Yesterday, I was planning to buy several .SI domain names during the sudden registration rush I was following after Donald Trump’s speech.
The plan sounded simple:
find the domains, register them, pay for them.
It turned out to be slightly different.
First, Put Money Into the Registrar
I use Netim with a reseller account.
With a normal retail account, I was used to something very straightforward: buy a domain, pay by card, done.
A reseller account works differently.
Before registering domains, I first need to fund my Netim account. The money becomes available as credit, and future domain registrations are deducted from that balance.
Today, for example, my company bank account shows a €500 payment to NETIM.
And this is where something that is technically very simple suddenly becomes interesting from an accounting point of view.
I paid Netim €500.
But I did not buy €500 worth of domains.
Not yet.
So What Did Pavel Domains Actually Buy?
At the moment of the €500 payment, the company effectively moved money from its bank account to a balance held with its registrar.
Then I might register:
- one domain for €20,
- another for €20,
- twenty more later,
- and still leave part of the money unused in the Netim balance.
So the bank statement alone tells only half the story.
It says:
NETIM — €500
But that does not necessarily mean:
Domain purchases — €500
That distinction matters.
From an accounting perspective, the unused balance may need to be treated more like a prepayment or supplier advance until the money is actually consumed by registrations, renewals or other services.
Exactly how it should be recorded in the books of Pavel Domains SASU is something I will confirm with my accountant.
And that is today’s question.
How Do I Explain This to My Accountant?
Probably like this:
Pavel Domains maintains a prepaid balance with its domain registrar.
Money is transferred to the registrar first, and individual domain registrations and renewals are subsequently deducted from that balance.
Then the supporting documents become important.
The accountant may need not only the bank transaction showing the €500 payment, but also the Netim account statement and the invoices corresponding to the actual domain registrations.
The reconciliation should eventually look something like:
Money added to Netim → domains and services purchased → remaining Netim balance.
That makes much more sense than treating every account top-up as if it were immediately a domain expense.
Another Small Lesson From Becoming a Domainer
This is one of the things I am discovering while building Pavel Domains.
Buying a domain is easy.
Running a company that buys hundreds or thousands of them is different.
Suddenly, even a simple button saying “Add funds” creates questions about bookkeeping, supplier balances, invoices, VAT, reconciliation and year-end accounting.
Yesterday my question was:
Which .SI domains should I register?
Today it is:
Which accounting account should my accountant use for the money sitting at Netim?
Welcome to domain investing as a business.
“Accounting is the language of business.”
— Warren Buffett
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