How to Resell Domains via an API

One of the primary benefits of becoming a domain reseller is enhancing the customer experience by providing an in-demand service within your existing platform’s workflow. SaaS platforms, in particular, can receive the most significant impact from this offering by creating a cohesive, in-platform experience with an API integration. 

Brands that use an API experience a 12.7% greater growth in their market share than those that don’t, and with a majority of developers expecting an increased reliance on APIs over time, that gap is only likely to widen. API integration is a clear solution for brands seeking a logical and innovative way to deliver domain registration services directly to their audiences.

An API incorporates the infrastructure of your domain services partner into your interface, automating the complete domain purchase and management process. Ultimately, this helps orchestrate a more frictionless experience by fully integrating  domain services within your current offerings and eliminating the manual tasks of working with third-party registrars. 

By utilizing API tools, you can create a lasting domain services infrastructure built to prioritize your platform’s customer experience.

What Is an Application Programming Interfaces (API)?

An API program acts as an intermediary between different platforms or interfaces. With an API, you can directly incorporate a domain registrar’s back-end services into your site or platform’s interface—all while maintaining control over the front-end customer experience of your platform. 

This integration allows your platform to offer a full suite of domain purchase, registration, and management services within your company’s branding. Instead of having to click through to a third-party storefront, your customers can enjoy a consistent experience within your platform that keeps them fully engaged.

Because of the full level of integration, APIs have become a powerful tool for many SaaS and e-commerce brands. Most retailers that use APIs have reported that seamless API connections have promoted innovation and growth for their organizations. 

Put simply, domain reselling via an API offers the scalability of outsourcing combined with the customization and control of in-house services. 

The Advantages of API Integration

Due to the versatility of API technology, business leaders are now relying on API tools across several aspects of their product strategy, which include:

• Enhance the customer experience
• Extend digital reach
• Accelerate product releases 

And, because of the wide-reaching benefits of APIs, more than half of executives report that APIs are a key factor in differentiating themselves from competitors. This is likely due to several core benefits contributing to an unbeatable experience for consumers: frictionless automation, complete front-end control, and comprehensive back-end support.

Explore each in more detail below.

Frictionless Automation

By positioning domain services directly within your platform, domain reselling APIs have the potential to craft highly automated experiences. The curated UX starts from the beginning of the domain registration process when customers start their domain name search. 

When customers type queries into the domain search tool on your platform’s interface, the API communicates with your domain registrar partner’s back-end infrastructure to generate and display relevant results. With real-time data sync capabilities, the API shares up-to-date availability and pricing information in 30 milliseconds or less. These automated interactions carry on throughout registration, linking, management, and even yearly renewals. 

As your platform grows, the API will allow you to effortlessly scale and take advantage of the full capabilities of your registrar partner. With tools such as bulk domain purchases and transfers, you and your customers can experience growth without programming major updates to your platform or overhauling your purchasing systems. 

Full API integration is the only way to capture recurring revenue when your customers renew their domain names, creating a passive income stream with unlimited growth potential.

Full Front-End Control

While other reseller solutions rely on your registrar partner’s interface, API integration allows you to maintain full control of your platform’s customer experience. By programming the API to match your site or platform’s visual design, you build a cohesive appearance that immerses customers in your purchase flow. 

Instead of associating domain services with a third-party provider, your customers can view your brand as their primary authority and resource for all things domain-related. Offering an all-encompassing solution empowers you to position domain reselling as a cohesive part of your product suite instead of a simple add-on.

API customization doesn’t stop at the aesthetic level. You can also: 

• Customize workflows
• Control promoted domains
• Fully integrate domain products into your existing payment gateway

This full control allows you to cultivate an experience that resonates with your unique target audience. From the initial search to the final transaction, your customers will remain immersed in your brand experience.

Comprehensive Back-End Support

When using an API, you don’t just gain access to the domain name services your partner provides—you can also tap into your partner’s support and security tools. 

In other words, implementing an API comes with comprehensive assistance from your registrar, who can guide you through planning and configuring your API. And, if a technical issue arises with the domain services themselves, you can connect your customers directly with the registrar’s team instead of redirecting your company’s resources.

In any situation where you’re connecting your platform to another digital application, security is a top concern. Because APIs require access to sensitive business and consumer data to work effectively, developers have designed and implemented a range of comprehensive cybersecurity tools and mechanisms for their APIs. Authentication requirements, thoughtful data management, and extensive server-side security mechanisms are all designed to eliminate vulnerabilities and keep your data safe with your API provider.

