Towards the end of 2025 we received official accreditation from auDA and became a registrar for .au domains. This is a big milestone, one that we wouldn’t have reached if the regulator wasn’t satisfied by the standards of our technical systems and operational compliance.
The big upshot here is that we can now register .au domains on your behalf without going through a reseller. While resellers take on some compliance and technical responsibilities, we would rather maintain a more direct and robust relationship with the operators of the namespace. We’re well prepared to take on the extra responsibility.
In WHOIS lookups we’ll be listed as “Webslice”, which is our international brand. Same team, same owners, different name. Alongside our longstanding accreditation from New Zealand’s DNC, and more recently from ICANN (.com, .org) this is our third tick of approval from a domain regulator.
The newest .au registrar
We have already stopped using our old reseller for new .au domain registrations, which now go through the new system with Webslice as the registrar.
The next stage is to change the registrar of existing .au domains to us. If you have domains to move, we’ve already emailed you about shifting them out of our reseller account, and updating the applicable WHOIS details, this month. This is technically a domain transfer, but from your point of view it’s a non-event: Your domains will still appear in your SiteHost account with the same contact details, DNS and nameserver settings. There will be no change to renewal dates or prices. No downtime, either.
Committed to Australia
As we wrote last year:
There are a lot of TLDs out there, and no-one can specialise in all of them. You can expect accredited registrars to be more robust, more aware of any upcoming changes from regulators or registries, and more likely to cater to them. All up, that’s a safer long-term option.
For us, Australia is an obvious place to focus our attention. It’s home to a good number of SiteHost customers, and it’s an important market for many more.
As well as simplifying the way we vend .au domains, auDA accreditation serves as solid proof of our commitment to the country.
Upholding the trustworthiness of Australian domains
Research from auDA tells us that Australians have higher trust in .au domains. Local consumers often prefer shopping on .au sites, for example. One big reason why Australian domains are so trustworthy is the rulebook that auDA maintains. These rules reserve .com.au domains for commercial or business entities with a genuine connection to Australia, and there are similar requirements across the namespace.
As a registrar, we are entrusted with the job of upholding these rules. The Australian namespace’s great reputation relies on registrars like us collecting and verifying information from domain registrants, and maintaining compliant technical connections to the registry.
Quite rightly, auDA has a rigorous accreditation process. In fact, in terms of accredited registrars the .au club is more exclusive than .nz. We’re proud to have made the cut.
Photo by Kiros Amin on Unsplash.