TLD Partner or Domain Reseller? Choose Your Role
You want customers to register names through a business you run. You might own a Handshake TLD with a community ready to use it, or you might be building an agent platform where customers need a name during onboarding. Give them a registration experience that fits what they came to do.
Your starting point determines the right role. Bring a TLD you own or operate to the TLD Partner Program. Choose the reseller route to embed domain search and registration in your product. If your strength is reaching an audience, explore affiliate referrals.
Compare the work you want to take on
| Decision | TLD partner | Domain reseller |
|---|---|---|
| What do you bring? | A Handshake TLD you own or operate | An app, marketplace, or directory with a registration use case |
| What does the customer get? | A name under your extension through your branded registrar | A name from a supported extension during your product’s registration flow |
| What do you shape? | The registrar brand, retail offer, checkout, and customer support experience | Where search and registration fit into your app |
| What should you prepare? | TLD-control details, existing names, migration needs, and a launch plan | Your customer journey, portfolio management needs, and billing arrangements |
| What starts the process? | A namespace application and operator review | A use-case discussion and API access arrangements |
A TLD is the extension, such as .agent. Your customers register individual names beneath it. You can combine the partner and reseller roles: if you control a TLD and want registrations inside your app, bring both requirements into the partner conversation.
The business lesson behind the TLD discussion
At 55:42 in DomainSherpa’s discussion of ICANN’s new gTLDs, the conversation turns to becoming a registry service provider and the work involved in building the business. A TLD business has work behind the storefront as well as in front of it. Someone has to run the registration infrastructure, and someone has to give customers a reason to use the names.
You can choose your role in a Handshake naming business through the programs at HeadlessDomains.com. Handshake TLDs use a separate naming root from ICANN’s DNS root. Agents use Headless Domains through API and command-line workflows, so registration can fit into the software your customers already use.
TLD partner: build around your extension
Imagine a professional community with its own Handshake TLD. Members build research assistants and specialist tools, share them with one another, and want names that connect their work to the community. You can offer a registrar carrying that community’s brand, with pricing and a customer experience you shape.
Through the TLD Partner Program, you can apply for a white-label registrar, API integration, or migration support. You set the retail offer and retain your brand and customer payment relationship, including checkout and receipts. You also shape customer support and promotion, with Headless Domains providing registry infrastructure and partner support behind the service.
Bring any existing registrations, reserved names, or migration needs into the application. Approval follows a review of TLD control, technical fit, and launch readiness.
Budget for a one-time registrar setup fee and an annual minimum revenue-share commitment, the baseline expectations in the partner FAQ. The commercial review sets final terms around your launch and support needs.
Domain reseller: make registration part of your product
Your app already brings the customer to the naming step. Put registration where the name becomes useful.
Imagine an agent-building platform. A customer creates an assistant, configures its service, and reaches the naming step. You can put domain search and registration into that flow, giving the customer a name without sending them through a separate registration journey.
The Wholesale Reseller Program supports registration through an API while your customers stay in your interface. You bring the product and the customer journey; Headless Domains handles the backend registry logic. You can start with supported extensions without bringing a TLD into the partner program.
During onboarding, agree how customer portfolios, domain management, and billing fit your product. For a new organization integration, use the Organization API guide to plan customer mapping and registration. Use that customer journey to explain the access and commercial arrangements you need.
Affiliate: connect your audience with useful names
If you teach people to build agents, publish tutorials, or run a community, you can apply to the Affiliate Program and introduce readers to registration through customized coupon codes. Approved affiliates earn commissions on new registrations.
Your work centers on the recommendation and the content around it. For everyday referral sharing, Share & Earn offers GFA Gems.
Bring one customer journey into the conversation
Picture the first person who registers through your service. What are they building? How do they find you? What happens after they choose a name?
- Audience: Who will register, and what agent, tool, or service will they name?
- Your contribution: Which TLD do you control, which product are you integrating, or which audience do you reach?
- Registration and support: Where will customers search, pay, manage renewals, and ask for help?
- Existing names: Which registrations, reserved names, or customer records need a handoff?
Follow that customer beyond the purchase. Someone will need to answer a renewal question, update a record, or help with an existing name. Your launch plan gets much more useful when it reaches those ordinary, everyday jobs.
Bring your namespace or product
If you’re bringing a Handshake TLD, apply with your namespace. If you’re adding registration to an app, send your reseller use case, including where naming belongs in the customer journey.
Then follow the name beyond checkout. The onboarding walkthrough shows the next steps your customers can take after registering a Headless Domain.