't charge you anything. Since it is on the production machine it is a realistic test of your software. This is just for testing purposes, so the DNS for *.ote.ai domains will not work.
  13. What is the API/spec for EPP?
    Here is a page with links to EPP API standard documents.
  14. How can I export my current list of domains?
    Login on https://epp.whois.ai and select portfolio then search with no filters. Then on the right Export to CSV.
  15. Can you do 1 year pricing?
    The minimum is 2 years.
  16. What is whois.ai for?
    The old main site was whois.ai but this is now an epp client of epp.whois.ai which is the real main site now. Small legacy users are still there. We are not letting new end-users on there and there is a general move off that site.
  17. Having trouble logging in
    Try clearing cookies. To start the EPP password and web login password will be the same but you can change one without changing the other. On the web interface you can click "Account" then on bottom right "EPP settings" will let you change the EPP password. To change the web password click "Account", then "Manage Logins", then select login and click "Change Password". they can set the EPP password ( by default is the same credentials as the web login, but the login and clientID are two separate credentials )
  18. How long can stuff stay in shopping cart?
    If you logout or are logged out due to inactivity your shopping cart will be emptied.
  19. How do we transfer the domains to a new registrar?
    When you are ready I move them over for free. This is a one time deal at the creation of your account. After this, transfers cost money.
  20. What about renewals?
    The default on new accounts is not AUTORENEW but you can change that at the web interface. We recommend that you do a search for domains with expiration dates older than some date to get your list of domains to renew so that you don't accidentally renew a domain that does not need to be renewed, as there is no un-do on renewals (on registrations if you delete soon the cost can be reversed).
  21. Are there reminder emails to pay for domains?
    No, no emails are sent out as each domain comes close to expiration. This epp.whois.ai is really set up for retailers and they each email end users about payments coming up. You can set up AUTORENEW and also set the system to email you a reminder when your balance gets below some level. So this sort of handles the problem.
  22. How fast are domains deleted?
    See regular regular FAQ for delete.
  23. How can I lock domains so there is no chance of transfer?
    Click "portfolio", do a search (blank to see all), then click "bulk lock", then "all" to lock all, then at the bottom next to "transfer" click under "lock", then put in a note and click "update locks". Note that if you do this you must unlock a domain before an AUTHCODE can be used to do a transfer.
  24. Do transfers cost?
    Transfers cost $140. We do not recommend renewing during transfer but if you do that is an additional cost and is priced as a normal renewal. If no renewal is done then the expiration date does not change with a transfer. If two registrars combine into one, a registrar splits into two, or we get a new registrar, then we can do an admin-transfer (i.e. Vince does it) and there is no charge for moving the domains. Also, if you buy a domain at auction on auction.whois.ai then you can transfer it off there to your regular account with no charge. We don't want domains to stay on auction.whois.ai.
  25. Buyers Remorce Grace period is 5 days
    If you register a domain and then delete it within 5 days the system will refund your money automatically. Note there is no grace period for renewals. Be careful not to renew a domain more times than you really want to as you can not undo a renewal.
  26. The Dec 16, 2017 registration date seems wrong
    When domains were loaded onto epp.whois.ai on Dec 16, 2017 the new system took that as the birthday for all the domains. Really many domains were around many years before that. The expiration dates were correctly handled during the migration, but the registration date is not correct.
  27. Our customer did not pay can we get a refund?
    If you delete the name within the Grace period (see in this FAQ) you can get a refund. If it is longer than that then no.
  28. The report totals seem off by a bit?
    There are monthly reports and search result reports. One of these uses the timezone of the server and one of these uses the timezone set by the client. When these timezones are different if there were sales in the time difference the amounts can be different. If you set your account timezone to "Atlantic Standard Time" like Anguilla and our server is using, then the problem will go away.
  29. How do I restore a domain?
    From the web interface you search your portfolio for the domain, click on it, then in the bottom on the right you click "restore". Note if you do from EPP you also need a "restore report" and a "renew" and this all should be done done on the same day. Best to do "renew" right after.
  30. Automatic Renewal
    To get domains to renew automatcally go to the web portal and click on "Account", then "Automation" and specify for each ".ai", ".net.ai", ".com.ai" etc how much they should renew for. Set each to 2 years.
  31. UDRP
    As explained in the main FAQ Anguilla uses UDRP. All ICANN accredited registrars are responsible for processing UDRP emails. If they fail to process these emails and Vince has to they will be charged $500 US.
  32. How to I search transaction history?
    Click the "home" icon, then click "transaction ledger". Then you can tick boxes for the types of transactions, set the date range, and click search.
  33. How do I print an invoice recoding a payment we made?
    Do a transaction search as in previous question but for "Adjustment", "Bank Payment", or "Credit card". Then click on tye type in the results to get the record of the payment.
  34. How do I make a payment using Credit Card?
    On http://epp.whois.ai you go to "TOP UP"", put in the amount you want and a payment description, then click Next. then click "next", then click "PAY BY 4CS". Then a window from our payment processor pops up and you put in credit card info. This is done so that we never even see your credit card number.

