Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Dot Com shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Dot Com offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Dot Com at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Dot Com? Wrong! If the Dot Com is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Dot Com then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Dot Com? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Dot Com and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Dot Com wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Dot Com then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Dot Com site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Dot Com, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Dot Com, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
{{Infobox Top level domain|name=.com|background=#FC0|image=|introduced=1985|type=Generic top-level domain|sponsor=None|intendeduse=[Commerce entities (worldwide)|actualuse=Used for virtually any commercial or non-commercial website and is generally accepted as the standard for TLDs|restrictions=None|structure=Registrations at second level permitted|document=RFC 920; RFC 1591; ICANN registry agreement|disputepolicy=
UDRP (gTLD) used on the [Internet's Domain Name System. It was one of the original
top-level domains (TLDs), established in January 1985, and has grown to be the largest TLD in use. It was originally administered by the
United States Department of Defense. The DoD contracted its maintenance to
Stanford Research Institute. On
January 1, 1993 the
National Science Foundation assumed responsibility for its maintenance, as .com was primarily being used for non-defense interests. The NSF contracted its maintenance to Network Solutions. In 1995 the NSF authorized NSI to begin charging registrants (of
.org and .net as well as .com) an annual fee, for the first-time since its inception. Initially it was $50 per year, with $35 going to NSI, and $15 going to a government fund. New registrations had to pay for the first two years, making the new-domain registration fee $100. In 1997 the United States Department of Commerce assumed authority over it (along with the rest of the generic top level domains). It is currently operated by VeriSign, which had acquired Network Solutions. (VeriSign later spun off Network Solutions' non-registry functions into the current company which continues as a registrar.) In the English language it is consistently pronounced as a word,
dot-com, and has entered common parlance this way.
Although .com domains are officially intended to designate commercial entities (others such as government agencies or educational institutions have different top-level domains assigned to them), there has been no restriction on who can register .com domains since the mid-1990s. The opening of the .com registry to the public coincided with the commercialization and popularization of the Internet, and .com quickly became the most common top-level domain for websites. Many companies which flourished in the period between 1997-2001 (the time known as the "dot-com bubble") went so far as to incorporate .com into the company name; these became known as dot-coms or
Dot-com company. The introduction of
.biz in 2001, which is restricted to businesses, has had little impact on the popularity of .com.
Although companies anywhere in the world can register .com domains, many countries have a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their own
ccTLD. Such second-level domains are usually of the form .com.xx or .co.xx, where xx is the ccTLD. Argentina (.com.ar), Japan (.co.jp),
New Zealand (.co.nz), India (.co.in), the People's Republic of China (.com.cn), Pakistan (.com.pk), and the United Kingdom (.co
.uk) are all examples.
Many noncommercial sites, such as those of nonprofit organizations or governments, use .com addresses. Some consider this to be contrary to the domain's original purpose and might say that a .org,
.gov, or other more specific TLD might be more appropriate for such sites. However, many organizations prefer the recognizability of a .com domain to a less familiar one. As well, the original purposes of many of the top level domains have become irrelevant without restrictions on registrations.
Registrations are processed via registrars accredited by ICANN;
internationalized domain names are also accepted.
Transfer procedures
Domains can be transferred between registrars. Prior to October 2006 the procedure used by Verisign was complex and unreliable - requiring a notary public to verify the identity of the registrant requesting a domain transfer. In October 2006, a new procedure, requiring the losing registrar to provide an authorization code on instruction from the registrant (also known as
Extensible Provisioning Protocol code) was introduced by Verisign to reduce the incidence of domain hijacking.
List of oldest .com domains
The following are the 100 oldest still-existing registered .com domains :
{| class="wikitable" style="float:left"|- bgcolor="#efefef"! Rank || Create date || Domain name|-| 1 ||
March 15,
1985 ]|-| 2 ||
April 24, 1985 ]|-| 3 || May 24,
1985 ]|-| 4 || July 11,
1985 ]|-| 5 || September 30, 1985 ]|-| 6 || November 7,
1985 ]|-| 7 || January 9, 1986 ]|-| 8 ||
January 17, 1986 ]|-| 9 || March 3,
1986 ]|-| 10 ||
March 5,
1986 ]|-| 11 || March 19,
1986 ]|-| 11 || March 19, 1986 ]|-| 13 ||
March 25, 1986 ]|-| 13 || March 25,
1986 ]|-| 15 || April 25, 1986 ]|-| 16 || May 8,
1986 ]|-| 16 ||
May 8,
1986 ]|-| 18 ||
July 10, 1986 ]|-| 18 || July 10, 1986 ]|-| 20 ||
August 5, 1986 ]|-| 20 || August 5,
