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NIRA AUCTION PROCESS & PROCEDURE
July 8, 2009
1. Introduction
Nigeria’s presence on the Internet (cyberspace) is about to receive a new boost
with the expected massive registration of .ng domain names at different levels.
Currently, NIRA’s offering price for domain names registration is among the
lowest in the domain market of any country in the world. This is a deliberate
pricing policy by NIRA in order to encourage greater up take of the .ng domain at
the shortest possible time.
Having put in place a world class automated registry system (built on the Cocca
Registry Software and six anycast servers from four Anycast Service providers
around the world) with the accreditation of twenty nine (29) Registrars, with
more local and International registrars to be accredited, NIRA is set for the next
level to make .ng domain the premium domain in Africa and the world at large
To help achieve this NIRA has identified some domain names as premium, and
unique levels for which it intends sale by way of auction to enable it realize
needed funds and make these domains available to the world with the
appropriate content.
In order to give the auction process a focused strategy, an Auction Committee
was constituted and mandated by the NIRA board to fashion out modalities for a
viable and transparent auction process.
After exhaustive deliberations the detailed auction procedures was approved by
the NIRA board. The auction procedure is in three sections and covers three
categories of
ï‚·
Platinum Domain Auction
ï‚·
Gold Domain Auction
ï‚·
Diamond Domain Auction
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SECTION 1 PLATINUM DOMIAN AUCTION
Preamble
With the adoption of the hierarchical domain structure as against the flat
structure, NIRA has consigned domain registrations to the third and fourth
levels. This makes the second level exclusive for NIRA’s own second level zones.
All these have given the second level a unique exclusivity that can be harnessed
for the benefit of the Internet community. It is with this regard that auction of
domains on this level is regarded as the premium of premium, the real ‘FIRST
CLASS CABIN”, thereby the name Platinum Domain Auction
1 Nature of the Domains
Platinum Domain Auction are for domains in the second (2nd level). Examples
would include banks.ng; name.ng; microsoft.ng, etc. There are NO restrictions on
the names to be used as long as they are not offensive or repugnant to the
Nigerian Internet community. The words can also be of ANY length as well but if
one letter names then it should not be any of the five vowels of “a”, “e”, “i”, “o”,
“u” of the latin character sets.
2. Nature of the Auction
Platinum Domain Auction shall be as Slots. A Slot is an ‘open’ allocation of a
single domain, whose name is provided by the bidder and approved by the Board
before the auction is conducted. Names to be provided MUST NOT infringe on
other policies like respect for intellectual rights among others.
During each auction process, a given number of slots are presented to the
bidding public, interested bidders can buy any of the slots. Bidders are allowed
to submit multiple names NOT exceeding three but only ONE would be
registered on a successful bid.
3. Bid Access
In line with the existing policy of the .ng registry for a Registry/Registrar
operation ALL bidders are advised to bid through ANY NIRA Accredited
Registrar
4. Registrant Qualification
Domains on the second level are categorized as Open Domains as defined in the
NIRA Domain Names Policy. This means that there is NO restriction of
registrant’s location or persons, A bidder can be Nigerian or Non Nigerian,
individuals or corporate bodies.
5. Auction Method
With the sensitive and premium nature of the 2nd level domain auctions it would
be primarily held as LIVE auctions. While this is so, two key efforts would be
made towards optimal participation. First is to provide an online connectivity for
the auction. This would enable remote bidders participate in real time bidding
and pass instructions to their physical representatives or better still (down the
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line) make their own bids directly. Second aspect is to collocate the auction with
key ICT gatherings to maximize exposure. Such events include but not limited to
annual or regular events of the various NIRA stakeholders like the CPN IT
professionals Assembly.
6. Auction Volume and Frequency
Platinum Auctions would be done quarterly for a maximum of four auctions in a
year. For now each auction would offer TWO (2) slots ONLY except otherwise
determined by the Executive Board. However, for the first auction of 2nd level
domains FIVE (5) slots would be on offer.
7. Reserve Bid Price,
Since names at the Second Level domains are extremely rare, unique and
precludes confusion with any other domain extension, they therefore have
premium values. Whoever wins a Slot wins a very unique and valuable identity.
Consequent upon this all slots shall have a Reserve Bid price, which shall be
published for each bid. For the Inaugural bid the Reserve price shall be Five
Million Naira only (N5, 000,000) per slot.
