A Little Domain Adventure: The Tale of .ch domain (and KYC)

Just a quick update on a little administrative adventure I had over the past weekend. I was hoping to snag the domain sayem.ch for this very blog, thinking it had a nice ring to it.

It all started on Saturday, May 17th. I went through the registration process with a provider called Crazy Domains, whom I found via tld-list.com because their renewal rates seemed competitive. I got an email confirmation saying "sayem.ch - Domain Registered Successfully!" which initially felt great.

However, the plot thickened shortly after. It turns out that registering .ch domains can come with specific requirements. I soon received a notification, originating from registry@nic.ch (the official Swiss domain registry), stating that I needed to provide Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation. The notice indicated that if the required KYC was not submitted, the domain sayem.ch would be deleted within a month.

This KYC requirement wasn't something I was prepared for or wished to go through for this particular domain at this time. So, I decided the best course of action was to request a refund from Crazy Domains.

I contacted their support on the same day, May 17th. I'd seen some mixed reviews about them on Reddit, so I was a little apprehensive, but my experience was actually quite positive. They responded pretty quickly, offering to process the refund as "Member Credit" , essentially e-money tied to my account with them, with no expiry.

On Sunday, May 18th, I replied confirming I'd like the refund processed back to my original payment method if possible. They then got back to me promptly, advising that the refund had indeed been processed that way. The full refund was already back with me by the next day, May 18th!

So, while sayem.ch wasn't meant to be for now due to the unexpected KYC hurdle, I did have a smooth and efficient customer support experience with Crazy Domains when it came to the refund. It’s a good reminder that domain registration, especially for certain country-code TLDs, can have specific compliance steps.

For now, we'll continue happily at blog.sayem.eu.org! Just a small peek into the sometimes surprising behind the scenes happenings of setting up a little spot on the internet.