1986 ]|-| 20 || August 5,
1986 ]|-| 20 || August 5,
1986 ]|-| 20 || August 5,
1986 ]|-| 26 ||
September 2,
1986 ]|-| 27 || September 18,
1986 ]|-| 28 ||
September 29, 1986 ]|-| 29 || October 18,
1986 ]|-| 30 ||
October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 ||
October 27,
1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27,
1986 ]|-| 30 ||
October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27,
1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 ||
October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 ||
October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 ||
October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27, 1986 ]|-| 40 ||
November 5, 1986 ]|-| 40 ||
November 5,
1986 ]|-| 42 || November 17, 1986 ]|-| 42 ||
November 17, 1986 ]|-| 42 ||
November 17,
1986 ]|-| 42 || November 17, 1986 ]|-| 42 || November 17,
1986 ]|-| 42 || November 17, 1986 ]|-| 42 || November 17, 1986 ]|-| 42 ||
December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 ||
December 11,
1986 ]|}{| class="wikitable"|- bgcolor="#efefef"! Rank || Create date || Domain name|-| 50 || December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 ||
December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 ||
December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 ||
December 11, 1986 ]|-| 50 ||
December 11, 1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11, 1986 ]|-| 50 ||
December 11, 1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11,
1986 ]|-| 61 || January 19, 1987 ]|-| 61 || January 19,
1987 ]|-| 61 ||
January 19,
1987 ]|-| 64 || February 19, 1987 ]|-| 65 || March 4,
1987 ]|-| 65 || March 4, 1987 ]|-| 67 ||
April 4, 1987 ]|-| 68 || April 23, 1987 ]|-| 68 || April 23, 1987 ]|-| 68 ||
April 23, 1987 ]|-| 68 || April 23,
1987 ]|-| 72 || April 30,
1987 ]|-| 73 ||
May 14,
1987 ]|-| 73 || May 14, 1987 ]|-| 75 ||
May 20, 1987 ]|-| 76 ||
May 27, 1987 ]|-| 76 ||
May 27, 1987 ]|-| 78 || June 26,
1987 ]|-| 79 ||
July 9, 1987 ]|-| 80 ||
July 13, 1987 ]|-| 81 || July 27, 1987 ]|-| 81 ||
July 27,
1987 ]|-| 83 ||
July 28,
1987 ],
1987 ]|-| 85 ||
August 31, 1987 ]|-| 86 || September 3, 1987 ]|-| 86 || September 3, 1987 ]|-| 86 ||
September 3,
1987 ]|-| 89 ||
September 22,
1987 ]|-| 89 ||
September 22, 1987 ]|-| 89 || September 22, 1987 ]|-| 89 || September 22,
1987 ]|-| 93 || September 30, 1987 ]|-| 94 ||
October 14,
1987 ]|-| 95 ||
November 2,
1987 ]|-| 96 ||
November 9, 1987 ],
1987 ]|-| 97 || November 16,
1987 ]|-| 99 ||
November 24,
1987 ]|-| 100 || November 30,
1987 ]|}
External links
- IANA .com whois information
- List of .com accredited registrars
{{Infobox Top level domain|name=.com|background=#FC0|image=|introduced=1985|type=
Generic top-level domain|sponsor=None|intendeduse=[Commerce entities (worldwide)|actualuse=Used for virtually any commercial or non-commercial website and is generally accepted as the standard for TLDs|restrictions=None|structure=Registrations at second level permitted|document=RFC 920; RFC 1591; ICANN registry agreement|disputepolicy=
UDRP (gTLD) used on the [Internet's
Domain Name System. It was one of the original top-level domains (TLDs), established in January 1985, and has grown to be the largest TLD in use. It was originally administered by the United States Department of Defense. The DoD contracted its maintenance to
Stanford Research Institute. On January 1, 1993 the National Science Foundation assumed responsibility for its maintenance, as .com was primarily being used for non-defense interests. The NSF contracted its maintenance to Network Solutions. In
1995 the NSF authorized NSI to begin charging registrants (of .org and .net as well as .com) an annual fee, for the first-time since its inception. Initially it was $50 per year, with $35 going to NSI, and $15 going to a government fund. New registrations had to pay for the first two years, making the new-domain registration fee $100. In
1997 the United States Department of Commerce assumed authority over it (along with the rest of the generic top level domains). It is currently operated by
VeriSign, which had acquired Network Solutions. (VeriSign later spun off Network Solutions' non-registry functions into the current company which continues as a registrar.) In the English language it is consistently pronounced as a word,
dot-com, and has entered common parlance this way.
Although .com domains are officially intended to designate commercial entities (others such as government agencies or educational institutions have different top-level domains assigned to them), there has been no restriction on who can register .com domains since the mid-1990s. The opening of the .com registry to the public coincided with the commercialization and popularization of the Internet, and .com quickly became the most common top-level domain for
websites. Many companies which flourished in the period between 1997-2001 (the time known as the "dot-com bubble") went so far as to incorporate .com into the company name; these became known as dot-coms or Dot-com company. The introduction of .biz in 2001, which is restricted to businesses, has had little impact on the popularity of .com.
Although companies anywhere in the world can register .com domains, many countries have a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their own
ccTLD. Such second-level domains are usually of the form .com.xx or .co.xx, where xx is the ccTLD.
Argentina (.com
.ar),
Japan (.co
.jp),
New Zealand (.co
.nz),
India (.co
.in), the People's Republic of China (.com.cn), Pakistan (.com.pk), and the
United Kingdom (.co.uk) are all examples.
