Our domain registration price includes all registry and ICANN fees. There are absolutely no hidden fees included when you register with us. Your domain name is registered fully and immediately for the entire registration period that you select.
With every domain registration at Grape.ca, you get:
There are also extra free features such as Whois Privacy, 3 Page Website, Advanced DNS Manager and Domain/Email Forwarding. For more information about the features included with your domain, please visit our Domain Extras page.
Domains are registered on a first come, first served basis. The first and most important step is to come up with a good domain name or names to register. Once you have decided on your name, the next step is to check the availability. Enter the domain name on our Registration page. Our system will determine if the domain name is available or suggest alternative options and guide you through the rest of the registration process.
For more information, please refer to section 5 of this FAQ, Registering A New Domain Name.
People use the word "transfer" for different processes: Registrar transfer, Registrant transfer( change of ownership), Move between accounts or Hosting a website. Please refer to the transfer page for details about the correct process.
When you are registering a new domain name, you will be provided with the opportunity to add a hosting or email package. Additionally on the shopping cart page, you can select a hosting package or any other services, specify the domain name you would like to apply this new service to, and click the add button. Once you have added all of the services you desire, click the Check Out button to continue to the payment form.
Web Hosting services can also be ordered directly from our Web Hosting page or Premium Email Hosting at any time. Also check out our Promotions page for our special web hosting offers.
If we are also the email or web hosting service provider, we normally set this up for you when we provision the hosting or email service. If you are using a third party service provider, there are 2 options:
Point your domain to your provider DNS (the provider will setup the required DNS records such as A, MX, TXT or CNAME in their own DNS). In this case the third party service provider gives you 2 or more DNS servers name. You must update DNS information for your domain to the provider DNS servers.
See "Manage My Domain > Quick Actions > Update DNS information" in Online Help(step by step) Allow 24 hours for DNS propagation and if necessary please contact the third party service provider to verify whether you have correctly updated the DNS infornation as per their instructions
Use our "Advanced DNS Manager" and create the required DNS records such as A, MX, TXT or CNAME records within our DNS servers. Your domain must point to our 5 DNS servers which will be automatically set when you enable "Advanced DNS Manager" for the first time. In this case the third party service provider should give you the details on the required DNS records. You must then use our "Advanced DNS Manager" to create the required DNS records.
See "Manage My Domain > Advanced DNS Manager" in Online Help(step by step). Allow 24 hours for DNS propagation and if necessary please contact the third party service provider to verify whether you have correctly set up the DNS records as per their instructions.
Domain names are the familiar and easy to remember names used in lieu of the difficult to remember Internet Protocol (IP) address numbers. IP addresses are used to locate computers on the Internet. Using a name server system(DNS) domains and services are mapped to IP addresses which allows a computer requesting data to connect to the target computer or services.
More than their technical function, domains are often used for branding, representing an organization or individual as an easy way of finding them online.
A top-level domain is used to designate the type of organization or the country of origin. Generic top level domains(gTLD) are suffixes like .com, .net, .org, .edu. Country code top level domains(ccTLD) are commonly two letter suffixes like .ca, .us, .uk, etc.
Domains are registered on a first come first served basis. The first and most important step is to come up with a good domain name or names to register. Once you have decided on your name, the next step is to check the availability. Enter the domain name on our Registration page. Our system will determine if the domain name is available, and guide you through the rest of the registration process.
When you begin a new Registration, simply enter the domain name you are interested in on our Register page. Our system will check if the domain name is available and walk you through the rest of the registration process. You can also use our whois service at any time to check to whom a domain name has been registered.
Yes. Your domain name can be transferred to another registrar. There is no fee for transferring away from Grape.ca, and you will not lose any time off of the registration period. If you wish to transfer any domain name, make sure that your Administrative Contact email address is working before you submit your transfer. Please also ensure that your domain is not currently suspended or locked before you submit your transfer or the process may fail. For non Dot-ca domains, please check that the Whois privacy is off before beginning this process. It should be noted that newly registered or transferred domains cannot be transferred for 60 days after registration or transfer.
Domain name applications are approved and registered in realtime. Only certain kinds of domain names, such as conflicting provincial codes for .ca domains and municipal domains require a special application process.
Yes, when you register a domain name with Grape.ca, it is registered in realtime for the full period of registration.
