Becoming a domain name registrar as a reseller for an established registrar is a great solution for webmasters registering many domains, and a great money making opportunity for anyone on the Web. Here's how reselling domain names works and where to sign up to be one:

How Reselling Domain Names Works
Many domain name registrars will offer reseller programs to any individual or business who wishes to sign up. If accepted, they can then register domains at lower prices through their parent ICANN accredited registrar and can then resell them to customers. Normally the initial registrar will still take care of all services like registration and customer support. The reseller basically just drums up more business for the registrar. Even though the buyer pays the reseller and may even access the domain name control panel at the reseller's site, the domain name is actually registered with the reseller's parent registrar.

For example, Melbourne IT is the main ICANN accredited registrar that backs for big name resellers like Yahoo and Earthlink. Although you may register your domain name through Yahoo, Yahoo is not the main registrar. It is a reseller for Melbourne IT.

Driving Down Prices
Resellers are able to provide discounted prices for domains (after buying them wholesale from the registrar) and pass along the savings to the customers. Domain resellers have become very successful by offering these lower prices, and the competition among resellers has driven the price of domain names down from over $35 to as low as $6.95 and still dropping!

ICANN Accredited Resellers
Enom and Wild West Domains are two of the top ICANN accredited registrars that employ resellers to market their domains. Resellers for these two registrars are usually very reputable and offer great prices. Don't trust just any old site that says they can register domain names. If they aren't an ICANN accredited registrar or authorized reseller for one, one should be very cautious in registering a domain name through them.

Getting in on the Savings
Webmasters who are registering a lot of domain names for themselves or their company can benefit by reselling domain names themselves. As a reseller they can buy domain names for discounted prices and make money off the registrations of others. Wild West Domains offers a low-cost ($99) and easy to get started reseller program for webmasters and wannabe registrars. If you are interested in saving a buck, or making a buck, on domain registrations you might consider reselling domain names yourself.