.boutique Domains: Built for Small-Scale Retail
.boutique entered the root zone on 16 January 2014, and the IANA record names Binky Moon, LLC as the sponsoring organisation. The strength of the word is how far it travels: French in origin, it is used with the same meaning across many languages and needs no translation. The address conveys scale on its own — what waits here is a curated selection rather than a large chain.
No published eligibility condition could be verified, so sellers of clothing, furniture, cosmetics or handmade goods all apply on the same terms. The decision rule is about scale: if your range is small and the selection deliberate, the name describes the business accurately. In a shop built on a wide catalogue and low prices, the word sets the wrong expectation. Test candidates with a domain name search.
.BOUTIQUE Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation Binky Moon, LLC (Identity Digital)
- Root zone record 16 January 2014
- Eligibility condition No verified restriction
- Origin of the word French; used untranslated in many languages
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .boutique domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 13 servers
.boutique Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$5.99 /year -
Transfer
$32.49 /year -
Renewal
$34.99 /year -
Restore
$124.90 -
Late Renewal
$6.73
Included With Every .boutique Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.boutique Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .boutique domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .boutique address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .boutique domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $6.73 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .boutique returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.boutique Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.boutique Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .boutique domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 13 servers
.boutique Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .boutique Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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It suits any shop selling a limited, curated range. Clothing comes to mind first, but furniture, cosmetics, gifts, handmade goods and made-to-order work all fit the same frame. The test is not the product type but the way you sell: a narrow catalogue chosen with care reads correctly. With a very wide catalogue, the fit between word and shop disappears and the address sets the wrong expectation.
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No published eligibility condition could be verified; the name appears open on a first-come basis. No tax certificate, trade registry extract or shop licence is requested, and the ordering flow carries no extra approval step. That means a shop not yet open can reserve its name in advance. Registrations and permits for trading itself vary by country and are independent of the domain.
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In a shop with few products the load comes from images rather than transaction volume. Sizing photographs properly, leaving caching on and keeping the checkout step simple covers most cases. Because there is payment and an account area, an encrypted connection is mandatory; install the certificate from the SSL certificate page and compare capacity on the hosting page.
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Scale and promise separate them. This name describes a curated, narrow and personal offer, while .business builds a general commercial identity without naming a sector. For a brand with a single storefront the first says more. For an operation working across several fields, combining services with products, the second stays flexible and keeps fitting as the activity shifts.
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Yes, the extension is transferable. You remove the lock, collect the authorisation code and start the request at the new registrar; the name is expected not to have been registered or transferred in the previous 60 days. Even with the shop live, the move does not interrupt access, because DNS records are handled separately. Run it from the domain transfer page.
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