The .sk domain: how to buy one, who may own it and what it costs
The domain is the cheapest part of a project and, at the same time, the part where a mistake costs most. A company name can be changed in a couple of weeks, a design redone, a contractor replaced. An address customers already remember, printed on business cards and invoices, is painful to change.
Here is what is worth knowing before you buy.
Shall we talk about your project?
Send a few lines about what you need. I reply within 24 hours, no obligation.
Who may own a .sk domain
There is no citizenship or residency restriction. A .sk domain can be registered by an individual or a company from any country. No requirement to hold a Slovak s.r.o. or živnosť exists for this.
Worth knowing, because the opposite belief is common and makes people postpone buying a domain until the company is registered. Postponing is exactly what you should not do.
Why you buy the domain before registering the company
Most people go in this order: think of a name, register the company, go for the domain — and find it taken.
Two unpleasant options follow: change the name of an already registered company, or take an awkward address like companyname-sk.sk. Both cost more than a five-minute check at the start.
The right order: check the domain → fix the name → register the company. On registration itself, see how to open an s.r.o. in Slovakia.
How to choose a registrar
A .sk domain is registered through accredited registrars. The difference between them is not the domain — that is the same one — but the terms of service.
What to look at:
The renewal price, not just the first year. A common pattern: cheap for year one, noticeably dearer afterwards. Work it out three years ahead.
Who is listed as owner. The domain must be registered to you or your company, not to the registrar or a web studio. That is the key point, and I return to it below.
The ability to transfer. Ask in advance how a transfer to another registrar is handled and whether there is a fee.
DNS management. You will need to change records — when changing hosting, connecting email, verifying the domain with services. The panel should be accessible and comprehensible.
Auto-renewal. Switch it on. A domain lost through forgetfulness is a very common and very painful story.
The most expensive mistake: the domain registered to a contractor
The situation comes up constantly: a studio built the site and, "while they were at it", registered the domain to themselves. While relations are good nobody thinks about it.
Problems begin at parting. Formally the domain is not yours, and getting it back depends on goodwill. Sometimes a contractor simply stops replying — and the address your email, your business cards and your search positions depend on becomes unreachable.
Check right now who your domain is registered to. If it is not you, fix it while relations are still normal.
My approach is simple: the domain and hosting are always registered to the client. I get access to do the work; the owner is you.
Need a new website?
A company site, an online shop or a booking system. Most projects ship within 15 working days.
What to do when the name is taken
Check whether the domain is in use. Open it in a browser. If there is nothing there, a registrar placeholder, or a "for sale" page, it is most likely being held in reserve.
Try contacting the owner. Sometimes domains sell for sensible money.
Choose an alternative, but wisely. Hyphens, digits and suffixes like -sk make dictating over the phone harder. Better to find another short word than take an awkward construction.
Do not take someone else's brand with a typo. That is a direct route to a dispute over rights to the name.
Do you also need a .com
For a business operating in Slovakia the main domain should be .sk. A local buyer trusts it more — it is the "a company from here" signal a foreign domain does not carry.
A second domain is worth taking, but not for a second site. The right move is a permanent redirect from it to the main one. Two identical copies of a site on different domains create duplicates, and the search engine has to choose which to show.
What to set up the same day you buy
Buying the domain is only the start. What to do on the same day:
- Email on your own domain.
info@yourdomain.skinstead of gmail. Zero cost and a noticeable difference in how a Slovak counterparty reads you. - Mail protection records — SPF, DKIM, DMARC. Without them your mail goes to spam and you never find out.
- HTTPS. The certificate is free, and a browser marks a site without one as not secure.
- Auto-renewal of the domain.
- Domain verification in Search Console, so you can see how the site looks to search.
What to do
- Check the domain is free — before you fix the company name.
- Register it to yourself, not to a contractor.
- Compare the renewal price, not just the first year.
- Switch on auto-renewal.
- The same day, set up email, protection records and HTTPS.
If you need help
You can buy a domain yourself in ten minutes — that is not a task worth paying for. What comes next, though — email with the right records, HTTPS, moving a site without losing positions, connecting to Search Console — is what I do.
I have lived in Slovakia for over ten years and have launched 12+ sites for Slovak companies. Domains and hosting are always registered to the client. I work as a Slovak s.r.o. and issue a faktúra with an IČO.
Related: how to open an s.r.o., the mandatory details on a website and the web development service page.
Site broken or slow?
WordPress and custom-built sites alike. Most faults are fixed the same day they are reported.
