Oolite Bulletins

Just thought I'd check this with you guys.

I want to buy some domain names (well, actually it's one name with .com/.co.uk variants and a couple of spelling variations) and was ready to just go for it with one of the well-known sellers. But I haven't yet decided on where to host (if I'm creating the site) or if I'm going to pay someone else to create the site (and probably host it on the site creator's servers).

Could there be difficulties if, at some later stage, I want to transfer my domain names? Does this mean that I should be careful where I buy these names?

Domain names are easily transferred and you don't actually need to even do that if you don't want to. For HookedGamers.com, we bought the domain names from 000domains.com because it was cheapest at the time, while the sites themselves are currently located at bodhost.com.

Wherever you buy the server space, you should naturally check the agreement that you sign about how you can later transfer your stuff from their servers - it should not be a problem with any responsible host, although some of them are less skilled than others (we have had to transfer the data by ourselves once or twice).

Thanks, Wolfwood - I need all of the advice that I can get.

Can I ask one more question?

I want to sell digital goods to many countries. Do I have to buy a domain name and create a website for each country/currency (UK, US, Canada, etc.)? Or is it easy to create one website where the user can choose the currency that they use?

A domain isn't necessarily linked to a single website. You can host multiple sites under a single name, even without subdomains. Different prices for different countries aren't too hard to implement into a single website aswell. Usually you can detect the country the user/customer is coming from anyway, so he can get the prices in his currency without any 'active' user input. If you don't know this yet you really should get someone to build the site for you.

Thanks polyh. And, errr, yeah - maybe I will get some help building that site...