This article explains the difference between a subscription owner and a domain owner. We also go through a few reasons the information might differ.
Tip: Are you not sure what the current owner details are for your subscription and domain? Check our guide: Where can I find my current contact details?
What types of owners are there?
At one.com, we recognise two types of owners:
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Subscription owner - Responsible for paying the subscription fees and keeping the contact details up-to-date. They also own all content, if any, on the web space, including email.
- Domain owner (registrant) - owns the domain name and needs to approve domain changes, e.g. name server changes, updates to registration details on the domain, or domain transfers to another registrar.
In most cases, the subscription and domain owners are the same. However, they can be different entities.
Reasons for different owner details
Aside from choosing to enter different details during the ordering process or manually later, other common reasons are:
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A domain was transferred to one.com
When an existing domain is transferred to one.com (depending on the TLD and the date of the transfer), the domain's registration details stay the same. This means you must enter the same order information you already have on your domain for the subscription when placing the order. Otherwise, you will have two different sets of information.
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An owner change was made
The owner of the subscription or domain was changed in the past, but the second set of owner details wasn't changed for some reason. Maybe the person making the changes wasn't aware that the owner details could be different, or it wasn't deemed necessary at the time.
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The contact email address was changed
The contact email address serves two purposes: It's the username for the control panel and the address where we send all our communications, like passwords and invoices. Commonly, this email address gets updated over time.
However, when you change the contact email address, this doesn't automatically change the email address on the domain. These are two separate actions in the control panel; sometimes, people only update one address.
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