8. BUY NOW Bid Price,
To offer potential buyers an option to bypass the auction process and pay a pre
determined value, all slots shall come with a BUY NOW Bid price. For the
Inaugural auction the BUY NOW Bid price shall be Seven Million Five Hundred
Thousand Naira only (N7,500,000) per slot.
ALL BUY NOW bids are to be submitted within the defined period as released in
the auction timetable. Where the BUY NOW bids exceed the available slots, then
ALL slots MUST go for auction. Where on the other hand, the BUY NOW bids are
equal or less than the slots offered, all BUY NOW bids would become successful
and the slots affected would be removed from the intended auction.
9. Registration Validity
All successful bids would have the requested domains registered by the bidder
Registrar for a period of FIVE (5) YEARS without any additional payments. The
bidder Registrant is expected to execute a bid agreement and meet all other
registration requirement as spelt out in NIRA policies like acknowledgement of
the Registrant agreement among others. Registration shall be completed 48hrs
after payment by successful bidder.
On registration, the Registrant would have the right to the use of the name for
the registration period subject to the standard NIRA policies, and specific auction
policies.
10. Domain Name Renewal
Bid winners will be responsible for the renewal of the premium domain name at
the expiration of the registration period.
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Registrants of premium domain names on the 2nd Level will benefit from the
usual warnings and grace periods accorded to all domain name owners, to
ensure renewals are done as at when due.
Renewal shall be through any NIRA Accredited Registrar and shall be done at a
cost of 50% of the Reserve price set for the nearest auction to the domain
expiration date. Renewal validity shall also be in line with the allowed
registration period for the said auction.
If however a premium domain name is not renewed after all grace periods
elapse, the Slot shall be forfeited and the domain name withdrawn. Such a
domain name (if not encumbered by trademark considerations) shall become
open for bidding during a new auction process.
11. Financial PreQualification Requirement
A preâ€qualification requirement for bidders would be a refundable bid deposit of
10% of the reserve price published for the auction, paid into the NIRA Auction
Escrow Account within the stipulated time in the auction guidelines released for
the auction.
The NIRA Auction Escrow account shall be opened with its bankers and shall be
dedicated solely for monies deposited by bidders.
ALL unsuccessful bids shall have the bid deposit FULLY refunded. For the
winning bid the deposit shall form part of the successful bid amount. Where the
successful bidder is unable to pay within the stipulated time, the bid deposit
SHALL be forfeited and the slot lost is offered to the next highest bidder
12. Auction Partners
NIRA in the execution of the auction shall engage specified partners to achieve a
seamless and efficient auction process. These partners shall include but not
limited to Registrar, Legal, Auction event and financial partners. Such partners
shall be declared for each bid to enable issue of conflict of interest resolved. Fees
for such partners would be as approved the by the Executive board of NIRA.
13. Payment on successful Bid
On a successful bid, the bidder is expected to make full payment less the Escrow
deposit within the stipulated time into the Escrow account.
Failure to make payment within the stipulated time the successful bidder shall
forfeit its deposit and loose ALL rights to the slot. Thereupon the slot shall be
made available to the next highest bidder. Where there is no such bid, the slot
shall be returned to the available pool and may be re auctioned.
14. Site Operation Condition
It is not permissible to register names for either vanity or parking purposes.
Names must be registered with the clear intent to make immediate use, else
NIRA’s purpose of increasing Nigeria’s presence on the Internet may be defeated
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if such a potentially powerful advertising tool as a Second Level domain name is
left unâ€used.
Therefore, Winners of the Slots would be given a time period, not exceeding
three (3)months to have a functional site. Failure to have the site online at the
expiration of this period would lead to a revocation of such Slot as well as the
registered domain and there should be no refund. The revoked slot would be reâ€
introduced into the auction market.
15. Tentative Date of Auction
With the consultation period concluded by June 18, 2009. The first LIVE auction
of the Platinum Domain is tentatively scheduled for August 2009, as approved by
the board.
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SECTION 2 GOLD DOMAIN AUCTION
Preamble
To make the generality of domains under the .ng ccTLD very affordable, NIRA
has recognized direct Registry auction of Premium Domains as the best tool to
balance these needs. While this is so NIRA will work with two fundamental
principles.
