Trustee Services for ccTLDs ... Recommendations Anybody?

[ImageAuthors]

Does anybody out there have any experience to share regarding trustee services for various ccTLDs? You know, where the registrar--or else some private person or agency--supplies the administrative contact information for non-resident / non-citizen domain owners.

Personally I'm curious about .ca, .au, and .de. My preference is to pay for the service by year (for any number of domains) rather than to pay per domain--which becomes extremely expensive in bulk.

But maybe--if you knowledgeable domainers step forward with advice--this thread can become a reference for any TLD, any registrar, or any service. Who is trustworthy and cheap? Whom should we avoid?

 

[katherine]

There is a difference between whois trustee and admin contact.

Example:
.de: the domain holder doesn't have to be German or resident in Germany, but a local admin contact has to be appointed (to serve you legal papers in case of TM claims for example)
.ca: the domain holder has to be Canadian, or resident in Canada + a few qualifying categories

So for .ca or .au you need to find a 'strawman' that will effectively be the legal owner of the domain.
For .de you just need a local admin contact but ownership of the domain is still yours

Many people are not aware of the differences so I though I'd clarify.
Also note that each TLD has its own peculiarities, I encourage everyone to get acquainted with them.
For example, you can't push a .de like you would a .com, I guess everybody knows that but...
Also, .de domains do not expire. They will be renewed until you expressly renounce them. That's why the German registrars often charge them on a monthly basis (often around €1/month).
Normally I prefer to use German or Austrian registrars for .de domains, just like I would prefer a Canadian registrar for .ca domains.
One reason is that as said above, each TLD is different. Do not expect an American registrar to be familiar with all the subtleties of .de domains. In fact they probably act as resellers of Key Systems for ccTLDs, I think that is the case for Moniker for example.

 

[ImageAuthors]

Thanks. I wasn't aware that the requirements for .de stewardship were so different from .au and .ca. Good information.

Is there a cheap .de registrar that you (or anyone) knows of that charges by year rather than per domain for providing an admin contact?