Questions & Answers

Registriert.ch is a Swiss domain marketplace for .ch addresses with four areas: check your desired domain live and — if free — register it instantly, reserve expiring .ch domains (we secure them automatically upon release), directly register already expired domains, or buy or rent a Premium domain from our own portfolio.

Currently .ch only. Other extensions such as .swiss, .com or .de are not currently supported — but on request we are happy to check whether we can help.

Fastest via the contact form — your request reaches us directly and is usually answered within 24 hours, on weekdays often within a few hours. Alternatively by email at info@registriert.ch or by phone at +41 41 880 24 24. We are based in Lucerne and communicate in German, French, Italian and English.

When a domain owner no longer renews their .ch address, after a protection period SWITCH (the Swiss domain administration) releases it again. You can reserve such an address with us — we monitor the release moment and register the domain for you in milliseconds as soon as it becomes technically free.

As soon as someone reserves an expiring domain, an auction starts automatically and runs until 22:00 on the expiry day. Other interested parties can outbid during this time. Whoever placed the highest bid at the end wins — and only this highest bid is charged. If only one person shows interest, they get the domain at the standard price with no markup.

The service fee is CHF 59.00 plus CHF 14.90 registration fee for the first year. If an auction takes place (other interested parties bid), the amount of your winning bid is also charged — the price at which you prevailed against the other bidders by 22:00 on the expiry day. You only pay if the securing was actually successful; if the domain stays with someone else or the current owner renews, no costs arise.

Sometimes the current owner renews after all — or another provider is faster. In both cases no costs arise for you. You receive a notification from us. You can cancel the order at any time free of charge as long as the domain has not yet been secured.

Our system monitors the release times at the SWITCH registry and reacts in milliseconds. As soon as the domain becomes technically free, it is automatically registered. You receive a confirmation email immediately afterwards.

A reservation remains active with us until the domain is either released and could be secured for you — or until it definitively no longer enters the release pool (e.g. because the current owner renews after all or transfers the domain to a new owner). So you don't have to worry about anything. As soon as the status changes, we inform you automatically by email. A reservation does not "expire" — it ends exclusively with a clear result.

A submitted bid is binding. If you win the auction, we register the domain for you and invoice you for service, registration and winning bid amount. In case of payment delay we send reminders first — if payment remains permanently outstanding, we reserve the right to withdraw the domain, claim outstanding costs including reminder fees and block affected user accounts. We therefore recommend bidding only as high as you would actually buy.

This depends on the phase. After expiry of a .ch domain a protection period (SWITCH quarantine) follows, during which only the previous owner can recover the address — during this time, speak directly with your previous registrar or hoster. Only after the protection period is the domain released to the public again and open to any interested party. If you know your old address will soon leave the protection period, you can reserve it with us — we then try to secure it for you. A domain already re-registered to third parties cannot, however, be "recovered": whoever was faster is the new owner.

No one can seriously give a 100% guarantee — neither can we. For very sought-after domains there are competitors worldwide. Our success rate is however high, especially for addresses without international focus. If the success chance for a particular domain is low, we say so openly.

For addresses whose release date has already passed and which no one has yet re-registered, we check availability live with the SWITCH registry (via RDAP). If the domain is free, you can order it directly — without reservation, without auction, without waiting.

After your order we usually register the domain within a few minutes and send you the confirmation. In case of direct availability, this is a classic domain purchase as with any registrar.

No — for a direct registration you can order without an account. We collect the necessary owner data directly in the order form.

Yes, the order form has an optional field for up to four nameservers if you want to run the domain with another provider. Leave it empty if you have no nameservers of your own.

We check availability at every order in real time. If the address has been registered by someone else in the meantime, the order is not executed — you are notified immediately and of course no invoice.

Premium domains are .ch addresses we already own in our portfolio and pass on to interested buyers or renters. They are typically short, memorable or generic terms with particular value.

Buy: One-time payment, then the domain is yours. You take over the yearly renewal costs (~CHF 14.90/year) and can resell the address at any time.

Rent: You pay an agreed amount monthly and use the domain for a fixed period (from one month to several years) or unlimited. Ongoing renewal is handled by us. Ideal if you first want to test or have no big initial budget.

On the detail page of each Premium domain there is a form where you enter your desired price — for one-off purchase or monthly rent — together with a short message. We review every offer personally and respond within 24 hours.

Yes. For most Premium domains we deliberately work on a request basis — the "right" price depends on the use and the buyer. Send us your honest offer, we respond constructively. For some domains we have fixed minimum prices.

In principle yes — provided the domain fits our portfolio: short, memorable, generic term or with clear market value. Send us your address via the contact form with a short description, usage history and your price expectation. We review each proposal individually and get back to you within a few business days. Please note: we don't buy every domain — for very niche or hard-to-market addresses we sometimes decline, but can sometimes offer brokerage.

The buyer of the domain alone is responsible for the lawful acquisition and lawful use of the desired .ch address — particularly with regard to trademark rights and other rights of third parties. We do not check domains in advance for such conflicts. Clarify yourself before an order whether the domain is legally acceptable in your specific use case — initial research is possible in the Swiss trademark register (Swissreg). In case of uncertainty we are happy to provide via our contact form a non-binding first opinion; for a binding assessment we recommend consulting a trademark lawyer.

Generic terms (watches, travel, hotel etc.) are usually not exclusively protected by trademark law. Trademark protection however acts per class: when registering a trademark, Nice classes (product and service categories) are defined. A conflict generally arises only if your actual use of the domain falls into one of these classes. Example: a trademark "ALPHA" for shoes (class 25) does not necessarily forbid you from using alpha.ch for software consulting (class 42) — but can become problematic if you sell shoes through it. When in doubt: before registration, briefly speak with a trademark lawyer or the IPI (Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, ige.ch).

Re-registration of released .ch domains is completely legal — as soon as a domain is released again, anyone can acquire it. We comply with all SWITCH directives and Swiss law. For clearly abusive requests (obvious trademark piracy, "cybersquatting" against protected designations) we reserve the right to decline an order.

Standard by invoice with 14-day payment term. For new customers or higher amounts we occasionally require prepayment — we arrange this individually. Online payment with TWINT or credit card is planned for the future.

For a reservation only on success — i.e. when the domain has actually been registered for you. For direct registrations with invoice after execution. For Premium domains after contract conclusion. For rental monthly or annually in advance.

As long as the domain is not yet registered — yes, free of charge. For auctions your highest bid is binding if you win. For direct registrations the order is binding as soon as the domain is registered in your name.

After registration you receive an activation email. If the message doesn't appear in your inbox, briefly check the spam folder. Click the activation link — you are then automatically logged in.

For a direct domain registration no. For reservations of expiring domains and for Premium offers an account is required, because it allows you to track status, auction history and bids.

For the SWITCH registration first name and surname, address and email are mandatory (SWITCH requires this from all Swiss domain owners). Phone and company are optional.

Your data is used exclusively for domain administration and communication, never resold. Details see our privacy policy.

Registriert.ch is primarily a registrar/marketplace service — we take care of registration, owner change and renewal of your .ch address. Hosting, website operation, mailboxes or your own DNS records are not part of our services. If you want to use your own nameservers from another provider, simply enter them in the order form or later in the customer area. Looking for additional Swiss web hosting for your domain? Check out our sister project prohost.ch.