The first is that premium names MUST be finite and defined. Consequently NIRA
would release a comprehensive list of premium names in English which would
be applicable to ALL Nigerian languages. All domains NOT listed can be freely
registered by registrants.
The second principle is that ALL registrants under the Legacy system of selected
premium domains would be given first offer of refusal for the domain at a price
fixed by the Executive Board. A FIRST OFFER OF REFUSAL is where the Legacy
Registrant is offered to purchase the domain at a FIRST RIGHT price set for the
premium domains. For all legacy premium domains the approved FIRST RIGHT
price is =N=200,000. FIRST RIGHT offers would be open from June 3 to July 31
2009. All legacy domains without a FIRST RIGHT offer would go for full auction
at allotted times.
Eligible Legacy Premium domains are domains duly registered on or before May
31, 2008 and for which the registrant meets the eligibility criteria in the NIRA
policies.
1 Nature of the Domains
Gold Domains are specific domains reserved by NIRA for premium domain
auction. The names comprise of single generic names (books, bank, shop, etc),
combined words (webstore, storefront, shopright), local words and slangs
(kasuwa, oja, naijadey, wahala) and unique 2 characters words (tm, as, be, etc).
These names can be on any of the open Second Level Domains (2LDs) and some
of the closed second level domains. These names would be supplied by NIRA
from its pool of reserve domain names. These Gold domains exclude the
Diamond domains of the new 2LDs base on the five vowels of “a”, “e”, “i”, “o”, “u”
of the latin character sets.
2. Nature of the Auction
Auction of the Gold domains shall be by the names released for the auction in
question. Names to be auctioned would not infringe on other policies like
respect for intellectual rights among others. Provision shall also be made for
domain request where bidders can request for a particular domain to be listed in
a scheduled auction
During each auction process, a given number of premium names are presented
to the bidding public, interested bidders can bid for any of these names.
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3. Bid Access
In line with the existing policy of the .ng registry for a Registry/Registrar
operation, ALL bids must be made through ANY NIRA Accredited Registrar
4. Registrant Qualification
Domains to be made available for the Gold Domain Auction would be of two
types. The first would be offered from the 2nd level zones designated as open
domains under our Domain Names Policy. This means that there is NO registrant
qualification and registrant and/or bidder can be Nigerian or Non Nigerians,
individuals or corporate bodies.
The second category is for zones on the 2nd level designated as closed under our
Domain names Policy. This means that only bidders who meet the qualification
criteria stipulated under the same Domain Names Policy can bid for these
domains.
5. Auction Method
All auctions for the Gold domains would strictly be through an ONLINE auction
either directly at NIRA auction site or through designated third party NIRA
auction partners.
6. Auction Volume and Frequency
Auctions on the Gold domains would be done weekly or as approved by the NIRA
Executive Board. The volume of domains to be offered for each auction would be
clearly stated and publicized before the take off of the auctions.
7. Reserve Bid Price,
Depending on the auction the need and value of a reserve price would be advised
for each auction.
Consequent upon this all domains with Reserve Bid price shall be published for
each bid. ALL bids below the Reserve bid price shall NOT be successful.
8. BUY NOW Bid Price,
To offer potential bidders an option to bypass the auction process and pay a pre
determined value, some premium names may come with a BUY NOW Bid price.
Such BUY NOW Bid price where applicable would be disclosed for the auction
process.
ALL BUY NOW bids are to be submitted within the defined period as released in
the auction timetable. Where there is more than one BUY NOW bid then the
premium domain MUST go for auction. Where on the other hand there is only
one BUY NOW bid then the BUY NOW bid would have been successful and the
premium domain affected would be removed from the intended auction.
9. Registration Validity
All successful bids would have the requested domains registered by the bidder
Registrar for a period of ONE (1) YEAR without any additional payments. The
bidder Registrant is expected to endorse the necessary agreement and meet all
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other registration requirement as spelt out in NIRA policies like
acknowledgement of the Registrant agreement among others. Registration shall
be completed 48hrs after payment by successful bidder.
On registration the Registrant would have the right to the use of the name for the
registration period subject to the standard NIRA policies and specific auction
policies.
10. Domain Name Renewal
Bid winners will be responsible for the renewal of the premium domain name at
the expiration of the registration period.