Many noncommercial sites, such as those of nonprofit organizations or governments, use .com addresses. Some consider this to be contrary to the domain's original purpose and might say that a .org,
.gov, or other more specific TLD might be more appropriate for such sites. However, many organizations prefer the recognizability of a .com domain to a less familiar one. As well, the original purposes of many of the top level domains have become irrelevant without restrictions on registrations.
Registrations are processed via registrars accredited by
ICANN;
internationalized domain names are also accepted.
Transfer procedures
Domains can be transferred between registrars. Prior to October 2006 the procedure used by Verisign was complex and unreliable - requiring a notary public to verify the identity of the registrant requesting a domain transfer. In October 2006, a new procedure, requiring the losing registrar to provide an authorization code on instruction from the registrant (also known as Extensible Provisioning Protocol code) was introduced by Verisign to reduce the incidence of domain hijacking.
List of oldest .com domains
The following are the 100 oldest still-existing registered .com domains :
{| class="wikitable" style="float:left"|- bgcolor="#efefef"! Rank || Create date || Domain name|-| 1 ||
March 15,
1985 ]|-| 2 || April 24, 1985 ]|-| 3 ||
May 24, 1985 ]|-| 4 ||
July 11,
1985 ]|-| 5 ||
September 30, 1985 ]|-| 6 ||
November 7,
1985 ]|-| 7 ||
January 9, 1986 ]|-| 8 || January 17,
1986 ]|-| 9 || March 3,
1986 ]|-| 10 || March 5,
1986 ]|-| 11 || March 19,
1986 ]|-| 11 || March 19,
1986 ]|-| 13 || March 25, 1986 ]|-| 13 ||
March 25,
1986 ]|-| 15 ||
April 25,
1986 ]|-| 16 || May 8, 1986 ]|-| 16 || May 8, 1986 ]|-| 18 || July 10,
1986 ]|-| 18 ||
July 10, 1986 ]|-| 20 ||
August 5, 1986 ]|-| 20 || August 5, 1986 ]|-| 20 ||
August 5, 1986 ]|-| 20 ||
August 5, 1986 ]|-| 20 ||
August 5,
1986 ]|-| 26 ||
September 2, 1986 ]|-| 27 ||
September 18, 1986 ]|-| 28 ||
September 29,
1986 ]|-| 29 ||
October 18,
1986 ]|-| 30 ||
October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 ||
October 27,
1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27,
1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 ||
October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27, 1986 ]|-| 30 || October 27,
1986 ]|-| 40 ||
November 5, 1986 ]|-| 40 ||
November 5,
1986 ]|-| 42 || November 17, 1986 ]|-| 42 ||
November 17, 1986 ]|-| 42 ||
November 17,
1986 ]|-| 42 || November 17,
1986 ]|-| 42 || November 17,
1986 ]|-| 42 ||
November 17, 1986 ]|-| 42 ||
November 17,
1986 ]|-| 42 ||
December 11, 1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11, 1986 ]|}{| class="wikitable"|- bgcolor="#efefef"! Rank || Create date || Domain name|-| 50 || December 11, 1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11, 1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11, 1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 || December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 ||
December 11,
1986 ]|-| 50 ||
December 11,
1986 ]|-| 61 ||
January 19,
1987 ]|-| 61 ||
January 19, 1987 ]|-| 61 ||
January 19, 1987 ]|-| 64 ||
February 19,
1987 ]|-| 65 ||
March 4, 1987 ]|-| 65 ||
March 4, 1987 ]|-| 67 || April 4,
1987 ]|-| 68 ||
April 23,
1987 ]|-| 68 || April 23,
1987 ]|-| 68 ||
April 23,
1987 ]|-| 68 ||
April 23, 1987 ]|-| 72 || April 30,
1987 ]|-| 73 || May 14,
1987 ]|-| 73 ||
May 14,
1987 ]|-| 75 ||
May 20,
1987 ]|-| 76 ||
May 27, 1987 ]|-| 76 || May 27, 1987 ]|-| 78 ||
June 26, 1987 ]|-| 79 ||
July 9, 1987 ]|-| 80 ||
July 13, 1987 ]|-| 81 ||
July 27,
1987 ]|-| 81 ||
July 27, 1987 ]|-| 83 ||
July 28, 1987 ],
1987 ]|-| 85 ||
August 31, 1987 ]|-| 86 ||
September 3, 1987 ]|-| 86 ||
September 3, 1987 ]|-| 86 ||
September 3,
1987 ]|-| 89 || September 22, 1987 ]|-| 89 ||
September 22,
1987 ]|-| 89 ||
September 22, 1987 ]|-| 89 || September 22, 1987 ]|-| 93 ||
September 30,
1987 ]|-| 94 ||
October 14,
1987 ]|-| 95 || November 2, 1987 ]|-| 96 ||
November 9,
1987 ],
1987 ]|-| 97 || November 16, 1987 ]|-| 99 || November 24,
1987 ]|-| 100 ||
November 30, 1987 ]|}
External links
- IANA .com whois information
- List of .com accredited registrars
Dot.Com
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Dot-com - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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