[thelist] Who owns the domain? Registrant or Admin contact?

[Bob Haroche]

> The Registrant "owns" the domain, so the Admin contact does not
> *legally* have the authority to sell it.


Essentially correct, though the admin contact is often the designated
representative of the registrant to negotiate a transfer. Regardless
of who you deal with to negotiate the deal, just make sure that the
domain transfer agreement (you will have one, right?) specifies that
it's being signed by the Registrant. If the Registrant is a
corporation, the agreement would be signed by Joe Blow, as an officer
of the corporation. If the Registrant is an individual, that
individual would sign in his own capacity.

FWIW, any registrant can authorize a third party to enter contracts on
its behalf (such as through a power of attorney) but that's unlikely
going to be the case in the context of a domain transfer. For such a
simple contract (where parties don't need to be physically present to
sign a deal), expect the Registrant him/her/itself to sign the
transfer agreement.

Finally, to protect everyone all around you might consider using an
escrow service to handle the transaction. www.greatdomains.com is one
such outfit (never used them myself) and there are others.

HTH.

-------------
Regards,
Bob Haroche
O n P o i n t  S o l u t i o n s
www.OnPointSolutions.com