    Please wait at least 15 minutes after an attempt looks like it failed before trying again. Check your balance before trying again as often charges that seemed to have failed are posted a few minutes later.

    Please note that for credit cards we add a fee of 3.627% to the amount we charge to cover the credit card fees.

  35. Overdraft or Credit Limit
    We set the overdraft/credit limit to 1/4 of the amount of your last payment or $500, whichever is higher. If you send a wire and need an increased overdraft while waiting for the wire to get through we can increase your overdraft temporarily to 1/2 the amount of the wire if you mention this when you email us a copy of the wire transfer confirmation from your bank. If you have multiple wires in transit the credit limit will be 1/2 the total value of all the wires.
  36. Do you support DNSSEC?
    No we do not. We feel that SSL, which everyone already uses, provides both authentication and encryption, while DNSSEC just provides authentication. So it does not add anything really. Also, DNSSEC runs the risk out outages. Given a significant downside risk and no significant additional benefit, we have decided not to support it.
  37. Don't give your customers my contact info
    Registrars should not be giving out my contact info to your own customers. Please do not do this. If this problem increases we may implement a fee for when your customers contact us.
  38. How to get records of payments
    Go to the home tab in the web interface. Click "none" on Transaction Types, then click "Adjustment". Then set the "Date Range" to cover the time of the payment. Then click "Search". Then click on the the word "Adjustment" next to the date of the payment. You will see a .pdf with a title "Payment Transaction Receipt". You can click the "download" icon in the top right to download it.
  39. Quick Handling of Abusive Websites
    We ask that organizations that patrol the Internet for fraud send reports to the abuse contact for the registrar and CC vincecate+abusecc@gmail.com. If after one week the organization is not not satisfied that the registrar has properly handled the problem they can come back to us at vincecate+abuse@gmail.com and we will investigate. If we determine that the site is or was violating our terms and conditions we will suspend the domain and charge the registrar $280. In our experience Netcraft.com takedown requests have always been valid and we strongly recommend registrars comply with Netcraft requests. If a registrar decides not to suspend a domain they should send an explanation as to why to improve their chances of avoiding the $280 fee.

    If after this the registrars abusing customer harasses us (defined as more than 1 email or phone call) there will be an additional fee of $280. This is to give registrars an incentive to not pass our contact info to their abuse customers, which some have been doing.

  40. Can I get a copy of the zone?
    If you are a registrar and send me the IP you would like to access the zone file from I can give you access. After I add your IP to the whitelist you can download the zone files from http://datahaven.net/zone/zone.tgz. This file updates before 5 am Anguilla time every day. This is the zone file and there are a few domains that have not set nameservers and so will not appear in the zone file. Under these Terms and Conditions registrars do not have permission to redistribute this information.
  41. How often do nameservers update?
    Every 2 hours. It could take another hour to propagate. Sometimes longer.
  42. We are doing a lot of volume. Can we have a special price?
    Everyone is paying the same price. See next item.
  43. Terms and Conditions can Change
    These terms and conditions can change from time to time if something needs clarification or new situations come up. However, we intend to be reasonable as we want .ai to be popular and successful. The same terms and conditions will always apply to all registrars. If there is a change we feel is significant we will email all the registrars.
  44. How will prices change?
    We are indexing with the US CPI for All Urban Consumers. We will divide the CPI by 2.18 to get our target price. If we think the target price will be around $20 or 20% higher than our current price in the next 100 days we will announce a price increase so that registrars have at least 60 days warning before it takes effect. On Apr 15, 2023 we changed the price to $140 US. This is for .ai, .com.ai, net.ai, .off.ai, and .org.ai. This is for registrations, renewals, transfers and restores. Note registrations and renewals are for 2 years. Note that people can renew domains for up to a total of 10 years before the price changes if they want to.