No, we do not charge any exit fees. You can transfer your domain from us to any other registrar with no charge from Grape.ca.
No, you must renew your domain when it nears the date of expiration. As a courtesy to our clients, we send an email reminder to the Administrative Contact email address prior to a domain's expiration.
We do offer the option to set automatic renewals if valid payment information is on file for the account. You can enable the auto renewal during the initial registration process. You can also enable or disable the auto renewal at any time by selecting the domains in "My Domains" list and select Enable or Disable Auto Renew from the List Actions dropdown. We will attempt to renew domains set for auto-renewal 30 to 36 days prior to the expiry date. Our system will notify you if a renewal fails as a result of invalid or expired payment information. Please note it is your responsibility to keep track of the renewal dates and ensure on-time renewal of a domain name to avoid service disruptions or deletion of a domain name.
When your domain is nearing the date of renewal, the administrative contact will receive email notifications. You can easily renew your domain with the online real-time service we provide. Since notifications are sent to the Administrative Contact email, it is very important to keep this updated with a valid email address.
We send out renewal notices around 90, 60 and 30 days in advance. A final renewal notice will be sent a couple of days before the expiry date. If a domain is not renewed, it will be suspended and a notice will be sent after the domain has expired.
A domain name is the address visitors will type into the address bar to get to your website or page; hosting provides server space for your website files and your email services. You can register a domain name just to reserve the name if you wish, but if you want to have a website you will need to have both a domain name and hosting.
If you are interested in setting up a website, but you are not sure where to start, please take a look at some of our hosting packages, or contact us for more information on what package is right for you and how you can get started building a website or activating email services.
At Grape.ca, we take pride in the level of service that we provide to our customers. All Grape.ca domain name registrations are done in realtime and can be completed in a few minutes with our user-friendly registration system. Once you have registered a domain name, the ability to control and manage it is your prime concern. Grape.ca provides a secure, easy and powerful online interface to manage your domains in realtime. You can register multiple domain names of any type, perform renewals and transfers, and manage any aspect of your domain names all with a single profile. This means you only have to keep track of one username and password for all of your domain names. Technical support is available 24-7 via email and is also available by phone during business hours.
Grape.ca provides:
Grape.ca can be your one-stop solution for your website. Not only do we provide domain name registration services, but we also provide fast, reliable, and affordable web hosting, premium email solutions, e-commerce solutions, and web design and development. For each service that you require, technical support is included. If you are interested in a complete solution, please contact us. It often makes sense to deal with just one company for domain name registration and web hosting. When you have a company as reliable as Grape.ca, why not put our high standards of quality, performance, and professionalism to work for your website?
There are no hidden costs associated with your domain registration. There are no credit card processing fee, no administrative fee, no CIRA or ICANN registration fee on top, nor any other fees other registrars may charge you. By law, we are required to charge GST/HST on all orders.
Grape.ca always wants to provide more value to our new domain name customers. Check out our Promotions section for more details.
At Grape.ca, you can register the established domain extensions such as .ca, .com, .net, .org, .info .biz.
Additionaly we are now offering new gTLDs released on a weekly basis. Be sure to check our registration page for the new gTLDs that have recently been
released. If you are looking for an extension not found on our registration page, please contact us. There is a good chance we can add it to the list.
Click here to begin registration.
There are four steps that must be completed before a domain is placed in your Shopping Cart.
In this step, you are asked to select your new domain name. When you enter your domain name, our system will determine its availability. If the domain is available to be registered, you can continue to Step 2.
In addition to registering the initial domain name that you entered, you have the opportunity to view suggested alternative names, as well as register additional domain extensions, including the new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) that are being released every week.
The Registrant is the holder of the domain name. It contains
the contact information for the legal owner of the domain, and specifies who has the ultimate authority over it.
To provide contact details, there are two options. You can select the domain information of an existing domain name within your account and apply it to the new domain,
or you may enter completely new information for the registrant, administrative, technical, and billing contacts.
Once a domain name is registered, the registrant and other contact information is tied to that domain name. For example, changing the contact information for one domain
name will have no effect on the contact information for your other domains.
It should be noted that .ca domains require a registrant legal type in addition to the registrant name and contact information. For more information regarding the registrant legal types, please refer to the subsequent FAQ.