Registrants of Gold domain names on the existing 3rd Level will benefit from the
usual warnings and grace periods accorded to all domain name owners, to
ensure renewals are done as at when due.
Renewal shall be through any NIRA Accredited Registrar and shall be done at the
published price for domain name registrations under the NIRA fee policy.
Renewal validity shall also be in line with the allowed registration period in the
fee policy.
If however a premium domain name is not renewed after the grace periods
elapse, the domain shall be forfeited and the domain name withdrawn. Such a
domain name (if not encumbered by trademark considerations) shall become
open to be bided upon during a new auction process.
11. Financial PreQualification Requirement
All bidders must have and support an electronic payment system in the form of
debit or credit cards. Bidders are to know that for a bid offer to be successful the
electronic payment instrument would have to be debited. The debited offers
would be paid into the NIRA Auction Escrow Account.
The NIRA Auction Escrow account shall be opened with its bankers and shall be
dedicated solely for monies deposited by bidders.
ALL unsuccessful bids shall have the debits FULLY refunded.
12. Auction Partners
NIRA in the execution of the auction shall engage specified partners to achieve a
seamless and efficient auction process. These partners shall include but not
limited to Registrar, Legal, Auction event and financial partners. Such partners
shall be declared for each bid to enable issues of conflict of interest resolved.
Fees for such partners would be as approved the by the Executive board of NIRA.
13. Payment on successful Bid
On a successful bid, the bidder is expected to make full payment less the Escrow
deposit within the stipulated time into the Escrow account.
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Failure to make payment within the stipulated time the successful bidder shall
forfeit accumulated deposit and lose ALL right to the domain. Thereupon the
domain shall be made available to the next highest bidder provided that the bid
was above the reserve price. Where the next highest bid was below the reserve
price, the name shall be returned to the available pool and may be reauctioned
at the next auction.
14. Site Operation Condition
It is NOT permissible to register names for either vanity or parking purposes.
Names must be registered with the clear intent to make immediate use, else
NIRA’s purpose of increasing Nigeria’s presence on the Internet may be defeated.
Therefore, Winners of the Premium domains would be given a time period, not
exceeding three (3) months to have a functional site. Failure to have the site
online at the expiration of this period would lead to a revocation of such auction
as well as the registered domain. The revoked slot would be reâ€introduced into
the auction market.
15. Tentative Date of Auction
It is expected that the Gold domain auction would take off August 2009.
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SECTION 3DIAMOND DOMAIN AUCTION
Preamble
While still emphasizing the goal for affordable domain in the .ng ccTLD, NIRA is
also mindful of the unique opportunity its ccTLD name presents. With ccTLD of
.ng the ngccTLD assumes a global significance for many words with the coupling
of the domain with any of the vowels of the English language. These would lead
to action verbs that is ONLY possible of the ngccTLD and NEVER on any other
ccTLD or gTLD. These gives unique combinations of “ang”, “eng”, “ing”, “ong”,
“ung”. So we have domain like danc.i.ng (dancing), bank.i.ng (banking), s.a.ng
(sang), bel.o.ng (belong), s.u.ng (sung), f.e.ng (feng), w.o.ng (wong), y.a.ng (yang),
p.i.ng (ping).
These potentials NIRA intends to exploit to continue to make .ng a global registry
irrespective of the new gTLD entry.
1 Nature of the Domains
Diamond domains are special domains created with the addition of new 2LDs
using the vowels and also reserved by NIRA for premium domain auction. The
names comprises of words as shown above on the preamble. These names can be
on any of the new 2LDs. These names would be supplied by NIRA from its
reserve pool.
2. Nature of the Auction
Auction on the new Diamond Domains shall be by the names released for the
auction in question. Names to be auctioned would not infringe on other policies
like respect for intellectual rights among others.Also bidders would have the
opportunity to request for specific domains from the pool
During each auction process, a given number of premium names are presented
to the bidding public, interested bidders can bid for any of these names.
3. Bid Access
In line with the existing policy of the .ng registry for a Registry/Registrar
operation ALL bid must be made through ANY NIRA Accredited Registrar
4. Registrant Qualification
Domains on the new third level are categorized as Open Domains as defined in
the NIRA Domain Names Policy. This means that there is NO registrant
qualification and registrant and/or bidder can be Nigerian or Non Nigerians,
individuals or corporate bodies.
