

Ask HN: Nepal's ccTLD registrar won't let devs update nameservers. What to do? - njsubedi

I am a freelance web developer from Nepal and I&#x27;m asking this question after spending more than 2 weeks to contact the registrars and discuss with fellow developers.<p>Mercantile Corporation (http:&#x2F;&#x2F;register.mos.com.np) is the only authorized ccTLD registrar of Nepal, which lets us register domains like .com.np, .biz.np, .org.np etc. for free. Currently around a hundred thousand domains have been registered by Mercantile. They have updated their service recently and all the user login details are now void - that means we cannot login to manage our &#x2F; clients&#x27; domains! We have an option to call them, ask for new login details in our email which takes them 2 business days to process. Even after logging in we are not allowed to update   even the nameservers of the domains! Upon asking them they tell that we need to go to their office - only one central office exists in the entire country - and write an application, and wait them to update our details manually. They would hardly do that either. It&#x27;s been few months since I along with several web developers from Nepal are locked out of their domain names. It would not be the case until few months back.<p>I went through ICANN&#x27;s website because Mercantile has been authorized to create sub-domains like com, aero, edu, etc. under .np ccTLD. I couldn&#x27;t find a place to report the monopoly and misconduct of Mercantile corporation. That&#x27;s why I chose to ask HN community for suggestion, information or even a way out to make them provide access to domains registered by ddvelopers throughout the country.<p>This is a case of urgency and I would like to know if any fellow hacker in the community had been through this nightmare and if yes how s&#x2F;he solved the issue.<p>Regards,
Njsubedi
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sbashyal
I am from Nepal (living in the US) so it gives me joy to see this post in HN.
I see that you wanted to know if ICANN has basic guidelines that could be
enforced in Nepal. I do not know much about that.

But, I suggest that you initiate a local campaign to pressure Mercantile to
make the process easier. Here are few ideas to consider - 1\. Bring this to
the attention of Computer Association of Nepal 2\. Share this tragedy with
tech-activists (Gaurab Raj Upadhyaya, Brijen Joshi, Bhupal Sapkota, Ankur
Sharma, Akar Anil are few names that come to mind) and get their help raising
the concern to the wider community (blogs, meetings etc) 3\. Meet with
Mercantile management to make sure they are aware of the current hoops and
communicate how backward the current process is. Also make sure they are not
being asked to make it this way from govt. agencies. Offer help if they need
it. 4\. Meet with government representatives and request them to facilitate
the needed change.

Email me if you need intros to people I mentioned above or if there is
anything else I could do.

~~~
njsubedi
Glad that you replied and provided constructive suggestions! I know Bhupal
Sapkota and Aakar Anil, but never thought of telling them to use their big
fan-base to raise this issue. I'd certainly take actions that will make life
of web developers easier in future. Please let me know what your email is, or
drop me a mail at (my user name here) AT gmail.

Thanks a lot for the four points. Good luck being an entrepreneur soon! :)

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bortzmeyer
Since it is a ccTLD, it is a nepalese internal matter and I don't see why
ICANN should be involved at all. Ask local authorities, write to the
governement, raise the issue in the local Internet community, etc.

~~~
tankenmate
I would suggest however that you reach out to the ccNSO (Country Code Names
Supporting Organisation); they are the body within ICANN that handles ccTLDs.
The ccNSO can't force them to behave but they can strongly suggest they pull
their finger out. [http://ccnso.icann.org/](http://ccnso.icann.org/)

If Mercantile are also registrars for gTLDs as well then you talk to the
Registrar Compliance Program staff and see if they can nudge them. There is a
form that you can use on this page to register complaints about ccTLD
registrars;
[http://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/complaints](http://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/complaints)

~~~
njsubedi
The links you provided are really useful. Thanks. Mercantile is a private
company and its ccTLD and gTLD sections work independently. I winder how it
got authority of choosing extensions and registering without a minimum
required service quality. Is there any possibility that ICANN revokes the
authority from Mercantile and find an alternative?

