How can I become a domain registrar?

[Asgard87]

I have heard that it is a very tedious task..Any sources that can help me reduce efforts? Like someone I can get in touch with for consulting? Heard rave reviews about Logicboxes.

[lishmalinyjames]

Step 1: ICANN Accreditation. Your business must be accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) before you can become a domain registrar for the .com
Step 2: Authentication.
STEP 3: Verisign Authorization.

[Akshay_M]

I have not been on the management side of a registrar but I do know a few things.

ICANN fees are in the low tens of thousands
This is for accreditation and to make sure that once you have a bunch of customers and go out of business a chunk of the internet doesn’t fail.
Development costs are what you make them but you won’t have customers if you don’t make a great experience
Once you are ICANN accredited you’ll need to work with registries to launch their extensions, build a user interface for your customers to manage their account, and probably add some ancillary products like a site builder and ssl certificates.
You’re going to need customer support
As soon as you have more than your family and friends moving their domains to your registrar you are going to have pissed off customers. Who answers those calls? And then you are going to have people that have the best idea ever that will change the world but don’t know a thing about domains or websites. They’ll be a great customer in the long run if they can grow with you but you have to help them.
As as with most things in life there is $cost then there is “cost”. Being a registrar can be great but unless you do it right it isn’t for everyone.