In this step, you can select what you would like to do with your domain name. We have a variety of hosting packages to select from depending on the features, resources, and other requirements of your website. Whether you want to setup email addresses at your domain name, create a large business website or ecommerce website, or anywhere in between, our hosting services can accommodate it. All of our hosting plans are hosted on industry standard technology with superior speeds, unparalleled uptime, and professional support. If you do not wish to host your website with us at this time, simply select No Thanks or Continue without Hosting at the bottom of this page.
If you are hosting your website with us, or if you have selected
any of our additional domain features, you should simply accept the default
information that is listed here. If you have decided to host your domain name
with another company, you can place their name server information into this
form. If you do not intend to host your domain name at this time, it is recommended
that you keep the default information entered. You can return to our website
at any time to change the DNS Information for your domain name.
Once these sets have been completed, you will be prompted to accept the terms of service and confirm your selections before the order is placed in the Shopping Cart. You then have the option to continue shopping or you may proceed to the Checkout.
The .ca domain registry, CIRA, has stipulated certain presence requirements for registering any .CA domain. Each of the legal types correspond to certain presence requirements. They are grouped into individual registrant legal types and non-individual registrant legal types.
In our system, any individual legal type must be a persons name, including both first name and last name. This applies to common individual legal types such as Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada. Any non-individual registrant legal types must include the full name of the organization. In addition, the Corporation legal type must include the jurisdiction of registration (such as Ontario or Canada), and include "Inc." or "Ltd." depending on the corporation type. If these are not present, our system will return an error.
For more information on the presence requirements, please click here.
Your Grape.ca profile helps you manage all aspects of your domain names. You can have as many domain names as you like in your profile. You can also add new domain names to your profile at any time either through new registrations or transfers from other registrars. Your profile is a convenient way to keep track of all your domain names with a single username and password.
You must keep your username and password confidential and only provide them to parties that you can trust. Access to your profile permits that user to change your domains' registrant information at his/her discretion.
When you are registering a new domain name, you will be provided
with the opportunity to add a hosting package. Additionally on the shopping cart page, you can select a hosting package or any other services,
specify the domain name you would like to apply this new service to, and click the add button. Once you have added all of
the services you desire, click the Check Out button to continue to the payment form.
Web Hosting services can also be ordered directly from our Web
Hosting page at any time. Also, be sure to check out our Promotions
page for our special web hosting offers.
You can pre-register for a TBR domain through us to take advantage of this special registration process called TBR.
Before a deleted Dot-ca domain becomes available for regular real-time registration, it can be registered through a special registration process.
For more information and to review the current lists of TBR domains visit here
Placing an order for a TBR domain does not guarantee that we can capture the domain for you, however you will only pay if you get the domain name.
If we are successful in capturing a TBR domain, you will receive an email within a week with further instructions.
If a TBR domain is not registered during this special registration period, it will be available to be registered through the normal, real-time process.
There is no limit to the number of domains any qualified individual or organization can register.
All Domain Names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis, in accordance with the Registration rules, provided that all the conditions for registration as well as the registry’s rules are met.
Dot-ca registry(CIRA) has made available a dispute resolution process (CDRP) to address disputes between .ca Domain Name Registrants as well as between Domain Name Registrants and those who claim trademarks and related rights. The dispute resolution process has taken into account the interests of Domain Name and trademark owners, as well as Canada's intellectual property laws. For more information click here.
Similarly, for gTLD domains there is a dispute resolution process(UDRP). More information about UDRP can be found here.
The individual or entity listed as registrant is the legal "owner" of the domain in all instances.
Our system allows changes to the registrant information. By changing the registrant you are effectively transferring the domain ownership.
Your first step should always be to attempt to make contact with the domain holder for an agreeable resolution. If the domain holder does not respond, it may be appropriate to contact the website host if the site content is in question. Each host has their own policy governing what actions they will take. If we are the domain registrar but not the host, we will ask you to consult the Whois record for information about the registrant and website host and contact them directly. In cases of obvious severe criminal activity we may take action to prevent harm to the public by suspending a domain name.
In most cases you should seek legal advice regarding your individual situation. We cannot and do not make judgements in these cases except where a site is hosted
with us and is clearly in violation of our Terms of Service. We will deactivate a domain or website upon receiving an order issued by a Canadian court.
