As of January 1st, 2014, ICANN (the organization that oversees generic domain names) requires all Registrars to verify the combination of the domain Owner's First Name, Last Name, and email address. As part of this process, as the registrant owner, you will be required to verify the contact information you used to register generic top-level domains (gTLD).
In addition, any gTLD domain (new registration or transferring into Hover) in which the Registrant Owner's first name, last name, or email address has changed will have to be verified again.
This new policy applies to all registrars, not just Hover. We must follow the procedure to maintain our ICANN accreditation, which allows us to sell domain names.
What triggers Registrant Verification?
- Purchasing a gTLD domain (if you have not already verified your combination of First Name, Last Name, and email address with Hover).
- When a change is made to 3 of the Registrant Owner's contact information: First Name, Last Name, or email address.
- If a renewal reminder or Whois Data Reminder Policy email bounces. This indicates the email is no longer valid and will require an update.
Shortly after you register a domain or complete a transfer into Hover, you will receive an email with a unique link that you'll need to click in order to verify that the name and email address you provided are valid. You have 15 days to respond. You must pay attention to this message, because failure to verify the email address associated with the domain within 15 days will result in that domain being suspended. The domain's website and email will stop working until you verify the address.
If you do not reply to this email immediately, you will receive the message again. The message is resent several times to ensure you receive and respond to it, but you only need to respond once. You will not have to validate this information again if you purchase additional domain names using the same first name, last name, and email address.
How do I complete the verification?
The email that you will receive looks similar to this:
When you click the link in the email, you will be taken to the verification page, which looks similar to the picture below. Check that the information is correct, and then click Verify Information.
What can I do if I do not receive the verification email?
If this happens, one of a few things may have occurred:
- The Registrant Owner's email address was entered incorrectly (i.e., with typos). --> You'll need to log into the Hover account and update to correct spelling.
- An old/alternate/backup email address was entered in the Registrant Owner email address field. --> You'll want to ensure you are logged into the correct email account to receive the message.
- The email went into the spam folder. Check your account's spam or junk folder for an email from help@hover.com.
- The email was lost/deleted. --> You can log into the Hover account and resend the email by clicking the "resend email" link in the Owner section on the Domain Details tab
How do I know if the verification was successful or if it still needs verification?
You can check the Domains page to see if the Status is "Active" or "Verifying." A domain with a status of "Active" means the verification was successful.
What happens if you do not verify within 15 days?
If the registrant's contact info is not verified within 15 days, the domain and DNS will be suspended. This means your site, email, forwarding, and any other services linked to the domain will go offline at the end of day 15. You will not lose your domain.
The only way to get the domain unsuspended and your website back up is to complete the verification by clicking the link in the email they received or updating the Owner record information to have a new email sent. Once the verification is finished, the domain will be back up almost instantaneously.
What if I no longer have access to the email address?
Suppose you can no longer access the email address entered on the Owner's contact info and thus never get the email asking to verify. In that case, you must change the email address to one you do have access to and complete the verification process.
To change the email address:
- Sign in to your Hover control panel using your chosen method of 2FA.
- If you have more than one domain, choose the domain to be verified from Your Domains list.
- On the domain Overview page, scroll down to the Registration Records, choose Owner, and click Edit.
- You may need to scroll down, but here, you can change the email address to one you can access. You can also opt out of the 60-day ICANN lock. If applied, this lock will prevent you from transferring the domain for 60 days.
Once you've entered your new settings, click Save Changes.
The change of email address will alert Hover that the new address needs to be verified, and a new link will be emailed to that address.
Making a second change to the registrant info (e.g., changing the spelling of your first name and then changing your email address two days later) will not reset the 15-day verification time limit. You will only need to complete the verification once for the most recent set of registrant contact info currently on the domain.
Is there a way for Hover Support to manually verify a Registrant?
No, there is not. The registrant must complete the process by clicking the link in the email. We are only able to help you update the registration information.
What can I do if I cannot access my Hover account and need to change the email?
If you can no longer access your Hover account with your username and password OR the email address on file is based on the suspended domain, you can contact us at help@hover or 1-866-731-6556. We can assist with the account login and the necessary changes to the Owner's contact email so the verification link can be resent.
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