~~~
tankenmate
If Mercantile run the SRS (Shared Registry Service) for .np, then that is a
choice of the state of Nepal not ICANN. The government of Nepal appoints a
registry (typically a company, sometimes a university or communications arm of
the government), and in the case of smaller countries the registry appoints a
technical provider to run the technology side of the registry; i.e. the SRS.

Another point to consider is that the policy of having to show up in person
may be a policy dictated by the government and/or the registry, not
necessarily the SRS provider or the registrar.

------
spindritf
I don't think there's anything you can really do but jump through their hoops.

Although, to spare yourself future problems, you could register
nepalesefreedns.net and have people point nameservers for their .np domains to
nsX.nepalesefreedns.net. Set up XName[1] or a similar panel for it.

That way you will only have to endure the pain once. That is, until the
registry breaks something else.

[1] [http://source.xname.org/](http://source.xname.org/)

~~~
njsubedi
Thanks for sharing. I guess that's the best way we can save trouble in the
future!

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houzi
Being a Nepali citizen, you know that the only way to get people in powerful
positions to do what they are supposed to do without paying, is to retaliate
the blackmail. In this case I hope you can get an International organization
to look at this. If not, perhaps you could get this to the attention of some
hacktivists.

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openthito
I agree. Last month 1 successfully revived my domain after requesting more
than 4 times via email and phone call over 2 months. This must be checked. If
mercantile is unable to handle this there is definitely much better
alternatives.

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hisyam
Yesterday I bought a .my domain from Exabytes and I found that the nameservers
can only be updated through their support staff rather than using their
control panel.

Not as bad as your problem but a mild annoyance nonetheless.

~~~
kalleboo
NIC-SE (.se) used to require you to fax in nameserver updates. This was 10
years ago though...

~~~
mariuolo
It used to be the same for nic.it, but things changed some 2 or 3 years ago.

------
njsubedi
Is there any way we can force Mercantile Corp. to let us edit nameservers
ourselves? There's no any law regarding domain naes in Nepal, so are there
international laws? ICANN Registrars' Policy? Anything that helps?

~~~
bortzmeyer
I certainly hope there is no foreign law forcing how a sovereign country must
manage its domain names.

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mariuolo
I doubt there's much you can do, except having the contract legally enforced.

Would that be viable?

~~~
njsubedi
The service is free, that's probably the main reason why they are showing
carelessness. There is no any legal contract signed when registering the
domain names, so I'm not sure about it.

~~~
mariuolo
I'm not suggesting it, but since the service is apparently underfunded, could
it be a _palm greasing_ issue?

~~~
mithras
First thing I thought, if nepal is anything like the rest of the region it
makes sense.

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nootanghimire
I changed my nameserver from the MOS control panel some time ago. It took
about a week, though.

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codesink
That sucks.

What also sucks is being asked for money to change name servers _only_ :

    
    
      .gr: £46.64 (74 USD)
      .cz: £14.57
      .dk: £24.29
      .hu: £17.49
      .ro: £17.49

~~~
lipanski
for the .ro (Romania) domains this is not really true. the national domain
registrar (rotld.ro) doesn't charge anything for updating name servers.
probably the additional fees you're talking about are imposed by some third-
party / reseller.

what I also found interesting or at least peculiar is that the Romanian
registrar charges a one-time only fee for registering a domain and it has been
doing so for as long as I know. you pay 50 Euros per domain but you get to
keep it for your whole life or as long as they don't decide to charge on a
yearly basis. I'm curious if there's any other domain provider offering
lifetime registration?

~~~
GoodIntentions
That must have changed?

[http://nic.ro/payments/](http://nic.ro/payments/)

looks like 17 Euro/yr with breaks on longer terms

EDIT: I went to the English site tho, not rotld.ro - perhaps residents only
get the better deal?

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dgilam
Its Mercantile's negligence!

