Why do you bill our credit card for domain name registration “before” the domain is actually registered?

We bill your credit/debit card as soon as we have done a basic check that the domain is available – this is for the following reasons: We need to ensure the card details are “valid”. As we include the domain registrars fees in our domain registration costs we need to know that we will receive the payment from you (otherwise we could be liable to pay for domains registered falsely). Registering a domain name, the DNS setup and other configuration is time consuming. The total cost of registration includes both our fees for submitting the registration and the setup/hosting of DNS records as well as the fee payable to the registrar. If a domain name registration “fails” we will promptly refund the charges for the registration to your card or if you paid by another method we will send you a refund by cheque. We cannot process your domain name application unless the payment details you entered were correct and payment is accepted. It is important to note that the application to register a domain name does not guarantee reservation of that name and the application will only be processed following payment.