Please also refer to the dispute resolution process which is outlined in this FAQ. We will promptly take action once a CDRP or UDRP decision has been made.
A profile account provides secure access to the individual or organization holding the domain names to manage them.
No, a valid email address and phone number is a requirement so that you can receive important information such as renewal notices or updates about changes that you make to your domains and other services. Please verify your email address twice before creating your profile. Keep your profile username and password in a safe place in case you lose access to your email, you will still be able to access your account (as well as change your email address under your profile).
Recent policy changes by ICANN in 2014 also means if your email address is invalid, you risk initiation of a 15-day countdown,
concluding in the suspension of the domain. for more information see
registrant validation process..
You must ensure that all contact information for your domain names and your profile account information are always current and valid.
Simply click on Login and then click Forgot Your Login Information? You will receive instructions on how to reset your password if the email address you enter is on file.
Changes to the DNS of your domain are made immediately on our real-time domain managing system. The changes take time to propagate through the DNS servers of the Internet. This process usually takes 24 hours after the change has been made. If after this time, your website still does not work, contact your web hosting company.
If you know the email account on file for the profile, and you are able to access that email, you can retrieve your login credentials by using the forgotten password link on the login page of our site. If the email address you used to sign up for your account is no longer valid, you can make a Manual Change Request by filling out the relevant form. The form can be found here.
If your domain is in someone else’s account, you should first attempt to contact that person and request that they move the
domain to your own account. They will need your username and password for this. To avoid giving away your username and password,
you can create a new account for the purpose of receiving the domain and then move it to your own account.
If you cannot reach this person, you may fill out the form mentioned above.
No. A Manual Change Request is meant to make one or more domains accessible for your management. We will change the email address on your account so that you can request a password reset, or move the domain to a profile that you currently have access to. Once you are able to access the domain and/or profile, you are solely responsible for making all the contact information updates. At minimum, you should ensure that the domain and profile name, phone numbers and email addresses are always correct for notification and management purposes.
Easy Domain Forwarding is the service of pointing your domain to an existing site or web page on the internet. This way, when a user enters your domain name into their web browser, they are automatically redirected to the existing website. It is often used in these 3 ways:
By default our domain forwarding makes use of 302 URL redirect to point the domain to the target. This effectively forwards the domain to the target and the address bar at the top of the browser will display the target URL however enabling cloaking will force the browser to display the forwarded domain in the address bar by using Frames. Please note cloaking may not always work since many websites block the content to be displayed in a frame. We recommend you do not use cloaking.
You must agree to the Easy Domain Forwarding Terms and Conditions These include but not limited to:
Whois Privacy masks your contact information in the public Whois database. Ordinarily, the name, the physical address, email address and phone number of the registrant, administrative and technical contacts are visible to anybody performing a Whois lookup of the domain. This information is often mined by spammers and will be used for abusive purposes.
Whois Privacy service is FREE for every domain in our system. To see an example of how it works click here.
For .ca domains, the Whois Privacy service is directly provided by the registry(CIRA) itself, and effectively masks all information except for the registrar and the dates of registration, expiry and update. Please note that for .ca domains, Whois Privacy is allowed only for individual registrants; it is not available for non-individual registrants, such as Corporations and Unincorporated Associations.It's worth mentioning that with adaptation of European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by ICANN and registrars, registrant data is handled in public whois differently. Values for many fields are now displayed as "REDACTED FOR PRIVACY"
For .ca domains, CIRA provides a form on their website that allows an individual to contact the registrant without needing to know the email address of the registrant. That form is available here.
To contact the registrant of a non Dot-ca domain, go to safewhois.ca and enter the domain name in the field presented to begin the process.
The authorization code also known as EPP-Code or Auth-Info is a secret key used to protect a domain against an unauthorized transfer.
Prior to submitting a transfer order, you must obtain the authorization code (sometimes known as an EPP code) from your current registrar and unlock
the domain. Most registrars have an interface on their websites to request the code and unlock the domain. See step by step instructions!
Once you have the Code and domain is unlocked, you may begin the transfer by clicking Domains > Transfer > Registrar transfer.
If you do not have an account with us, you will be prompted to create one.