5. Auction Method
All auctions for the Diamond domains maybe through a LIVE or an ONLINE
auction, either directly at NIRA auction site or through designated third party
NIRA auction partners.
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6. Auction Volume and Frequency
Auctions on the Diamond domains would be done monthly or as approved by the
NIRA Executive Board. The volume of domains to be offered for each auction
would be clearly stated and publicized before the take off of the auctions.
7. Reserve Bid Price,
All Diamond domains will have a Reserve price, which would be advised for each
domain at prior to the auction. ALL bids below the Reserve price shall NOT be
successful.
8. BUY NOW Bid Price,
To offer potential bidders an option to bypass the auction process and pay a pre
determined value, some premium names may come with a BUY NOW Bid price.
Such BUY NOW Bid price where applicable would be disclosed for the auction
process.
ALL BUY NOW bids are to be submitted within the defined period as released in
the auction timetable. Where there is more than one BUY NOW bid then the
premium domain MUST go for auction. Where on the other hand there is only
one BUY NOW bid then the BUY NOW bid would have been successful and the
premium domain affected would be removed from the intended bid.
9. Registration Validity
All successful bids would have the requested domains registered by the bidder
Registrar for a period of ONE (1) YEAR without any additional payments. The
bidder Registrant is expected to endorse the necessary agreement and meet all
other registration requirement as spelt out in NIRA policies like
acknowledgement of the Registrant agreement among others. Registration shall
be completed 48hrs after payment by successful bidder.
On registration the Registrant would have the right to the use of the name for the
registration period subject to the standard NIRA policies and specific auction
policies.
10. Domain Name Renewal
Bid winner will be responsible for the renewal of the premium domain name at
the expiration of the registration period.
Registrants of Diamond domain names on the new 3rd Level will benefit from the
usual warnings and grace periods accorded to all domain name owners, to
ensure renewals are done as at when due.
Renewal shall be through any NIRA Accredited Registrar and shall be done at the
published price for the new 3rd level domain name registrations under the NIRA
Fee Policy. Renewal validity shall also be in line with the allowed renewal policy
under the Fee Policy.
If however a premium domain name is not renewed after the grace period
elapses, the domain shall be forfeited and the domain name withdrawn. Such a
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domain name (if not encumbered by trademark considerations) shall become
open to be bided upon during a new auction process.
11. Financial PreQualification Requirement
All bidders must have and support an electronic payment system in the form of
debit or credit card. Bidders are to know that for a bid offer to be successful the
electronic payment instrument would have to be debited. The debited offers
would be paid into the NIRA Auction Escrow Account.
The NIRA Auction Escrow account shall be opened with its bankers and shall be
dedicated solely for monies deposited by bidders.
ALL unsuccessful bids shall have the debits FULLY refunded.
12. Auction Partners
NIRA in the execution of the auction shall engage specified partners to achieve a
seamless and efficient auction process. These partners shall include but not
limited to Registrar, Legal, Auction event and financial partners. Such partners
shall be declared for each bid to enable issue of conflict of interest resolved. Fees
for such partners would be as approved by the Executive board of NIRA.
13. Payment on successful Bid
On a successful bid the bidder is expected to make full payment less the Escrow
deposit within the stipulated time into the Escrow account.
Failure to make payment within the stipulated time the successful bidder shall
forfeit accumulated deposit and lose ALL right to the domain. Thereupon the
domain shall be made available to the next highest bidder provided that the bid
was above the reserve price. Where the next highest bid was below the reserve
price, the name shall be returned to the available poll and be auctioned at the
next auction.
14. Site Operation Condition
It is NOT permissible to register names for either vanity or parking purposes.
Names must be registered with the clear intent to make immediate use, else
NIRA’s purpose of increasing Nigeria’s presence on the Internet may be defeated.
if such a potentially powerful advertising tool as a Second Level domain name is
left unâ€used.
Therefore, Winners of the Premium domain would be given a time period, not
exceeding three (3) months to have a functional site. Failure to have the site
online at the expiration of this period would lead to a revocation of the domain
right. The revoked domains may be reâ€introduced into the auction market.
15. Tentative Date of Auction
With the successful take off of the platinum domain auction in August and Gold
Domain auction in August, it is expected that the New 3rd level premium domain
auction would take off about one month after the first Gold domain auction. This
gives a tentative period of September 2009.