How to Prepare For an API Integration

To access the full benefit of an API, it’s critical to prepare your platform for the integration. Customizing an API to your specifications involves advanced technical knowledge and internal security tools. Working with a specialist can help you design a successful API implementation strategy throughout the configuration and maintenance stages. A specialist can also help you: 

• Adhere to API requirements
• Verify outputs
• Oversee test scenarios to ensure a secure connection

Collaborate with a trusted domain partner like Identity Digital’s name.com to access advanced security tools that prioritize your data security. It’s also important to build internal security tools to uphold your end of the API connection to fully reap the benefits of your partner’s API security protocols. 

3 Steps to Selling Domains via API

Incorporating Name.com’s domain services API into your platform allows you to offer name.com’s full range of domain services to your customers based on your specifications. 

And getting started is easy. Simply implement the following steps.

Generate an API Token

The integration process begins with a tool known as an API token, which authenticates legitimate users of the application. To use name.com’s API, you must generate an API token to kickstart the coding and testing process. Here’s how:

1. After logging in to your name.com account, locate the “name.com API for Resellers” page. 

2. Click “Create API Token” under the “Professionals” header, where you can explore the full name.com API Access Agreement and acknowledge the terms of use. 

3. Click “I Agree,” then name your token and click “Generate new token.” 

You can create multiple tokens for different applications by repeating this process. 

The page will display both a production token and a test environment token, which you can use during development. At the bottom of the page, you can adjust API access by whitelisting specific IP addresses. 

After completing these steps, you’ll have full API access to name.com, allowing you to create a seamless connection between your platform and the company’s services. 

Build a Domain Storefront on Your Platform 

Once you have access to name.com’s API, start building out the custom interface your customers will use to access domain services. You can design the storefront to your specifications because you have full control over your customer interface. 

Consider either of the following options: 

• Design a storefront that fits within one of your existing pages
• Create a dedicated portion of your site to showcase your domain name services

Take Shopify’s domain storefront, for example. The interface features a prominent search function and educational content that drives domain name adoption among its customers. Although another registrar powers Shopify’s domain name services, using an API results in a powerful user interface design that effortlessly melds with the rest of the platform.

Create and Fund a Reseller Account at Name.com 

With the back-end token and the front-end storefront ready for launch, all that’s left to do is connect these elements to your name.com reseller account. 

Under the name.com Reseller Solutions page, select “Start with an API Token” to create a reseller account and begin integrating your custom API. 

Optimize Your Platform With name.com’s Domain API 

With custom API integrations, your brand can truly make domain services a seamless part of its platforms. In fact, API integrations empower you to prioritize and enhance the customer experience with efficient, fast, and intuitive domain purchasing capabilities that keep customers engaged with your existing workflow and allow for an additional stream of income, among other benefits.  

Connect with name.com, an Identity Digital company, today to learn how integrating an API solution can optimize your platform.

Sources:

Forbes. Research Shows Managed APIs Fuel Growth: Here’s Why. https://www.forbes.com/sites/googlecloud/2022/01/19/research-shows-api-management-fuels-growth-heres-why/?sh=4bfe538f1713

Rapid API. 2021 State of APIs Developer Survey Report. https://rapidapi.com/uploads/WP_2021_Developer_Survey_So_AP_Is_Report_f3832520be.pdf

Nordic APIs. How APIs Improve End-User Experiences.  https://nordicapis.com/how-apis-improve-end-user-experiences/

Google Cloud. How APIs are shaping the future of retail. https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/api-management/how-apis-are-shaping-future-retail

CA Technologies. APIs: Building a Connected Business in the App Economy. https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/apis-building-a-connected-business-in-the-app-economy

NGIX. What is a Real-Time API? https://www.nginx.com/resources/glossary/what-is-a-real-time-api/#:~:text=A%20real%2Dtime%20application%20program,in%20less%20than%2030%20ms.

OWASP. OWASP API Security Project. https://owasp.org/www-project-api-security/

SALT. API Security Best Practices.  https://content.salt.security/wp-api-security-best-practices.html?_gl=1*m6v8dh*_ga*MTAzNzkzNzc2OS4xNjk1NDk2ODI0*_ga_DVMFZZZWP4*MTY5NTQ5NjgyNC4xLjEuMTY5NTUwMzk1MS41LjAuMA..
Katalon. 10 API Testing Tips for Beginners (SOAP & REST). https://katalon.com/resources-center/blog/api-testing-tips