On our system, you can find the reason why a transfer has failed. You can correct it and resubmit the transfer request at no charge. If the error message displayed is not clear, please contact us for assistance.
To check the status of a transfer, you may go to "My Domains" page and click the "Transfer" tab. If the status appears as “Unknown,” or
if it has not changed for some time, please try to display the latest status by clicking on the refresh sign which appears on the right side
For a dot-ca domain, we will send the transfer request to the dot-ca registry which typically succeed immediately
and the domain will be available to be managed in your account within 24 hours.
For other extensions such as dot-com, the process can take longer to complete. We may need to obtain authorization from the domain holder by
sending an email to the email address as listed in the public Whois database. However if the email address is not available in the public whois,
the transfer request including the Auth-Code will be sent
to the registry. If the Auth-Code is correct, the registry will notify the losing registrar about the pending transfer.
It may take 5-6 days before the domain transfer succeed. Please note, the current registrar should send a notification email to
the registrant. This gives you an opportunity to expedite the process by explicitly instructing the current registrar to release the domain sooner.
(Check your spam/junk/bulk folder since sometimes these messages are flagged as spam.)
A domain can be transferred even after a domain has expired (suspension) and before it goes into the redemption period. If a domain is in redemption period, it must first be restored through the existing registrar (normally a redemption fee applies).
Your domain will extend for an additional year once transferred successfully.
This will only happen if prior to a successful transfer, a domain had expired and subsequently renewed by the registrant with the losing registrar. As a result of a successful domain registrar transfer, the registry will cancel that one year renewal and only applies one year extension. You are entitled to receive a refund for the lost year from the losing registrar since the registry has reimbursed the losing registrar accordingly. Be sure to contact the losing registrar in the event that this occurs.
ICANN recommends the following: "Registrants who transfer names within the 45-day Auto-Renew Grace Period should check with the registrar from which they are transferring regarding a possible refund."
The authorization code also known as EPP Code or Auth-Info is a secret key used to protect a domain against an unauthorized transfer. It is required to initiate a registrar transfer. The authorization code must be obtained from the existing registrar and submitted to the gaining registrar. The authorization code can be sent only to the Administrative contact email address. Be sure that the Administrative Contact email is active and you have access to it. You must also remove the Lock from the domain.
Domains cannot be transferred in the 60 days immediately following the initial registration of the domain or following a successful transfer. Other conditions include:
The domain lock is a security measure that prevents the domain from being modified or transferred from one registrar to another without the consent of the registrant or domain administrator. For domains registered with us, the lock can be deactivated at any time by the user from within our system.
There are two reasons that the authorization code may not have been received. Ensure that the Administrative Contact email is both valid and it is the one you are checking. It should be noted that the Administrative contact email is not necessarily the email on the account. The Profile contact email applies to your account with us, while the Administrative contact applies to a specific domain. This can be checked by selecting the domain from "My Domains" list and click on "Edit Domain Contact Information". If you have confirmed the Administrative contact email is correct, be sure to check your Spam/Junk folder in addition to your inbox. You may want to whitelist our domain with your email provider for a better delivery.
While the email will be sent immediately, there may be delays due to the speed of the mail server processing. It should arrive within 30 minutes following the initial request.
If you are transferring a .ca domain, the Whois privacy does not need to be deactivated. If you are transferring a gTLD, such as a .com domain,
you may need to deactivate Whois privacy to allow the Administrative Contact email listed in the public Whois database to be parsed by the gaining registrar.
Once a domain has passed the suspension period, the domain will be deleted. However most registries offer a 30 day redemption period. Redemption of a domain incur additional fees and may require some additional administrative work. Upon a successful redemption we will restore the domain back into our system and renew it for one year. The domain registration will be extended for one year from the expiry date.
If the domain is in the Suspension period, you may still renew the domain to keep it active in your account. There is no additional cost involved and the domain will be renewed for the number of years you have purchased. If the domain has reached the Redemption period, the domain is still restorable, but it will incur an additional fee. For more information on the Redemption period, please refer to the FAQ question related to redemption. If the domain has fallen into either the To Be Released (TBR) status or Pending Delete status, the domain is no longer renewable and it will be released to the public.
