20(e) Provide a description of the applicant's intended registration policies in support of the community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD

Prototypical answer:

The .SHOP domain name is intended for eCommerce purposes. This means that a website using .SHOP must have eCommerce-enabled ability to provide a direct conduit to making transaction on the web. In other words, it is expected that a .SHOP website will have items or services available for sale on that site and that there is an easy path to purchasing these items. These transaction must also use secure communications when processing said transactions.

In addition, we must ensure that trademark holders also are protected and allow these companies to own a .SHOP domain name without the enforcement of eCommerce as long as this is not the find resolution site for such domain name. In other words, if a trademark holder registers ʺtrademark.shopʺ but it is not eCommerce-enabled (secured site with products immediately ready for purchase), then it must either be inactive or forwarded to a non-.shop website.

Government Relations
A secure and stable Internet is our number one priority, so we engage policymakers on all levels regarding legislation that affects it.

.SHOP Domain Names Registration Policies
Commercial Connect manages the authoritative registry (“Registry”) for all domain name registrations that end in “.shop”. The, below, registry policies govern the registration of domain names. Commercial Connect reserves the right to modify or amend these policies and any other policies regarding .SHOP at any time. Registrars should review the policies from time to time and any modifications made thereto. Modifications to these policies are effective as of the date and time they are posted on the Commercial Connect site.

Since Commercial Connect represents the eCommerce community, its purpose is to have a top-level domain namespace that encourages and supports eCommerce.

The primary audience for this namespace is “business-to-consumer eCommerce.”

There are multiple reasons why a website operator (the ʺBusinessʺ) would want to use a new .SHOP top-level domain name. The first reason is that it will become more intuitive to the end user (the ʺConsumerʺ). If they want to purchase products and⁄or services, then they should instinctively use the .SHOP extension. If a multitude of new gTLD strings emerges onto the market, .SHOP will especially become a more apparent choice. That, coupled with our extensive marketing efforts, will help to convince the Consumer that dotShop is the domain namespace to use.

Process Patent Pending Verification for .SHOP
Because Commercial Connect will be performing process patent pending verification on .SHOP applicants, there will be a more reliable and trustworthy indication that the registrant (the ʺBusinessʺ) is who they claim to be. While this will not prevent the registrant from engaging in negative business practices, it will help to ensure that their identity is known should legal action become necessary in the future. As a result, this identification will reduce fraud and make less favorable business practices exist in namespaces other than ones that are stringently verified.

In order for an applicant to be considered “qualified” to purchase a .SHOP top-level domain name, they must go through a strict verification process where Commercial Connect researches the identity of that applicant and his business using semi-automated process patent pending processes. Once the registrant is “verified,” they are assigned a contact ID which will, then, allow them to register a .SHOP domain name.

Availability
The registration of a domain name is available to businesses. A domain name that is available at the time a Registrar runs the CHECK command does not guarantee that the domain name will be available at the time of registration.

Requirements for the applicant initially will be an agreement that the website will be offering goods and⁄or services under a secured socket layer (SSL) trusted connection. This site must be functional within six months of registration or the registrant could forfeit his rights to said domain name. There may be additional circumstances whereby it will not be required for the registrant of a .SHOP domain name have a functioning eCommerce site. These cases exist for trademark holders and users that forward their trade names to existing websites utilizing other TLDs. Generic .SHOP domain names should be eCommerce site-enabled and not forwarded to other sites.

Term
A domain name is registered in one-year increments, with a minimum registration term of one year and a maximum registration term of 10 years.

Verified applicants will agree to the understanding that if they are operating a business and utilizing a .SHOP domain name that holds them accountable for all transactions performed on this website. This is essential so that one party or registrar does not register themselves in an attempt to thwart our verification process. In addition, a clause in the registrar agreement will require that registrants not attempt to hide, mask, or alter the identity of any .SHOP registrant.

Naming Restrictions
The minimum character length for a domain name is one character, excluding the .SHOP extension. The maximum character length for a domain name is 63 characters excluding the extension. A domain name must not begin with a dash ʺ-ʺ or dot “.” and must not begin with the following sequence: “alphanumeric_alphanumeric_dash (“-“)_dash (“-”)”.

Each character in the domain name, excluding the dots (“.”)s must be a letter, digit, or dash (“-”). The last character must be a digit or letter. It cannot be a dash (“-”).

.SHOP Premium Domain Names
Certain .SHOP domain names that are generic or common words, and one- to three- character combinations have been designated as ʺPremium Names.ʺ Premium Names have the same business rules and grace periods as all domain names with the following exceptions:
• Premium Names may have higher pricing than standard domain names.
• Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, Registrar transfers for Premium Names are prohibited.
• Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the ʺSyncʺ operation for Premium Names is prohibited.

Nameservers
A domain name cannot have more than 13 hosts at the registry level.

Registrar Transfer Rules
A created domain name must be 61 days old or older to be available for transfer between registrars. A domain name can be transferred in one-year increments from one to 10 years. A one-year renewal is the default setting. If the difference between the current date and the new registration date is more than 10 years but less than 11 years, then the transfer will be clipped to 10 years. If the difference between the current date and the new registration date is greater than 11 years, the transfer will be rejected. The pending-transfer period is five (5) days. If the transfer request is neither approved nor rejected by the losing Registrar within the five-day pending-transfer period, Commercial Connect will automatically approve the request. As stated above, Registrar transfers of Premium Names are prohibited.

Bulk Transfers
Subject to Commercial Connect’s discretion and approval, and any transfer fees or charges that may be assessed by CCLLC, Registrars may request bulk transfers of .SHOP domain names by submitting a bulk transfer request in writing accompanied by a complete list of the domain names to be transferred. The request must be signed by both the gaining and losing Registrars.
(See the Registration policy in its entirety as an Attachment R in Technical Section).

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