Hello fellow Lemmings! I hope this is the right place to ask this. I don't understand how web domains work. Let's say I want to buy the domain "abcdefghi.net". I can go to a domain provider like haruba or godaddy and just buy it. but how can they, a private, sell me these domains? I'm not talking about the hosting, but just the domain. where do they register this domain I'm buying? isn't it possible to register it myself instead of paying these services to do it for me?
If I remember correctly, whoever sells domains is essentially giving you an IP they have access to. You're essentially buying 123.456.1.10 and pointing it to abcdefghi.net (domain name). When you buy it, and set it to the domain name you chose, then the seller (go daddy) will update ISP DNS providers and such so that people who type in abcdefghi.net will go to 123.456.1.10, AKA your site.