About .nl Domains

The .nl country-code top-level domain name (ccTLD) is an extension that represents the Netherlands.

Domain names can be up to 63 characters, with a minimum of three characters, and can contain letters (a to z), numbers (0 to 9), and hyphens (except at the beginning, end or third or fourth characters of the domain name). You cannot register domain names with special characters such as & and #.

Details

¹ Renewal restrictions

You can renew .nl domain names when they are within six months of the expiration date, but you must renew them before their expiration dates. The renewal date depends on whether you set the domain name to auto-renew or manually renew. We attempt auto-renewal on the first day of the month prior to the domain name's expiration date.

If the renewal attempt fails, we re-attempt renewal on the 10th of the month and again on the 20th of the month. If we cannot auto-renew the domain name and you do not manually renew it by the 20th of the month prior to the expiration date, you can attempt to recover it, and there might be a fee to do so. See Recovering Expired Domain Names for more information.

For example: Your .nl domain name expires on October 10. If your domain name does not renew automatically, you can renew it manually by September 20. For automatic renewals, we attempt to renew the domain name on September 1, September 10, and September 20.

² Nameserver requirements

All .nl domain names must have two (2) authoritative nameservers. Before you register or update the domain, you must list only those nameservers in its zone file.

If you want to register a .nl domain name with us and use our nameservers, we will handle this process for you.

If you want to use your own nameservers, you must set them up before you register or update the domain name. You must also ensure that these nameservers are resolving properly before you assign them to the domain name in our system.

Configured nameservers are required by the registry. You can use the SIDN DNS validation tool to ensure that your nameservers are resolving properly.

For example, if you want to register coolexample.com.nl and use the nameservers ns1.coolexample.nl and ns2.coolexample.nl, then you must list those nameservers in the domain's zone file.

You will also be required to add in IP addresses if you add custom nameservers to the domain.

After you set up your nameservers and register or update your domain, use the instructions in Change Nameservers for Your Domain Names to set the nameservers in our system.

The registry performs nameserver checks, therefore, domains are not activated until the domain's nameservers are successfully checked by the registry.

³ Transfers-In requirements

.nl domains can only renew on yearly basis. When they are transferred, their registration periods do not carry over to the new registrar.

⁴ Account change restrictions

When you move a .nl domain name, the registrant's first name, last name, and company name cannot change. See Move a domain to another GoWebsite account for information on initiating the process.

⁵ Account change restrictions

To update the following registrant contact fields for your .nl domain names, contact our support department:

• First name
• Last name
• Organization (company name)

You can update all other domain name contact information in the Domain Manager. See Change contact information for information.

⁶ Refund policy

For details on refunds, please visit GoWebsite's Refund Policy page and look under BOTH of the following categories:

• Products with Special Refund Terms (look under Domain Name Registrations/Renewals)
• Products Not Eligible for Refunds