No, all domain extensions are relative to the expiry date. If your domain expires June 18th, for example, and you renew the domain for one year in May, the new expiry date will still be on June 18th of the next year. We offer an Auto-Renew service. If you do not enable Auto-Renew We recommend you renew a domain well in advance to avoid any last minute unforeseen problems.
Yes please see question 7.5
All of the profiles within our system are tied to the email address on file. Simply fill in your email address on the Forgot Username/Password link that appears on the Login page and you will be sent a link to reset your password and access to the account.
Invoices for domain related transactions such as domain registrations, domain renewals and domain transfers are available in the Billing
History section: Account Management > My Profile > Billing History
For the invoices related to hosting services please visit the hosting client area.
The easiest means of providing control of the domain to another individual is to have the gaining party create an account on our system and provide you the username and password. Click the domain name in "My Domains" to bring you to the Manage Domain page and look for the link to "Move This Domain To Another Profile". This will provide the interface to enter the recipient's profile username and password and have the domain moved instantly. There is no additional cost for this process and the domain will be moved instantly. If the recipient does not want to give you his/her profile username and password, you can create another profile to move the domain.
Each profile can only have one email address associated with it. We recommend you set the profile email to the party who legally owns the domain, as that email address is the one that will receive all invoices and any password reset requests.
Our back-end system provides industry standard security measures to prevent unauthorized attempts to gain access to your domain and data. We provide domain locks to prevent transfer or unauthorized editing of domains. All passwords are one way encrypted and we have measures in place to detect malicious activity and break-in attempts on our website. Furthermore, we do not store credit card information but only a transaction tocken for online transactions.
We strongly recommend using the Two-Factor-Authentication to protect your account. Two-Factor authentication(2FA) adds an extra layer of security to your account. Once it has been set up, there will be an extra identity verification in the log-in process. Read more about the 2FA. Please note 2FA might already have been mandatory for your account.
To maintain your account's security, it's crucial not to give out your username and password to anyone else. Our staff are happy to assist you with step-by-step instructions by email or phone to guide you. Rather than giving out your login credentials to someone else please contact us for assistance. Please note anybody who gains access to your login information has full access to your domain's registrant information, and has the ability to change it.
We maintain a separate access point and set of credentials for hosting services. This allows you to provide your webmaster with access to your website without giving out your main domain registration account username and password. If you have purchased a web site hosting , email or site builder service, you may refer to the Welcome Letter that you received when you initially signed up for the service. The Welcome Letter contains the login details, including links to the login interface.
For all hosting services, and billing updates related to hosting, including updates to the credit card information, you will use our Hosting Client Area . Your Hosting Client Area will also maintain Billing History and present any unpaid invoices upon logging in. Please note that the Hosting Control Panel will have a different username and password than your profile on Grape.ca.
This is not a charge but only an authorization. For best security measures, rather than storing the credit card details, we authorize a $1 transaction and the reference will be used for subsequent transactions using that card (such as quick checkout or automatic renewals).
This amount is never captured and will NOT appear on your monthly statement.
The hosting package that you choose depends on your website requirements and how you plan on managing it. If you have a web designer already working on the site, a Cloud hosting package would be suitable for your web designer to upload the site files using SFTP, as well as make use of our Cloud email system.
If you're looking for a more modular website, one that you may want to expand in the future, you can opt fora content management system such as WordPress on one of our Cloud hosting sites. With our 30 minutes of free Webmaster service, we can perfrom a professional installation for you!
If you're new to creating websites, you may want to try out our free 3 page site builder that is available with every domain. We provide several professional templates to choose from, with a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set up your website very easily. No coding is required. When you are ready to expand your site, you may upgrade to a paid package at any time.
We offer premium email hosting packages, with 25GB of space per email account. For more information and pricing please see the email section of our website.
Every hosting package comes with 30 minutes of free webmaster service. We can assist you with moving your website from another provider, troubleshooting a problem, setting up a landing page, recommending a design strategy, or installing a content management system such as WordPress with all plugins that we have tested and recommend.
We do offer paid professional services. You may get a free quote for whatever project you have in mind, whether it’s setting up a static website, establishing ecommerce capabilities, or just looking to make the occasional update.
Please check our extensive online Knowledge Base System that provides step-by-step instructions for common tasks such as FTP, email and database setup. You will also find solutions offered for more advanced configuration. Feel free to contact us by email or by phone for any question or task that you need to complete.
